History of Israel –Ancient Nabatean city of Mamshit
Mamshit, or its Arab name Mamshit-Kurnub, or even Mampsis to the Greeks, is located on hills above the Mamshit River gorge in the Negev Desert adjacent to the Dead Sea. The setting of Mamshit, against the soft desert hills and azure sky, is spectacular. Some buildings have been reconstructed which show what the city looked like in the first century B.C.E.
Historically, Mamshit was an important trade-centre on the popular incense and spices road, which connected the east (Yemen and Oman) through Arabia via the Nabatean capital city Petra, and on to the port cities on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as Eilat, Beer-Sheva, Hebron and Jerusalem.
During its history, Mamshit city has been ruled by ancient Nabatean, Roman and Byzantine empires and before this, Nabatean history goes back thousands of years, starting close to the time when the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar who, in 586 B.C.E. captured Jerusalem and exiled most of the Jewish people. When the Nabateans (who were originally a nomadic people from the Arabian Peninsula), took over Mamshit, they established stations and fortresses along this trade route. However, they were conquered by the Romans who built a wall around the city, which remained intact until the late fourth century C.E. After them, the Byzantines occupied the city for three centuries and built many structures including two churches which continued to be used until the Arab conquest. From that time, Mamshit fell into disrepair and virtually ceased to exist. In 1936 the British Mandatory government built a police station over the ruins of an ancient Nabataean building on one of the highest parts of Mamshit, as well as establishing the Desert Mounted Police to supervise Beduins and Jews in the northern Negev.
Mamshit is the best restored in the Negev Desert, which is carefully maintained by Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The city area itself is small enough to walk around in about an hour—a tourist’s delight.
Among the ruins were many large wealthy homes. One is a 1,600 square-metre house, with courtyards, stairways and stables, showing the individual wealth of its owner, who for reasons unknown, left behind (for the archaeologists to find), some 10,500 silver coins dated between 222 and 275 C.E.
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