Rebbo

Rebbo

Dry stone wall at Rebbo
Location within Israel
Coordinates	31°39′51.23″N 34°58′47.833″E
Grid position	1481/1183 PAL

Rebbo or Horvat Rebbo (Hebrew: חורבת רִבּוֹא, lit. "Rebbo ruins"), alternative spellings: Robbo, Ribbo; in Arabic Khurbet Rubba (lit. "Rubba ruins"), is an ancient site in Israel, mentioned by Eusebius in his Onomasticon as possibly referring to a site by a similar name in the Book of Joshua. The site, which is now a ruin, sits on a hill 414 metres (1,358 ft) above sea level, in the Shephelah region, and is now part of the Adullam-France Park, maintained by the Jewish National Fund (KKL). It lies about 1.5 km. to the west of Aderet as the crow flies, and about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northeast of Beit Guvrin National Park.

The site is quite extensive and contains tunnels believed to have been in use during the Bar Kokhba revolt. Tombs from the Second Temple period, agricultural features and cisterns (now covered with iron gratings) can be seen on the site. Many lentisk mastic trees (Pistacia lentiscus) and buckthorns (Rhamnus lycioides) cover the site.

In ancient sources

Eusebius (4th century) writes in his Onomasticon that in his day it was a village, called in Template:Lang-grc-x-koine and situated "in the territory of Eleutheropolis (Beit Gubrin) to the east." Some have cast doubt on V.L. Trumper's view in Historical Sites in Central Palestine (1918) that Rebbo, located 3 km. west of Adullam, is to be recognised in the name rbt mentioned in the list of Thutmose III, and which place is also called rbt / rbd in the el-Amarna tablets. According to these sources, the king of Jerusalem complained before Pharaoh that certain people from Gezer, from Gath and Keilah had conspired together and forcibly taken away lands belonging to R^ub^ut^u. The site's current name was fixed by the Government Naming Committee in Israel.

Archaeological surveys

Victor Guérin (1863)

French explorer, Victor Guérin, visited the site, which he called Khirbet Rebba, in 1863, and wrote of his impressions of the site: "The ruins are fairly large and cover the summit and slopes of a hill. Many cisterns and vaults embedded in the rock attest to its great antiquity. The houses, of very small dimensions, were for the most part constructed of medium-sized and generally well squared stones; they litter the ground everywhere with their debris. An edifice, also overthrown from top to bottom, seems to have been a church, which proves that, in the Christian era, this town was still inhabited. Six sections of mutilated columns lie in this place. I also notice, on a beautiful rectangular block, two carved Greek crosses."

Conder and Kitchener (1878)

The ruin appears in Conder and Kitchener's 1878 Survey of Palestine map under the name Khurbet Rubba. They noted under "Rabba" that it was a "city of Judah, mentioned with Kirjath Jearim (Joshua XV. 60). In the Onomasticon a place called Rebbo is mentioned as east of Eleutheropolis, which might be the same. A good-sized ruin named Rubba is found in the low hills south of the valley of Elah, north-east of Beit Jibrin, which would be in a suitable position for the early Christian site." They found there "Caves, cisterns, and heaps of stones, ruined walls, bases of pillars and shafts much worn, two lintel stones with crosses, both measuring about 7 feet by 2½ feet."

Aapeli Saarisalo (pre-1931)

The site was surveyed by Finnish archaeologist A. Saarisalo in the early 20th century, who concluded that the village was inhabited as late as the Byzantine and Early Arab periods.

Gallery

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  Wall at Khirbat Rubba (Rebbo)
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  Stone structures at Rebbo
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  Dell on lower east side of Horvat Rebbo/Khurbet Rubba
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  Ruins at Khirbat Rubba
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  General view of Horvat Rebbo/Khurbet Rubba
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  Moshav Aderet seen in the distance from Horvat Rebbo/Khurbet RubbaKhurbet Rubba
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  General view looking south of Rebbo
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  Broken mouth of well at Rebbo
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  Broken mouth of well, now sealed
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  Entrance to cave
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  Remnant of old wall at Khirbat Rubba
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  Pit lined with hewn stones at Rebbo
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  Gaping hole of pit (cavern) at Rebbo
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  Grating covering pit at Rebbo
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  Column stump at Rebbo
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  Wine press carved in rock at Rebbo
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  Large slab of stone (wine press?) at Rebbo

Bibliography

• Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
• Elitzur, Yoel [in Hebrew] (2004). Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land – Preservation and History. Hebrew University, Magnes Press. ISBN 1-57506-071-X.
• Guérin, V. (1869). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 1: Judée, pt. 3. Paris: L'Imprimerie nationale.
• Notley, R.S.; Safrai, Z. (2005). Eusebius, Onomasticon – The Place Names of Divine Scripture. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 0-391-04217-3.
• Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
• Press, I., ed. (1955), "רבה", A Topographical-Historical Encyclopaedia of Palestine, vol. 4, Jerusalem: Rubin Mass, p. 851
• Saarisalo, Aapeli (1931). "Topographical Researches in the Shephelah". The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society. XI.
• Trumper, Victor L. (1918). Historical Sites in Central Palestine (part 1). Cairo: Nile Mission Press.

External links

• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons
• Archaeological Survey at Tel Rebbo (2018), by Eitan Klein, Boaz Zissu, and Amir Ganor (Hebrew)