Publisher's Synopsis
Long seen as a site of cultic significance, the excavations revealed at Tel Beersheva in Israel include a full-sized Israelite horned altar of the 10th-8th centuries BC, and the probable location of the second confirmed temple complex (archaeologically) of ancient Israel's monarchy. Between 1973-1975, a temple complex was cleared dating to the late Hellenistic/Hasmonean era of the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. Starting life as a pagan place of worship, it was later converted and cleansed during the reign of John Hyrcanus I. This archaeological evidence helps us to understand the development of Jewish syncretic religion in the face of Hellenism, and to clarify and confirm the accounts of John Hyrcanus I.
