Palestine Exploration Quarterly 133 (2001)

THE ~SCENT OF LUHITH' AND THE 'ROAD TOHORONAIM': NEW EVIDENCE FOR THEIR

IDENTIFICATION

CHAIM BEN-DAVID

The names of the Moabite cities Luhith and Horonaim, mentioned in the Bible in relation toroads ascending to Moab, are not preserved in present-day names. Their identification hasbeen discussed by several scholars over the past forty years (Van Zyl 1960, Kuschke 196 I,

Schottroff 1966, Worschech and Knauf 1986 and Dearman 1990, 1997). Mittmann's suggestion(1982) that Kathrabba be identified with Luhith and the Roman ascent south of Wadi 'Esalwith the 'Ascent of Luhith' has met with approval by most scholars in the field in the last years.

In contrast, Horonaim boasts no less than eight different identifications (see Table I) butthere seems to be no consensus on any of them. Dearman (1990, 46), in the conclusion of hiswork on the identification of Luhith and Horonaim, based inter alia on the ancient road systemof the region, remarked: 'More work like that of Mittmann, Worschech and Knauf on thebranches of the roadway system needs to be done'.

TABLE I: THE IDENTIFICATIONS FOR HORONAIM

Site

IraqKh. DubabHauranKh. el MeidanEd- Deir'AiKerakKh. al-Dharih

Scholar

Musil 1907Van Zyl 1960Kuschke 1961Schottroff 1966Worschech and Knauf 1986Dearman 1990Naaman 1994Zayadine 1999

Recent discoveries of ancient roads, hitherto not discussed in the literature, that ascendfrom the region of Zoar directly east towards Moab open new possibilitie~. These roads permitthe reopening of discussion on old identifications that were rejected because no ancient roadswere known to exist in the immediate vicinity of the proposed sites.

The basis for the identification of the two sites is reference to them in the historical andarchaeological sources.

I. Isaiah's prophecy on Moab:'My heart cries out for Moab, his fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at theascent of Luhith they go up weeping, on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry ofdestruction. The Waters ofNimrim are a desolation ... ' (15: 5-6)

2. Jeremiah's prophecy on Moab:'Hark a cry from Horonaim, ... For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping bitterly,for at the descent ofHoronaim they have heard the distressing cry of anguish.' (48: 3, 5)' ... from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the Waters ofNimrimhave become desolate.' (48: 34)

137THE 'ASCENT OF LUHITH'

3. Mesha's stele:' ... And as for Hauronen, there dwelt in it .... . . Chemosh said to me, 'Go down, fight against Hauronen ... ' (lines 31-32)

4. Josephus, listing the conquests if Alexander Jannaeus in Aloab:' ... and in Moab, Essebon, Medaba, Lemba, Oronaim, Agalain, Thona, Zoara ... ' (Ant.XIII: 397)Josephus, listing the cities that Hyrcanus promised to return to theNabateans:' ... Medaba, Libba, Dabloth, Arabatha, Agalla, Athone, Zoara, Oronain ... ' (Ant XIV:18)

5. Eusebius' Onomasticon:'And between Areopolis and Zoora, there is a village which is now called Luetha' (ed.Klosterman 122, 28f.)

6. A Nabatean tomb inscriptionfromMedaba dated to 37 C.E. mentions:' ... the commander of the military camp in/by Luhithu and Abartha' (CIS II 196)

7. A papyrusfrom theBabatha archive, found in the Cave of Letters (Yadin 1962: 250):' ... both ha-Luhith in Mahoz -'Aglatain ... '

Analysis of these sources provide the following conclusions:(I) Luhith and Horonaim are Moabite cities to be found on roads descending from Moab.(2) These roads are referred to in connection to Zoar. According to Eusebius Luhith is

situated between Areopolis and Zoar.(3) Horonaim, Luhith, 'Eglath/'Aglatain, the Waters of Nimrim and Zoar are mentioned in

the Bible in proximity to each other.(4) Horonaim appears in Biblical through late Hellenistic sources, while Luhith occurs in

Roman and Byzantine sources as well.(5) According to Josephus, Horonaim is to found in the Moabite area east of the Dead Sea

annexed to the Hasmonean district Perea, 'apparently to its south.(6) From the identification of sites mentioned with Luhith in the Babatha archive (Cotton and

Greenfield 1995) it is possible to locate Luhith near the south-eastern shore of the DeadSea.

The identification of some of the sites mentioned alongside Luhith and Horonaim is wellestablished and accepted by the majority of scholars. Zoar is placed at Safi (Astour 1992), at thesouth-eastern tip of the Dead Sea. The Waters of Nimrim are to be located in Wadi Numera(Ferch 1992), north of Zoar, 'Eglath/ 'Aglatain in the strip between the Lisan and Zoar(Mattingly 1992), and Areopolis of Eusebius with el-Rabba (Schmitt 1995, 287), north ofKerak.

These data have motivated most scholars to look for Luhith and Horonaim in southernMoab, between Wadi Mujib in the north (Biblical River Arnon) and Wadi Hasa in the south(River Zered). The discovery of ancient roads in this area of Moab served as the starting pointfor some of these identifications. The passage between the Moab plateau, which is 1000 mabove sea level, and the Dead Sea shore, some 1400 m below, is anything but easy. Streamsand rivers flowing to the Dead Sea, most offering no passage, dissect the terrain. The potentialpassages are to be found in the ridges and spurs between the streams. There are desert trailsand ascents to be found along most of them, many appearing on up-to-date topographical

138 PALESTINE EXPLORATION QUARTERLY

maps. Along some of these trails retaining walls have been identified, and in parts, these trailsturn into wide and paved roads. Remains of fortresses of varying size are found along some ofthe roads, and in recent years some of these roads were identified as Roman.

One of the first scholars to engage in the effort to identify Luhith and Horonaim was Musil(1907). He climbed in the summer of 1906 a steep ascent from Safi towards the village ofKhanzireh, near the southwestern tip of Moab, at the head of the ridge north of Wadi Hasa.Nearing the top of the ascent, at the spring of el-Hamrash, Musil recorded a ruined site calledFas, near a second ruin called Medinat-a-Ras. He suggested identifying Luhith with one ofthese, being at the top of the ascent from Safi. From Khanzireh Musil continued north to thevillage of Iraq, situated at the top of Wadi Numera, where he identified Horonaim.

The Dutch scholar, Van Zyl (1960,64-65), claimed that Luhith and Horonaim should befound on the same road, and suggested identifying Horonaim at Kh. Dubab and Luhith atMedinat-a-Ras. Both sites are in the immediate vicinity ofKhanzireh, at the top of the northernridge above Wadi Hasa, and both yielded Iron Age finds in the surveys ofN elson Glueck (1939,84-85, 95)' Schottroff (1966) shared the view that both sites should be on the same road, andsuggested identifying Horonaim at Kh. el-Meidan, a site on a summit commanding the area,west of Kathrabba. The site yielded Iron Age as well as Nabatean pottery. For Luhith he didnot indicate a specific site, but suggested that it might be near Kathrabba, near the ancient roaddescending to the Dead Sea. Mittmann (1982), who stressed the existence of Luhith on anancient road, investigated the roads that could have joined Zoar with Areopolis (el-Rabba),since in the Onomasticon Luhith appears between these two sites. Mittmann believed that a builtRoman road existed only along the ridge between Wadi Numera and Wadi 'Esal. This road,referred to also by SchottroH: was first described by Musil (19°7, 63) and photographed fromthe air by Glueck (1939, 148, Fig. 49). Mittmann, who surveyed this road, suggested identifyingit with the biblical 'Ascent ofLuhith' and Kathrabba with Luhith itself. As for the identificationof Kathrabba with Luhith, it should be noted that the village preserves the ancient Aramaicname Kefar-Rabah, so at least believes Knauf(1991, 285), who conducted a toponymic surveyof the Kerak plateau. Kefar Rabah is mentioned in an Ottoman census of the late sixteenthcentury (Hiitteroth and Abdulfattah 1977, 171) as well as by Musil in 1907. It is therefore hardto assume that Luhith, which kept its name through the Roman and Byzantine period, shouldbe identified with a site that preserved its Aramaic name Kefar Rabah until recently. Worschechand Knauf (1985) identified another road that descends from the Moab plateau to the lisan ofthe Dead Sea. Road sections and fortresses were found along the ridge separating Wadi IbnHamed and Wadi Kerak. Near the head of the ascent there is a site named ed-Deir, which theysuggest identifying with Horonaim and the road itself with the 'Road to Horonaim' .

Dearman (1990, 1997), who recently summed up the scholarship on the identification ofLuhith and Horonaim, claims that there are two inherent problems with Van Zyl's identificationat Medinat-a-Ras: (a) there is no Roman road nearby; (b) the site has a military characterrather than that of a settlement. Dearman espouses Mittman's suggestion of locating Luhith inthe Kathrabba region and suggests in turn identifying Horonaim with the village of 'Ai which isnear Kathrabba. Dearman concludes by calling for further research on the Roman road systemand settlement pattern, a research that will help in settling the present question.

Naaman (1994) points out that Horonaim appears in the Mesha stele to have been animportant royal city and thus all the sites that were suggested for its identification are too small.He concurs with the scholars that reject the identification of biblical Kir- Hareshet with Kerak,and suggests instead identifying it with Horonaim. This, Naaman believes, also explains whyKerak is not mentioned in the list of Jannaeus' conquests, since at the time it was called

THE 'ASCENT OF LUH1TH'

Hauran

•

139

. ../~"i---".~.'/',', ....•

/

'-',-' I' __ ~_,~_.«,,:. '"'•.' :' \

Roman RoadsLocal ~

Fig. I. Roman roads in southwestern Moab.

.~. i

~._."."'''._''':''/--~ ao·

...

PALESTINE EXPLORATION QUARTERLY

Fig. 2. Built steps across the road in the upper,limestone zone.

Horonaim. Indeed, in Roman and Byzantine sources the name Horonaim is no longermentioned.

Zayadine (1999) adopted the suggestion of Donner and Rbllig (1968, 179) that Horonaimbe sought in the Wadi Hasa region, and places it at Kh. al-Dharih.

THE NEW EVIDENCE

Recently (Ben-David 1999) I published preliminary information on a paved Roman road thatclimbs from Zoar to the Medinat-a-Ras ridge and the village of Khanzireh. In that work,dealing with the identification of 'Aia and Tharais that appear on the Madaba map, it wassuggested that these sites were marked on the map because of their situation at the head ofpaved Roman roads that climbed from the Dead Sea to the Madaba plateau. 'Aia is the villageof 'Ai, on the Roman road identified by Mittmann as the 'Ascent of Luhith', at the placeDearman saw as Horonaim. For Tharais Medinat-a-Ras was suggested, at the head of therecently found Roman ascent. This road (Figs 2-7) starts from the northern bank of WadiHasa, west of Khanzireh, and descends to Zoar-Safi, an elevation difference of c. 1300 movera distance of 8 km as the bird flies. The road, 3-6 m. wide with well-built curbs, passes along alimestone outcrop of the lower Jebel Khanzireh and across to a sandstone cliff on the slope ofWadi Sarmuj. Crossing over to the sandstone cliff meant the road had to descend a c. 300 mhigh cliff. At the foot of the cliff the road must traverse a most extraordinary route: the cliffs ofWadi Sarmuj to the north and the steep ravine of Wadi Hasa to the south leave between them anarrow ridge c. 50 m wide over which the road passes. At the western end of this ridge there issquare fort measuring c. 20 x 20 m. The remains of the road are clearly discernible on thesandstone slopes, sometime hewn, sometimes constructed. They can be easily followed until a

THE 'ASCENT OF LUHITH'

Fig. 3. The built bends of the road at the lower end of the limestone ridge.

Fig. 4. The new dirt road cut on the course of the ancient road that descends the 300mhigh sandstone cliff

PALESTINE EXPLORATION QUARTERLY

Figs 5 & 6. The view from the topof the sandstone cliff towards thefort that controls the passage at thefoot of the cliff.

THE 'ASCENT OF LUH1TH' 143

Fig. 7. The remains of the built road above the Wadi Sarmuj.

distance of 1.5 km from Zoar-Safi. Apparently the lower section of the road and the junctionwith Safi have been washed away in the many floods which sweep through this area. In additionto this imperial road, a secondary Roman road was discovered, it too ascending from the shoreof the Dead Sea to the Medinat-a-Ras ridge. This secondary road starts on the shore, c. 7 kmnorth of Safi, and climbs to a bluff of igneous rock. Here there are the remains of a small fortconstructed of sandstone and measuring 5 x 8 m. The road then enters into the moderate bedof Wadi Kunya, passes by a small spring, and ascends steeply to a saddle separating WadiKunya and a tributary of Wadi Numera. From there the road passes to a limestone ridge on thesouthern bank of Wadi Numera and reaches the village ofKhanzireh.

These new discoveries, along with the assumption that these Roman roads were builtalong older roads on the same course, allow the re-evaluation of the suggestions of Musil andVan Zyl of locating Luhith and Horonaim in the neighbourhood of Medinat-a-Ras. The linkbetween Luhith, Horonaim and Zoar is evident from the biblical sources as well as fromEusebius.

Indeed, Medinat-a-Ras itself is a small site, and Dearman is right in rejecting it as acandidate for Luhith. Kh. Dubab, on the other hand, is a settlement that according to the latestexcavation results (Bienkowski et al. 1997; Bienkowski and Adams 1999) existed during the IronII, Nabatean, Early and Late Roman periods. The site sits in fact astride an important roadjunction, at the head of two ancient ascents from Zoar and along a western branch of the'King's Highway' which crosses at this point the Wadi Hasa. This crossing of Wadi Hasa at the

144 PALESTINE EXPLORATION QUARTERLY

foot of Kh. Dubab c. 8 km. west of the modern highway and the Via Nova Trajana is wellknown and is marked on maps of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

As already mentioned, Kh. Dubab was identified by Van Zyl as Roronaim, a suggestionrejected on the basis of the lack of a Roman road in its immediate vicinity. The discovery ofthis new road from Zoar in fact voids these rejections (except those ofNaaman, which stand intheir own right) and the archaeological findings support all the historical sources. The new roadalso invalidates Mittman's main evidence for the assertion that the Kathrabba ascent is the'Ascent of Luhith', namely that the Kathrabba ascent is the only Roman road connecting theregion south of Kerak with Zoar. Both roads could now conceivably be the 'Ascent of Luhith'.The present state of research in southwestern Moab indicates that two Roman imperial roadsdescended from the Kerak plateau to the Dead Sea. In addition, the remains of four secondary,local Roman roads are now known, descending from the Moab plateau towards the Dead Seabetween Wadi Mujib and Wadi Rasa (see map).

Thus the search for the 'Ascent of Luhith' and the 'Way of Horonaim' has become morecomplicated, as there are now six 'candidates' in the relevant area. Yet, the associations betweenthese ancient roads and Zoar imply that at least one of them should be identified with highprobability with the newly discovered Roman imperial road.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Astour, M. C., 1992. 'Zoar', TIle AncllOr Bible Dictionary VI (New York), 11°7.Ben-David, C., 1999. 'Identifying Aia and Tharais to the east of the Dead Sea', Cathedra, 93, 57-66 (Hebrew).Bienkowski, P., Adams, R., Philpott, R. A., and Sedman, L., 1997. 'Soundings at Ash-Shorbat and Khirbat Dubab in

the Wadi Hasa,Jordan: the Stratigraphy', Levant, 29,41-7°.Bienkowski, P., and Adams, R., 1999. 'Soundings at Ash-Shorbat and Khirbat Dubab in the \Vadi Hasa,Jordan: the

Pottery', Levant, 3 I, 149-72.Cotton, H. Nr., and Greenfield, J. C., 1995. 'Babatha's Patria: Mahoza, Mahoz 'Eglatain and Zo'ar', ZPE, 107,

126-34·Dearman, A.J., 1990. 'The Moabite sites ofHoronaim and Luhith', PEQ; 122,21-46.-- 1997. 'Roads and Settlement in Moab', BiblicalArchaeologist, 60, 2°5-13.Donner, H. and Rollig, W., 1968. Kanaanaische undAramaische Inschrijten II, Kommentar(Wiesbaden).Ferch, A.J., 1992. 'Nimrin, The waters of', TIle Anc!lOr Bible Dictionary IV (New York), I I 16.Glueck, N., 1939. Explorations in Eastern Palestine III (AASOR 18- I 9).Hutteroth, ,tV. D., and Abdulfattah, K., 1977. Historical Geograplry if Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th

Century (Erlangen).Knauf, E. A., 1991. 'Toponomy of the Kerak plateau', in J. lVI. Miller (ed.) Archaeological Survey if the Kerak Plateau

(Atlanta), 28 I -90.Kuschke, A., 1961. :Jeremia 48 1-8. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur historischen Topographie lVloab', in A. Kuschke (ed.),

Verbannung und Heimkehr Beitrage Zur Geschischte und TIleologie im 6. und 5. ]aherhundert v. Chr. (Tiibingen), 18 I-96.Mattingly, G. L., 1992. 'Eglaim', TIle Anchor Bible Dictionary II (New York), 3 I2.Mittmann, S., 1982. 'The Ascent ofLuhith', Studies in the Iiistory andArchaeology if]ordan 1,175-80.Musil, A., 19°7. Arabia Petraea I, Moab, (Wien).Naaman, N., 1994. 'The campaign ofMesha against Horonaim', BN, 73, 27-30.Schmitt, G., 1995. Siedlungen Palastinas ingriec!lisc!l-rtimischer Zeit, (Wiesbaden).Schottroff, 'V., 1966. 'Horonaim, Nimrin, Luhith und der Westrand des "Landes Ataroth" " ZPD ~ 82, 163-208.Worschech, U. and Knauf, E. A., 1985. 'Antike Strasen in der nordwestlichen Ard-el-Kerak', ZPDT~ 101, 128-33'Worschech, U. and Knauf, E. A., 1986. 'Dimon und Horonaim', BN, 31, 70-95.Van Zyl, A. H., 1960. TIle Moabites (Leiden).Yadin, Y., 1962. 'The Cave of the Letters', IE], 12,227-57.Zayadine, F. 1999. 'The Kerak District in the Madaba Map', in M. Piccirillo and E. Alliata (eds.), TIle Madaba Map

Centenary 1897-1997 (Jerusalem), 229-30.