TERRACOTTA OIL LAMP

Bayt Nattif stood on the much-traveled ancient road connecting Eleutheropolis (Beit Guvrin) with Jerusalem, about midway between the two towns. The city had been assigned the status of toparchy, one of eleven toparchies or prefectures in Judaea given certain administrative responsibilities, known in classical sources by the name Betholetepha. According to Josephus, the city was sacked under Vespasian and Titus, during the first Jewish uprising against Rome. During the 12th year of the reign of Nero, when the Roman army had suffered a great defeat under Cestius Gallus, with more than five-thousand foot soldiers killed, the people of the surrounding countryside feared reprisals from the Roman army and made haste to appoint generals and to fortify their cities. Generals were at that time appointed for Idumea, namely, over the entire region immediately south and south-west of Jerusalem, and which incorporated within it the towns of Bethletephon, Betaris, Kefar Tobah, Adurim, and Maresha. This region was called Idumea by the Romans on account of it being inhabited largely by the descendants of Esau (Edom) who became proselytes to Judaism during the time of John Hyrcanus.