ARAM, 8 (1996), 67-87 67 OBODA: A MAJOR NABATEAN CARAVAN HALT AVRAHAM NEGEV Oboda, and not Eboda as it has very often mistakenly been named,1 is the best known, and most fully described Nabatean caravan halt. It contained most elements present in a major caravan halt.2 As indicated by coins found in the Nabatean potter’s workshop3 and by pottery found in various loci at Oboda4, Nabatean Oboda was in existence from the late fourth to the second century BC. Small quantities of Hellenistic pottery were found all over the site. No solid architecture pertaining to the Early Nabatean period has been observed at Oboda, and the occupants of the site at that time seem to have lived in tents. Remains of an early fireplace of such an encampment were discovered beneath the floors of a first century BC. or AD. house in the vicinity of the Nabatean military camp (see below).5 Whether Oboda already served as a caravan halt at this early period is yet to be determined by research. Oboda was possibly abandoned for the greater part of the first century BC. It was reconquered by the Nabateans in the early part of the second half of the first century BC. The course of events at this time is not entirely clear. The Petra-Gaza caravan route runs northwestwards from Petra towards the large caravan station of Calguia, where it crossed the Arava.6 Thence, the road ran on to Mezad Qazra, Mezad Har Masa, Mezad Neqarot, and Maliatha. It then climbed the cliffs of the Ramon Crater at Mezad (Ma‘ale) Mahmal, and from there it ran over Mezad Grafon along the Oboda plateau.7 At this last sec- tion, the road is about seven meters wide. It was cleared of surface stones, and was furnished with curb stones along both sides. At certain sections, the road 1 A. Negev, “Oboda – The City of Obodas the God”, in K. Fitchen and G. Foerster, editors, Judaea and the Greco-Roman World in the Time of Herod in Light of Archaeological Evidence, (Acts of a Symposium Organized by the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Archaeological Institute of Goetingen at Jerusalem November 3rd-4th 1988), Oboda, A. Negev, “The City of Obodas the God”, 219-220. 2 A. Negev, The Architecture of Oboda Final Report, (Qedem Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University, 36, Jerusalem). 3 A. Negev, The Nabatean Potter’s Workshop at Oboda, (Bonn, 1973), 23. (Further: Negev, Potter’s Workshop). 4 A. Negev, The Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Pottery of Oboda. Final Report, (Qedem Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University, 22, Jerusalem, 1986), 4-9. (Further: Negev, Late Hellenistic). 5 For a description of Nabatean encampments in the Negev, see A. Negev, Nabatean Archae- ology Today, (New York University Press, 1986), 20-22. (Further cited: Negev, Nabatean Archaeology). 6 For the route: Y. Tzafrir, and others, Tabulae Imperii Romani Iudaea – Palaestina, (Eretz Israel during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods). (Further: Tabulae). 7 Tabulae, p. 96 for the identification of H. Moa, Moyet ‘Awad with Calguia. 68 OBODA: A MAJOR CARAVAN HALT was marked by uninscribed milestones.8 Since I was not aware of Meshel's and Tzafrir’s survey, I also dealt with this caravan route, dating it to the first century AD.9 R. Cohen, who excavated a major fort guarding it, revised the date of its use upwards, dating it to the second century AD.10 THE OBODA CARAVAN HALT. [Fig. 1] THE NABATEAN MILITARY CAMP. [Fig. 2] [Fig. 3] [Fig. 4] The road winds along the plateau, and ends at the southern gate of the mili- tary camp. This camp is one of the objects which had already attracted the atten- tion of some of the scholars who visited Oboda in the early part of this century. They were the first to describe it and to draw its plan. Since 1959 I have per- sonally carried out trial digs there.11 It measures approximately 100 by 100 m. The camp is flanked by four large rectangular towers at the corners, and there are additional smaller towers in between. Its main gate on the south was built of hard limestone ashlars, which have a grainy quality. Stones of the same type were employed in the construction of the main temple at Oboda. There are 37 rooms and halls which were built in the interior of the camp, abutting on the walls. The interior southwestern corner of the camp is occupied by a large rec- tangular structure, the nature of which has not yet been ascertained. The camp is crossed by a via principalis, which runs from north to south. To the east of the wide via principalis are four barracks of ten rooms each, arranged five in a row, and set back to back. In the wide streets separating the barracks from each other, there were probably sheds for the dromedaries and the draught camels. The camp seems to have had only one gate. On account of the typically Nabatean and Early Roman pottery which was found on the floors of the gate and of some of the barrack rooms, I dated this structure to the first century AD. That the Nabateans indeed had a regular army, commanded by centurions, chiliarchoi, strategoi, and hipparchoi, may be inferred from the Nabatean epi- taphs found at the Nabatean cemetery of Medain Salih.12 The Medaba epitaph makes it clear that the Nabateans had military camps. We know from it that a ahirwm br, a camp commander, commanded the camps at Luhito and ahdby, about which Cantineau writes: “est-ill impossible, en lisant ahdby, de penser a la ville de ‘Abdeh, ancienne ‘Oboda, dans le Negeb?”13 I again excavated at the camp in 1977, together with R. Cohen. Cohen con- cludes: “The potsherds hitherto found in casemate rooms, in the towers, and in 8 For a detailed description of the road see Z. Meshel and Y. Tzafrir, “The Nabatean Road from ‘Avdat To Shaar Ramon I”, PEQ, 106 (1974), 103-118; II-III, PEQ, 107 (1975), pp. 3-21. 9 A. Negev, “The Date of the Petra = Gaza Road”, PEQ, 88 (1966), 89-98. 10 R. Cohen, “New Light on the date of the Petra-Gaza Road”, BA, 45 (1982), 240-247. 11 A. Negev, Tempel, Kirchen und Zisternen, (Stuttgart, 1983), 69 (aerial photograph), 72. (Further cited: Negev, Tempel, Kirchen). 12 A. Negev, “The Nabatean Necropolis at Egra”, RB, 83 (1976), 203-236. 13 J. Cantineau, Le Nabatéen, II, (Osnabrueck, 1978, reprint of Paris, 1930), 44-45. A. NEGEV 69 Fig. 1. General view. Background: Nabatean temples, Byzantine churches and Late Roman- Byzantine citadel; Foreground, right: Nabatean military camp and animal sheds; Foreground, left: potter’s workshop and sheds for sheep, goats, and camels. Fig. 2. The Nabatean military camp, looking south-southwest. 70 OBODA: A MAJOR CARAVAN HALT Fig. 3. Nabatean military camp, looking East. On the right, the main gate. Note the partial streets. Fig. 4. Nabatean military camp. The main gate in rooms in the casemate wall. A. NEGEV 71 the gate, were not numerous, but nevertheless, there is no doubt that they are of the 1st-2nd centuries AD. By the way, not a single complete vessel was found. I think that there is no conclusive evidence for the construction of the camp in the first century AD. It is only by the resumption of the excavations that this problem, so important for the history of Oboda, will find its final solution”. Cohen goes on to say: “The main problem today is whether the camp – which is in fact a large citadel, and not a temporary camp – was built in the times of the Nabatean kingdom, or after the annexation of the kingdom in AD 106. In the whole of the Nabatean kingdom, not a single military camp or a citadel of such a magnitude was hitherto discovered. If it will be proved that the camp was indeed built by the Nabateans, it will shed new light on the mil- itary power of the Nabateans, and on Oboda’s special role in the Nabatean mil- itary setup. Nevertheless in its external plan the camp is reminiscent of plans of Roman fortresses, and for this reason one may not altogether rule out the possibility that the camp was built by Romans at the beginning of the 2nd cen- tury AD. If this is proven, it may point out the strength of the Roman military deployment in the Negev mountains in the 2nd century AD.”.14 I totally reject Cohen’s conclusions. It is true that not a single complete pottery vessel was found in the excavations of the camp. Since when, however, is this an impediment to the correct dating of pottery? The volumes on which the dating of the Nabatean pottery of Oboda is based15 contain 181 items in one volume, and 1201 pieces of pottery in the other. These are all mainly broken vessels. Does this mean that the chronology of the Nabatean pottery of Oboda is faulty? I wonder. Moreover, almost every piece of pottery found in the camp passed my hand and eyes (at times even the tip of my tongue), and these are in no way different from the pottery found in the Nabatean potter’s workshop and in other loci at Oboda. Do we have to re-date these as well? Publishing the pottery found in the camp, which is exclusively at Cohen’s disposal in the stores of the Authority of Antiq- uities in Jerusalem, would help finally to resolve this important problem.