In time for the Hanukkah holiday, the IAA announced that recent work in the Negev had demonstrated that the Hasmonean kings had extended their rule deep into the Negev. Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini, of the IAA, explained that Josephus had indicated that their rule had only extended to just south of the Gaza strip, which was conquered by Alexander Yannai in 99 BCE, and archaeologists had found nothing to indicate that their rule extended further. Now, at the fortress of Horvat Ma'agura, two miles west of the Sde Boker region, it was found that it was the Hasmoneans who built the fortress (and not the Romans as previously thought) to stop the Nabateans using this route to bring spices from Petra to Gaza. Hasmonean coins of Alexander Yannai were found here as well as at Nessana, a desert town, about 25 miles west of Horvat Ma'agura. It appears that the Hasmoneans employed mercenary as well as Jewish troops to fight the Nabateans, judging by the evidence of imported vessels and wine, the remains of whose dregs were found by Dr. Erikson-Gini.

Stephen G. Rosenberg

Albright Institute, Jerusalem