Ancient Jericho is the first city on earth. Jericho is the most ancient city on Earth. Case at the border

Today there are, as it were, three Jerichos: Ancient, at a distance of 2 km from it - New Testament, and, finally, the village of Jericho in the southeast of the old city. However, all these three Jerichos are either ruins discovered by archaeologists, or a poor settlement of people unaware of the once tragic history of this place.

During the excavations of Jericho (1930-1936), Garstang made such an astonishing discovery that he considered it necessary to attest to it with a special document signed by himself and two other members of the expedition.

He writes about this discovery as follows: “As for the main fact, there is therefore no doubt left in it: the walls of the city fell outward, and completely, so that the attackers could climb over their rubble and enter the city.”

Why is this fact so unusual? The fact is that the walls of cities do not fall outward, they fall inward. And yet, in the book of Joshua we read: “...and the wall of the city fell down to its foundations, and the people went into the city, every one from his side, and took the city” (Joshua 6:19). These walls fell outwards

Jericho - in Hebrew the city is called Yericho, in Arabic Erich.

Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, is mentioned numerous times in the Bible.

Jericho is the oldest excavated city in the world, with about 10 thousand years of almost continuous occupation.

In addition, it is the lowest city in the world, which is located more than 350 m below sea level in an oasis that is considered the largest in the entire Middle East and is located a few kilometers north of the northern tip of the Dead Sea.

Jericho is a city in the Palestinian Authority, in the West Bank. It is the capital of the province of Jericho.

Population 20,416 Palestinians (2006).

In the Late Bronze Age, Jericho was a prosperous city surrounded by a wall of mud brick. According to one version, the city was destroyed by the ancient Jews who invaded Canaan around 1550 BC. e.

Josephus Flavius, Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny and others mention him.

Also called the "city of palm trees".

Under Constantine the Great, there was a Christian church here, with a bishop at its head.

In 1948, during the Arab-Israeli War of 1947–49. Jericho was occupied by Transjordan, and in 1967, after the Six-Day War, it was occupied by Israeli troops.

View of modern Jericho

The ruins of ancient Jericho lie west of the modern city center. The first traces of human life here date back to the 8th millennium BC. uh

The New Testament connects the city of Jericho with the story of one of the remarkable acts of Jesus Christ - the healing of the “blind man of Jericho”: the blind man cried out to Christ passing by for healing, and he performed a miracle - the blind man received his sight.

There is only one existing city on the planet, that rivals the longevity of Jericho is Damascus.

At the beginning of the last century, 3 expeditions dug Tel Jericho in the hope of finding the biblical city. Only on the third attempt did archaeologists manage to get to the bottom of the city walls and tower from the times of ancient Canaan.

It is assumed that the environs of Jericho still hide under the thickness of the earth historical values ​​comparable to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

Perhaps the main attraction of Jericho is the mound of the ancient city, Tel Yericho. The Arabs call it Tel es-Sultan, and the source located next to it is En-Sultan, the same one in which the prophet Elisha - Elisha - desalinated the water. It was in this place that the walls stood, which fell from the sound of the Israelites' trumpets. Excavations carried out here many times, dating back to the time of English explorers of the last century, have discovered a lot of interesting things.

The town area of ​​that period is approximately 40 acres and is a large settlement for its time.

An ancient synagogue from around the 8th century was also found in Jericho. n. e. with a mosaic floor that was discovered by chance during the renovation of an old house.

The first excavations of ancient Jericho began in 1907-1908

Biblical Archeology of Jericho

The first excavations of ancient Jericho began in 1907-1908 by K. Watzinger, but the most significant results were obtained during the excavations of J. Garstang, carried out in 1930-1936. During these excavations, irrefutable evidence was found to confirm the messages of the book of Joshua. An ancient city arose from oblivion before archaeologists, the ruins of which very vividly told about its history. Jericho was a fairly typical Canaanite fortress, albeit of a large size. The city's fortifications consisted of two rows of walls, the outer one 2 meters thick and the inner one 4 meters thick.

The height of the walls was about 10 meters, and between them there was a passage 5 meters wide; this passage was connected by residential buildings, one of which was Rahab’s house. What struck archaeologists was that the walls of the city collapsed outward, which was truly amazing, contrary to all common sense, but that’s exactly how it was. The city wall collapsed to the ground, opening the way into the city for the attackers. During further excavations, traces of the terrible fires that destroyed the city were discovered.

Huge mountains of ash and coal were revealed to the eyes of archaeologists. Since ancient times, it was customary to collect everything valuable and edible from a conquered city, especially if it was then subjected to destruction. But instead, archaeologists discovered entire barns and storerooms filled with wheat, dates, lentils and many other supplies, things and objects, the dating of which showed that the city was destroyed around 1400 BC. Recent research by Dr. B. Wood has fully confirmed this date. It was also proven that the assault on the city took place in the spring, as evidenced by jugs filled with grain.

Conclusions:

1. Indeed, Jericho fell around 1400 BC, which completely coincides with biblical chronology.

2. The walls of the city collapsed outward.

3. The city was not plundered, for according to Joshua 6:20 everything in it was condemned.

4. The city was destroyed by fire (Joshua 6:23).

5. Houses in the wall were discovered, like the house of Rahab (Joshua 2:15).

6. The city was taken in the spring (Joshua 2:6, 3:15, 5:10).

What is this city famous for? The phrase “trumpets of Jericho” has entered the Russian language. It means a loud cry foreshadowing disaster. We also know that Jericho is the oldest city in Palestine, and probably on the entire planet. Archaeologists discovered that people lived in this place continuously for ten thousand years! Jericho is also interesting in terms of its geographical location: it is located 250 m below sea level. This is the deepest city on Earth. And, of course, as soon as we open the Bible, we soon come across a mention of Jericho.

It is spoken about in the books: Deuteronomy, Judges, 2 Chronicles, Joshua. But in the Gospel the biblical city in Palestine is also not ignored. Approaching him, our Lord healed a man who had been blind since birth. Entering the city walls on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus Christ met Zacchaeus, who was small in stature, and therefore climbed a fig tree to see the Messiah from behind the surrounding people. By the way, this tree is still alive, and it is shown to those who wish to see it.

“These are all legends,” says a person who does not believe the Bible. What do the facts, that is, material evidence, say about the “City of Palms” (according to one version, this is where the name of the city of Yoriho comes from)? Indeed, at the end of the 19th century, when the first British archaeological expedition arrived in the biblical city, it was a quiet provincial village. English scientists in 1868 dug up quite a bit. After 40 years, another expedition arrived in the village, this time consisting of Germans. which was led by archaeologist E. Sellin, immediately began to dig deep. As a result, in 1908, scientists discovered the ancient city wall.

To date, through the efforts of archaeologists, the biblical city in Palestine has revealed 23 layers of bygone civilizations. The first settlement west of the market square of modern Jericho dates back to the 8th millennium BC. e. But this is not what is important: the settlement was not a camp of wild nomads, but a city. This is evidenced by a powerful eight-meter tower dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic era. The settlement (7300 BC) amazed scientists with the scale of the city fortifications. It is almost impossible to believe that such powerful walls could be erected by people who did not know iron.

There are many artifacts of later eras in Jericho: the necropolis of the Chalcolithic period, the ruins of the winter residence of King Herod, the palace of the Arab culture of the 7th century. But what allows us to say that Jericho is precisely the biblical city in Palestine? Firstly, there is a spring at the Tel al-Sultan hill, called the spring of Elisha. In the Fourth Book of Kings (2:19-22) we read that the city was good for everyone, but the water in it was not good. threw salt there, which made the source drinkable. And not far from the city rises a mountain on which Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the Devil.

But what does “the trumpets of Jericho” mean? The book of Joshua tells that the ancient Jews decided to seize this very favorable place in the oasis, because Yahweh promised to support them. The army surrounded the biblical city in Palestine and began to blow loud trumpets and shout battle cries. As a result, the powerful fortifications collapsed, and the Israelis killed all the inhabitants with the exception of one house of the collaborator and harlot Rahab. Does this mystical story have any material confirmation? Indeed, the fortress wall of the huge city (17 hectares, which is unheard of in antiquity) collapsed in several places at once. But the reason for this was not the sound of a trumpet, but an earthquake.

Jericho is a city in the territory of modern Palestine, which is currently the oldest known continuously inhabited city in the world. Its history can be traced not only through objects discovered during archaeological excavations, but also through the pages of the Old Testament. Jericho is referred to as the "city of palm trees": there were a huge number of them growing here, and legends tell of Jericho as a place "where houses were not visible under the green canopy of palm trees."
True, it was precisely the fact that Jericho was mentioned in the Old Testament text that predetermined the history of its study. For a long time, no one was interested in the real geography of the places described in the oldest part of the Christian Bible - the fact of their existence was taken for granted, but they were not considered sacred. Biblical sites attracted the attention of archaeologists only in the middle of the 19th century.
Based on the results of archaeological excavations in the 1930s and 1950s. experts have found that Jericho was founded in the ninth millennium BC. e. Initially, it was a trading post at the intersection of ancient caravan routes.
The location of Jericho was extremely advantageous from all points of view. It was located away from the Mediterranean Sea, where pirates ruled,
but at the same time on the navigable Jordan River and next to the Dead Sea, through which trade routes also passed.
The heyday of Jericho occurred in the second millennium BC. BC: at this time the city was surrounded by a powerful double fortress wall, crafts flourished in it, the traditions of which, in particular, were introduced by settlers - bearers of the culture of making molded ceramic products.
By the end of the second millennium, Jericho, whose main population was Canaanites, was destroyed by Jewish tribes. This episode in the history of the city is described in the Bible in the story of the capture of Jericho by the Jewish people, freed from Egyptian captivity, led by Joshua. The walls of the city would have withstood any siege, but the Jews had a special weapon: they blew the trumpets with all their might for seven days, and, as the Bible says, “...by faith the walls of Jericho fell...”.
In the 9th century. BC e. Jericho was rebuilt, presumably by the Hyksos culture. True, the city in 587 BC. e. had to suffer defeat from the Babylonians. The strengthened and expanded city again suffered greatly during the First Jewish War (66-70 AD).
Already in the 1st century. n. e. under the Roman Empire, Jericho was rebuilt, southwest of the Old City. During construction, the Romans used a regular Hellenistic-Roman plan, with straight streets and squares, and turned the old city with its ruins into a necropolis. Subsequently, the Byzantines moved Jericho again, this time to the place where it is currently located.
In 1099, Jericho was captured by the crusaders. In 1187, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Salah ad-Din (or Saladin), captured the city, after which a period of desolation of Jericho began, which lasted until the 19th century, when a new settlement appeared on the site of the ruins. Subsequently, the city's population was often replenished by refugees who left their homes due to wars.
Since 1993, Jericho has been allocated to the Palestinian Authority under the terms of the Norwegian agreements to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In 1993, the Palestinian National Authority was created, and the city of Jericho became part of it, but not everyone can get into it.
Currently, experts are still studying the history of ancient Jericho, and they still have a lot of work to do. According to archaeologists, within the city, in addition to the remains of a settlement with the foundations of round adobe and rectangular residential buildings with a central courtyard, a layer of 17 cultural layers with a total thickness of about 15 meters has been preserved. Unfortunately, later cultural layers dating back to 2000-500. BC e., were lost as a result of erosion processes.
Experts nevertheless managed to learn a lot about the culture of the ancient inhabitants of Jericho. In particular, scientists were lucky enough to discover a layer dating back to the heyday of Jericho, as well as to the time of the attack on the city by Joshua.
Among the most unusual finds of archaeologists are ancient burials. It turned out that the Natufians - representatives of the Mesolithic culture (12500-9500 BC), who once inhabited Jericho - buried their deceased relatives without heads, replacing them with clay masks with shells inserted into the eye sockets; the skulls were separated and buried separately, also decorated clay and shells. It is assumed that this ritual was associated with the cult of the Moon, which, according to one version, is indicated by the name of the city itself: the word “yareah” means “moon”.
Unfortunately, the nature in the vicinity of the city has become very scarce: instead of palm groves and Jericho roses, balsam trees, now mainly thorny bushes and artificially planted olive trees grow here.
Jericho plays a special role in the Christian world. Several monuments from biblical times have been preserved here. In the ancient city, the waters of the spring of the prophet Elisha, which the saint made suitable for drinking, still flow. The Forty Day Mountain, or the Mount of Temptation, towering over Jericho, recalls the forty days of temptation by the devil of the fasting Jesus Christ, which the Holy Scriptures narrate. Nowadays, especially for the convenience of pilgrims, a cable car line has been installed to the top of the mountain.
The tree of Zacchaeus grows in the center of Jericho. According to the New Testament, the publican Zacchaeus climbed onto it to see Jesus Christ. A plot of land over which the branches of an ancient sycamore tree spread, at the end of the 19th century. was donated to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, and is now officially owned by the Russian government.
The ruins of ancient Jericho lie west of the center of modern Jericho, a city whose official and final status has not yet been determined by internationally accepted laws. Its population is about three thousand people, the majority live on international humanitarian aid programs. An additional source of income is serving tourists and Christian pilgrims who visit biblical sites, despite the risk involved due to the tensions in the region.

general information

Location: Palestine (West Bank), at the northern tip of the Dead Sea.

Official status: administrative center of the province of Jericho, Palestinian National Authority (status not fully determined).

Language: Arabic.

Ethnic composition: Palestinian Arabs.

Religion: Islam.

Currency: Israeli shekel, US dollar, euro, Jordanian dinar, Egyptian pound.

Major river: Jordan.

Large lake: .

Numbers

Jericho ruins area: 0.25 km 2 .
Population in the ruins area: OK. 3000 people

The area of ​​modern Jericho: 58.7 km 2 .

Population: 20,416 people. (2006).
Population density: 347.8 people/km 2 .

Average altitude relative to sea level: -258 m.

Distance: 7 km west of the Jordan River, 12 km northwest of the Dead Sea, 30 km northeast of Jerusalem.

Climate and weather

Subtropical.

Average January temperature: +15°C.

Average temperature in July: +31°С.
Average annual precipitation: 160 mm.

Relative humidity: 60%.

Economy

Agriculture: crop production, livestock production.
Services: tourism (servicing pilgrims), transport, trade.

Attractions

■ Historical: fortress tower (8400-7300 BC), burials of the Natufian culture period, city walls of the Bronze Age, ruins of the winter palaces of the Hasmonean dynasty and Herod the Great with baths and pools, ruins of a Byzantine city and the palace of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (VIII-IX centuries).

■ Religious: the synagogue of Israel (1st century BC), the synagogue of the Byzantine period, the source of the prophet Elisha, the Forty Day Mountain (also known as the Mount of Temptation and Mount Carantal), the Orthodox monastery of Temptation (IV century).

Curious facts

■ Jericho was the first of the Canaanite cities to be conquered by the Israelites, as it was a strategically important point at the entrance to Palestine.

■ Rose of Jericho is an annual herbaceous plant of the cabbage family, better known as tumbleweed: at the very beginning of the dry season, the plant dries up, the upper part is separated from the soil and moved by the wind, which promotes the spread of seeds. The seeds themselves remain viable for many years and are able to germinate in the ground almost before our eyes, within a few hours.

■ In total, ancient Jericho is mentioned in the Bible more than seventy times.

■ Currently, the only inhabitant of the Temptation Monastery, whose cells are carved directly into the rock, remains a Greek monk.

■ In 2011, a Russian museum and park complex was opened in Jericho as a sign of the development of “spiritual and cultural ties between Russia and the PNA.”

In contact with

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is mentioned many times in the Bible, where it is also called “the city of palm trees” (Deut. 34:3, Judg. 3:13, 2 Chron. 28:15).

Story

• Natufian culture - c. 10,000–9,600 BC BC, seasonal and then permanent sites of Natufian hunters and gatherers.
• Pre-Pottery Neolithic A - c. 9500 BC e. –8500 BC e. The buildings of this period are round in shape and built of adobe bricks. The outbreaks were located inside and outside houses. A stone wall was discovered, 3.6 m high and 1.8 m wide at the base. The wall was presumably used for flood protection, and the tower located inside was for religious purposes.

In the Late Bronze Age, Jericho was a prosperous city surrounded by a wall of mud brick. According to one version, the city was destroyed by ancient Jews who invaded around 1550 BC. e.

From that time on, almost nothing was heard about him for a long time, and only during the reign of Ahab did a certain Achiel break the spell and restore it, losing all his sons in the process.

After this, Jericho again took a prominent position and played a significant role in history. He is mentioned by Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny and others.

Under Constantine the Great, there was a Christian church here, with a bishop at its head.

Over time, Jericho began to decline.

In the 7th century After the conquest of the country by the Arabs, Jews expelled by Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula settled here. During the battles between the Crusaders and Muslims, Jericho was destroyed and lay in ruins until the 19th century.

Modern history

But after the division of the country and the death of Jesus, some Jews were tempted by the idolatry of the surrounding nations. Every time after such a violation of the covenant, the neighboring kings went to war against them and easily defeated them and took the offenders into captivity.

Attractions

The ruins of ancient Jericho lie west of the modern city center. The first traces of human life here date back to the 8th millennium BC. uh

In Jericho, a powerful tower (8 m) of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic era (period A, 8400-7300 BC), burials of the Chalcolithic period, city walls of the Bronze Age, perhaps the same ones that, according to legend, fell from the loud trumpets of the Israelis, were discovered warriors (the famous “Trumpets of Jericho”), the ruins of the winter palace-residence of Herod the Great with baths, swimming pools and luxuriously decorated halls, as well as the mosaic floor of the synagogue of the 5th-6th centuries.

At the foot of the Tel al-Sultan hill there is a spring of the prophet Elisha (Elisha), according to whose words, according to the Bible, the undrinkable water of this spring “has become healthy to this day” (2 Kings 2:19-22).

3 km north of modern Jericho are the ruins of a Byzantine city and the luxurious palace of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (VIII-IX centuries).

To the west of Jericho rises the Forty Days Mountain (Mount of Temptation, Mount Quarantal), where, according to legend, Jesus Christ fasted for forty days, tempted by the devil. Scientists suggest that archaeological treasures comparable to

Jericho. In Hebrew the city is called Yericho, in Arabic Erich and stands at the foot of the Judean Mountains opposite the mouth of the Jordan into the Dead Sea in the Jericho Oasis. Jericho is the oldest excavated city in the world, with about 10 thousand years of almost continuous occupation. In addition, it is the lowest city in the world, which is located more than 350 m below sea level in an oasis that is considered the largest in the entire Middle East and is located a few kilometers north of the northern tip of the Dead Sea.

The name of the city, according to one version, comes from the word “moon” - “yareah” in Hebrew, according to another - from the word “smell”, “fragrance” - “reah”. The second hypothesis may be related to the fact that in ancient times spices and incense were grown in the Jericho oasis - the only place in Israel where, due to the unique climate and availability of water, these crops can grow. The oldest archaeological evidence is the remains of a tower from Neolithic times, about 8 thousand years BC. e. The oldest written mention is the book of Joshua.

Immediately after the Jews' forty years of wandering in the desert and the death of Moses, the Jewish army crosses the Jordan approximately in the area of ​​modern Allenby Bridge and camps at Gilgal just on the eve of Passover. Jericho becomes the first city captured by the Israelites using a cunning military trick: the Jewish army circles the city 7 times, so that it appears seven times larger to the besieged, then blows 7 jubilee trumpets 7 times - “and the walls of the city fell” (Joshua 6). This is where the famous saying about the “trumpets of Jericho” came from. Jericho was completely destroyed, its inhabitants were destroyed to a single person, with the exception of the harlot Rahab, who at one time hid Jewish spies, for which she was spared.

It must be said that archaeologists have not found any evidence of that era, since the layer that should correspond in time to the Jewish capture of the Promised Land, like all subsequent layers, was washed away by the winter floods of the Wadi Kelt, which opens here. Of course, this is not proof that the events described in the book of Joshua did not actually occur. According to the division of the land between the tribes, the oasis of Yericho - the city itself was not restored - went to the tribe of Benjamin. It later served as a regional and agricultural center at various times and is mentioned many times in the Bible. During the Hasmonean period, a whole complex of summer royal palaces was built here, later rebuilt by Herod the Great for his needs. In particular, Herod built a theater and a hippodrome here in one building, which is quite unusual.

Biblical Jericho

It was presented as a most valuable gift to the famous Cleopatra by the lover Mark Antony. Destroyed during the Jewish War and rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the first half of the 2nd century. n. e. After the destruction of the Second Temple there were still several hundred years here - at least until the 7th century. - there was a Jewish community, a mosaic floor of a synagogue from the late Talmudic period was found. During the Crusades, the city was again completely destroyed and later became one of the important Arab centers, which it remains to this day. In 1994, it was transferred by the Rabin government to Arafat and became one of the main centers of the Palestinian Authority.

This place has always had extreme strategic importance for 3 main reasons: here was and is the crossroads of the most important roads and caravan routes of the Middle East, here is the largest oasis with a lot of fresh water, thanks to Wadi Kelt, Jordan and a number of local springs, and here is a unique climate that made it possible to grow Unique, especially in the ancient world, cultures, spices and incense, the world's oldest persimmon plantation was found here, it is believed that this fruit was first cultivated here. Excavations in this place, most interesting from a historical point of view, have been carried out since the middle of the last century. Archaeologists from all over the world took part in them, including such famous ones as Kathleen Canyon, and Israeli ones - Ehud Netzer.
Excavations of Hasmonean and Herodian palaces, carried out mainly in modern times under the direction of Ehud Netzer, are located right at the point where Wadi Kelt leaves a rocky chasm and breaks out into the open. The Hasmoneans have been building here probably since the founding of the dynasty, although maximum development occurred during the period of Alexander Jannaeus. After this, the most successful Hasmonean king, Queen Alexandra Salome - Shlomtsion ha-Malka, completed two more palaces, and during her lifetime, Antipater's son Herod, who was gradually coming into power, built his first villa - a summer palace. The Herodian construction here is quite unusual: it was carried out by a special construction team sent from Rome by Emperor Augustus' son-in-law Agrippa, and is therefore quite different from typical Herodian construction elsewhere.

Firstly, the buildings are made of unusually small bricks. Secondly, the walls are not made of square bricks, as everywhere else - opus quadratum, but diamond-shaped ones, which stand on a sharp edge - opus reticulatum. Such construction is observed only during this period and in only three places in Israel - here in Banias and near the Nablus Gate in Jerusalem. Most likely, the same team built in all three places, which then returned to Rome. Here the rear wall of a Herodian pool with niches for statues and plasterwork is well preserved. The building clearly shows a purely Hellenistic combination of architecture and nature, unusual for Roman architecture. In Israel, more than in Rome, traces and ideas of ancient Greece have been preserved. There are also the ruins of a large palace with a huge central hall, with a well-crafted floor lined with multi-colored stones, and pools with brick pillars with the remains of a very thick layer of plaster, as well as a round room with a round structure in the middle of an unknown purpose: perhaps a pool, or a fountain, or anything else.

Perhaps the main attraction of Jericho is the mound of the ancient city, Tel Yericho. The Arabs call it Tel es-Sultan, and the source located next to it is En-Sultan, the same one in which the prophet Elisha - Elisha - desalinated the water. It was in this place that the walls stood, which fell from the sound of the Israelites' trumpets. Excavations carried out here many times, dating back to the time of English explorers of the last century, have discovered a lot of interesting things. First Warren and then Kathleen Canyon excavated the entire body, revealing the ruins of the city right down to the Neolithic tower - 8th millennium BC. e., when there were no cities anywhere in the world. City walls made of red bricks have also been found, which date back to approximately the 3rd millennium BC. e. - the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, when again there were practically no cities in the world.

Jericho today

The town area of ​​that period is approximately 40 acres and is a large settlement for its time. The city was surrounded by a rampart, also preserved under a layer of earth, which surrounds an area twice the size of the city, which means that there may have been houses outside the fortress walls. The embankment had not only a military purpose, but also protected the city from floods. At the time of Joshua it no longer existed, so the layer from this period was later washed away. In the city today there is a Coptic church, in the courtyard of which the floor of the Byzantine Basilica of the Virgin was discovered. Not far from the bus station, the building of the Russian Orthodox mission and hostel for pilgrims has been preserved, on the territory of which a Byzantine tombstone tablet from 566 was found with a dedication to the local bishop. Today this building serves the Palestinian Authority. Ruins of various Byzantine buildings and churches were also discovered in different places of the city, among them Andrea, Tel el-Hasan and others. 600 m south of the main mound are the ruins of Herodian buildings, a theater and a hippodrome - Tel Samarat.
An ancient synagogue from around the 8th century was also found in Jericho. n. e. with a mosaic floor that was discovered by chance during the renovation of an old house. The mosaic depicts a menorah and the arch of the covenant - the aron ha-kodesh. There is also an inscription on the floor that reads: “Peace to the people of Israel.” The synagogue was discovered in 1936. This house now belongs to Jews and can be visited. Another important attraction of this ancient city is the ruins of the Arab palace of the Umayyad rulers of Yericho from the 8th century. n. BC, known as Hisham's Palace. It was founded around 747 - 749. ruler El-Walid over a fairly large area, including his own farm, stretching to the banks of the Jordan River. It is believed that even before El-Walid, in 724, another ruler, Hisham el-Malik, took a fancy to this place, although he did not have time to build practically anything. However, today the palace is mistakenly called by his name.

Entering the palace through an imposing gate with niches for statues is quite unusual for Islam, which prohibits all images of humans. The discovered sculptures are today in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. The gates are carefully decorated with complex ornate carvings, arabesques, so accepted in the Muslim world in everything, even the ornateness of speech. There is no symbolism in the images, they are just decorations. Behind the gate are seats - couches with stone headrests. Next is a huge courtyard with a beautiful abstract sculpture in the middle. From the courtyard there is a descent underground, where it is much cooler - there were rest rooms. This palace was never fully completed due to the injury and death of El-Walid, but he managed to erect most of the structures. It was excavated by Jordanians until 1967, and then by Israeli archaeologists. A huge and luxurious bath building with mosaic floors and very thick columns has been preserved.

The baths were supposed to be covered with a roof, but it either collapsed over time or was never built at all. The building is decorated with stone carvings and was covered with plaster. The guest room has been completely preserved with very beautiful mosaics, walls and roof. There are toilets nearby. The entrance to the baths was decorated with a dome and carvings, which are also kept in the Rockefeller Museum today. A mosque with a mihrab and a pool with small arches - arabesques and a fountain have also been preserved. Today Jericho is part of the Palestinian Authority and visiting the city is not recommended. There is an ancient road from Jericho to Ramallah, along which Roman mileposts have been preserved.

Photo: panoramio.com, wikipedia.org, juan.livejournal.com kezling.ru