Hyrcania (fortress)
| Ὑρκανία | |
The ruins of the fortress at the acropolis of Hyrcania
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 Shown within the Palestinian territories
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| Location | Bethlehem Governorate, West Bank |
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| Region | Judea |
| Coordinates | 31°43′11″N 35°21′56″E / 31.71972°N 35.36556°ECoordinates: 31°43′11″N 35°21′56″E / 31.71972°N 35.36556°E |
| Type | Fortification |
| History | |
| Builder | John Hyrcanus or Alexander Jannaeus |
| Founded | 2nd or 1st century BC |
| Abandoned | 14th century AD |
| Periods | Hellenistic to Late Middle Ages |
Hyrcania (Ancient Greek: Ὑρκανία; Arabic: Khirbet el-Mird) was an ancient fortress in the Judean Desert. The site was rebuilt during the Byzantine period as a monastery called Kastellion.
The site is located on an isolated hill about 200 m above the Hyrcania valley, on its western edge. It is about 5 km west of Qumran, and 16 km east of Jerusalem. The site has not yet been thoroughly excavated. Current knowledge about the ruins of the site is based on a limited number of test pits.
Hyrcania was apparently built by John Hyrcanus or his son Alexander Jannaeus in the 2nd or 1st century BC. The first mention of the fortress is during the reign of Salome Alexandra, the wife of Jannaeus, c. 75 BC: Flavius Josephus relates that, along with Machaerus and Alexandrion, Hyrcania was one of three fortresses that the queen did not give up when she handed control of her strongholds to the Pharisee party.
The fortress is mentioned again in 57 BC when Alexander of Judaea, son of Aristobulus II, fled from the Roman governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, who had come to suppress the revolt Alexander had stirred up against Hyrcanus II. Alexander made to re-fortify Hyrcania, but eventually surrendered to Gabinius. The fortress was then razed. The Greek geographer Strabo also notes the destruction, along with that of Alexandrion and Machaerus, the "haunts of the robbers and the treasure-holds of the tyrants", at the direction of Gabinius's superior, the Roman general Pompey.
Hyrcania is next reported in 33–32 BC being used in an uprising against Herod the Great led by the sister of Herod's executed former rival Antigonus. The fortress was retaken, and extended; it became notorious as a place where Herod imprisoned and killed his enemies, ultimately including his own son and heir Antipater.
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Wikipedia