Sign in to customize your favorite categories

Beth-Guvrin replaced Maresha as the most important settlement in the Lachish Stream Basin. The city boasted an amphitheater and public buildings. From the Roman and the Byzantine periods (2nd-3rd centuries AD) a Jewish cemetery and architectural remains were discovered. In the 5th century Bet-Guvrin was an important center of Christianity with several churches. Most of the bell caves are Early Muslim (7th-10th centuries AD). In the Crusader period (12th century) it was a small fortified city surrounded by Crusader villages.