Khirbet ad-Dharih

Early in the I St century AD a Nabataean settlement was built on an abandoned Edomite site not far from Khirbet atTannur. It was well situated, being beside the King’s Highway and near three abundant springs. Judging by the three olive presses that were found here, the inhabitants were active farmers and in time their little settlement expanded into a village.

At the beginning of the 2nd century AD - either late in the reign of Rabbel II or early in the Roman period - the small temple here was replaced by one that was larger and more lavishly decorated. Relief carvings of gods and mythological figures, such as Hermes, Pan, Castor and Pollux and others, all representing signs of the zodiac, formed a spectacular frieze on the temple’s main façade. The dominance of the zodiac suggests that the Nabataeans’ main agricultural festivals were celebrated here.

The size of the temple and its precinct in relation to the small village, and the presence near the temple of a hostel building, indicate that this Site, like nearby Khirbet at-Tannur, was a pilgrimage centre, The precinct was not completed until around AD 150, well into the Roman period, and the life of the sanctuary and village seem to have continued without interruption until they were destroyed in the 363 earthquake and abandoned.

The sanctuary (but not the village) was reoccupied in the 6th century and the temple was reoriented and converted into a church; it continued in use until the early Abbasid period when it was again abandoned.