• from Avraham Negev in Stern et. al. (1993 v.3)

Nessana is in the western part of the central Negev desert, 52 km (32 mi.) southwest of Beersheba (map reference 0970.0318). The settlement was in existence from the Hellenistic to the Early Arab periods. In 1807, U. J. Seetzen recorded the Arabic name 'Auja el-Hafir for the site on his travel map. E. Robinson discovered Nessana in 1838, but mistakenly identified it with 'Abda (q.v. Oboda). This mistake was corrected by E. H. Palmer in 1871.

• from Avraham Negev in Stern et. al. (1993 v.3)

Nessana seems to belong to the initial Nabatean wave of colonization in the Negev, at which time Elusa and Oboda were also founded. This is evidenced by the numerous imported Hellenistic wares found on the eastern side of the acropolis. Among these are second- and first-century BCE stamped amphora handles that originated in Rhodes, Cos, Pamphylia(?), and Italy. The early coins include those of Ptolemy IV (212 BCE), Ptolemy VIII (127-126 BCE), and John Hyrcanus (134-104 BCE). The Colt expedition assigned a fort (25 by 27m) on the eastern side of the acropolis to this period. Excavations made by the Ben-Gurion University team have shown that the monumental stairway leading from the lower city to the acropolis is not from the Byzantine period, as the Colt expedition assumed, but from the second half of the first century BCE. This writer believes that these stairs do not lead to a fort, but to a Nabatean temple.

The Middle Nabatean period (30 BCE-50/70 CE) is dated by painted Nabatean ware and Early Roman pottery, as well as by coins of Aretas IV (9 BCE-40 CE) and of Malichus (40-70 cE) or Rabbel II (70-106 CE). It seems that at this time a temple (?) was built on the eastern side of the acropolis. No finds could be dated to the Late Nabatean period. However, two coins of Septimius Severus (193-211 CE) suggest the possibility that Nessana was to some extent also inhabited in the Late Nabatean period. Activities on a very large scale began after the middle of the third century CE, and especially during the reign of Constantine II (312-337 CE). Nabatean ostraca, inscribed on pebbles with ink, may belong to the second and third centuries CE. The excavators did not date any buildings on the acropolis to this period, but ascribed the construction of the fortress to the early fifth century. On the other hand, Negev dates the large citadel to the early fourth century CE.

Shortly after the construction of the fortress on the acropolis, the North Church, which adjoins it, was built. At about the beginning of the seventh century, the South Church was built a short distance south of the citadel. There were two or three churches in the lower city, probably built in the fifth and sixth centuries, one of them excavated by the Ben-Gurion University team.

Nessana's prosperity continued throughout the Byzantine period and during the first century following the Arab conquest. To this period belong typical pottery vessels, Byzantine coins of Constans II (641-668 CE), and Arab coins imitating coins of that emperor, minted at Damascus, and in other Early Arab mints. The papyri found at Nessana, both Greek and bilingual Greek-Arabic, date from the sixth to late seventh centuries CE. There is no evidence for the existence of Nessana later than the eighth century CE.

• from Avraham Negev in Stern et. al. (1993 v.3)

The most significant discovery made at Nessana is literary, theological, and legal papyri. Among the literary papyri found by the Colt expedition were eleven books or fragments ofbooks: a Greek dictionary to Virgil's Aeneas; a fragment of Aeneas; several chapters of the Gospel of John; the Acts of Saint George; and the apocryphal letters of Abgar to Christ and Christ's reply. The 195 nonliterary documents and fragments date to 512 to 689 CE. Among them are documents relating to all spheres of life: financial contracts, marriage and divorce, division of property and inheritance, bills of sale, receipts of various kinds, letters concerning church matters, military matters, grain yields, and wheat. Bilingual Greek-Arabic documents are concerned with the requisition of wheat, oil and money, and food and poll taxes. Not all the papyri pertain to the central Negev region, however. Two lengthy documents dealing with the sale of dates must have come from the southern coastal region. Among the military documents are some their publisher explains refer to an account of the allotment of taxes by villages. In this papyrus, four sites in the central Negev, two in the Beersheba Plain, and three in the region to the north of the plain are listed. The editor suggested that the high sums of money named were taxes on landed property, to be paid by well-to-do farmers and land-owning soldiers (limitanei). This is, however, unlikely. According to the list, Nessana, Oboda, and Mampsis (Kurnub) are supposedly required to pay the same taxes; however, they differ greatly in both actual amount of landed property and population. This writer has suggested that the sums mentioned in the document are, rather, bimonthly payments of the annona militaris, which the military provincial authorities paid members of the militia recruited from the nine sites mentioned in the document. In one of the documents, in which much smaller sums of money are dealt with, payments to individuals or small groups of individuals are listed.

• from Avraham Negev in Stern et. al. (1993 v.3)

Palmer observed the remains of a church in the lower city, which according to him was in a very ruinous state, and drew a plan of the South Church on the acropolis, whose walls were still 9 m high. The walls of both the citadel and the church were still faced with ashlars. Along the riverbed of Nahal Nessana, Palmer marked the presence of three ancient wells, one of which was named by the local Bedouin Bir es-Saqiyeh (Well of the Water Wheel). A. Musil visited the site in 1902. He drew the first detailed plan of the lower city, a plan of the South Church on the acropolis, and a section of a well that the Turkish authorities cleared to a depth of 15 m without reaching the water level. E. Huntington, who visited 'Auja in 1909, described the administrative center the Turks had built in 1908 above the ruins of a church. The church had been decorated with multicolored mosaic pavements in which there were Greek inscriptions - one from the year 601 CE. He also mentioned another church, with inscriptions dating to the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries (there was a guest house on the ruins of this church). Huntington described two parallel colonnaded streets 200 m long. In the lower city, he observed remains of two additional churches. His description of the lower city is not supported by the description of any other travelers, however - including C.L. Woolley and T. E. Lawrence, who visited the site in 1914. By that time the Turks had already built three new buildings in the lower city.

In 1916, 'Auja was visited by the Committee for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments attached to the German-Turkish military command, under the direction of T. Wiegand. The new buildings were fully documented and a plan of the North Church on the acropolis, discovered then, was made. Several Greek inscriptions were copied, and the first papyrus fragments were found (see below). Nabatean painted pottery was identified as Coptic. In 1921, A. Alt published the 150 Greek inscriptions from the Negev known up to that time in the committee's publications. In 1933, J. H. Iliffe identified Nabatean painted pottery at 'Auja. The Colt expedition, under the auspices of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, excavated the site in 1935- 1936 and 1936-1937. Excavations were made on the acropolis, where the papyri were found in which the ancient name of the site, Νεσσανα, is frequently mentioned. In 1987, excavations at Nessana were resumed by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, under the direction of D. Urman.

• from Dan Urman in Stern et. al. (2008)

Excavations at Nessana in the Negev were resumed in 1987–1995 by an expedition of Ben-Gurion University, under the direction of D. Urman. In 1987–1991 the excavations were co-directed by J. Shereshevski, and in 1991–1992 by D. E. Groh.

• Location Map from
  Map of the ancient cities along the Incense/Spice route
  
  based on BibleMapper 3.0
  
  Used with permission from BibleWalks.com
  BibleWalks.com

• Annotated Aerial View of Nessana
  Annotated Aerial View of Nessana
  
  Used with permission from BibleWalks.com
  from BibleWalks.com
• Aerial view of Churches of
  View of the Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus (below) and the Turkish-German hospital constructed over the Byzantine fort (above), looking southwest.
  
  Stern et. al. (2008)
  St. Sergius and Bacchus from Stern et. al. (2008)
• Nessana in Google Earth
  Nessana in Google Earth
  
  click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth
• Nessana on govmap.gov.il
  Nessana on govmap.gov.il
  
  click on image to explore this site on a new tab in govmap.gov.il

Tepper Y., Weissbrod L., Erickson-Gini T., and Bar-Oz G. 2020. Nizzana 2017. Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel 132.

​ Tepper Y., Weissbrod L., Erickson-Gini T., and Bar-Oz G. 2020. Nizzana 2019. Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel 132.

Colt, H.D. et al., Excavations at Nessana 1, London 1962

L. Casson and E. L. Hettich, Excavations at Nessana 2: Literary Papyri, Princeton 1950

C. J. Kraemer, Excavations at Nessana 3: NonLiterary Papyri, Princeton 1958. - can be borrowed with a free account from archive.org

Nessana: Excavations and Studies. (2004). Israel: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press.

D. Urman et al., Nessana Excavations 1987–1995 (Nessana Excavations and Studies 1; Beer Sheva 17), Beer-Sheva 2004 (Heb.)

Nessana Expedition Website

Nessana Expedition Website - Publications

Crisis on the margins of the Byzantine Empire website - run by Guy Bar-Oz at the University of Haifa

Nessana at BibleWalks.com

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• from Wikipedia - click link to open new tab

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