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Jericho

Q5687

Jericho (Tel es-Sultan): ancient settlement in the valley of the Jordan river.

Jericho, Skull from Pre-Pottery Neolithic B

Ancient settlement near a well; remains going back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B; several walls
Plantations; known as "City of the Palm Trees"
Seventh century BCE: when the Deuteronomist composes the Deuteronomistic History, he attributes the collapsed walls, which were still visible, to Joshua
Achaemenid administrative center; the plantations become private property of the Persian king
347 BCE: Achaemenid campaign against Nectanebo II; Jericho destroyed and Jews were deported to Hyrcania. (The biblical book Judith contains echoes of this campaign.)
After c.300: Property of the Ptolemaic king
After c.200: Property of the Seleucid king; fortified during the Maccabaean revolt
Refortified by Herod the Great (who calls the fort Cypris) and offered to Cleopatra
After the demise of Cleopatra Augustus gives the settlement back to Herod. He builds aqueducts and a hippodrome. After Herod's death, Jericho's royal palace was destroyed by the rebel Simon of Perea.^note
During the Jewish War (66-70): visit by Vespasian; base of X Fretensis
Population growth in Late Antiquity