MARESA. - City of Judea (Josh. 15:44) fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:8). In Greek times it was inhabited by Edomites and known under the name of Marisa or Marissa. John Hyrcanus subdued it in 110, but in 63 B.C. Pompey made it once again a free city. It was destroyed in 40 B.C. by the Parthians.

Eusebius (Onomast., 130, 10) locates it 2 miles from Eleutheropolis (= Bejt Gibrin), and it was identified by Bliss with Tell Sandahannah. There Bliss and Macalister conducted excavations in 1900, finding among other things coins of the Ptolemies and two inscriptions concerning Arsinoe and Berenice, wife and mother of Ptolemy IV (222-205). Noteworthy at Tell Sandahannah is a painted tomb (3rd century B.C.), which, besides bearing several names that reveal their Greek, Idumean, Phoenician and Macedonian origin, has a hunting scene and drawings of various animals. Since 1948 the locality has been part of the State of Israel.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: J. - P. Peters - H. Thiersch, Painted tombs in the necropolis of Marissa, London 1905; F. J. Bliss - R. A. Macalister, Excavations in Palestine during the years 1898-1900, ibid. 1907, p. 273; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, p. 379.

Bellarmino Bagatti

@incollection{ec8_maresa, author = {Bagatti, Bellarmino}, title = {Maresa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {64}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/maresa} }

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