29
30°47′50″N / 34°46′32″E
October 9, 2011. Partially buried remains of the ancient Roman army camp at Ovdat/‛Abdāt. The main gate to the camp is at the bottom of the frame, with the principal axis leading along the dormitories in the center of the space to the headquarters in a cluster along the back wall. The size of the camp is 100 × 100 meters, with 12 towers that can be seen at the corners and along the outer walls. Thirty-six dwelling and storage rooms are clustered in six groups around the perimeter. Estimates suggest that the camp accommodated 500 soldiers and was erected in the Early Roman period of the first century AD, following the fall of the Nabataean kingdom, so as to exert military control over the spice route from Arabia to Gaza. It was dismantled in the second century AD, following a Jewish rebellion, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire.