Horvat Maʿon (Hebrew) or Tell Maʿin / Khirbet el-Maʿin[1] (Arabic) is an archaeological site located 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of
Gaza, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southwest of Kibbutz
Nirim in the
Negev, the arid southern portion of
Israel; in the Roman period, the site is thought to have formed the western boundary of the Limes Palaestinae.[2]
Horvat Maʿon, under the name
Menois, was the capital of Saltus Constantinianus,[6] also known as Saltus Constantiniaces,[7] an administrative district formed by either
Constantine the Great or
Constantius II.[8]
Excavations there have uncovered the
Maon Synagogue, known for its mosaics adorned with various animals and likely built around 600 CE.[9][10] The date of the mosaic has been alternatively given as the first half of the 6th century, based on its style.[11]
^Chiat, Marilyn J. (2020), "Limes Palaestinae", Handbook of Synagogue Architecture, Providence, R.I.: Brown Judaic Studies, p. 243,
JSTORj.ctvzpv521.14
^Amit, David (n.d.). "Hurvat Ma'on". In Ben-Yosef, Sefi (ed.). Israel Guide - Judaea (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) (in Hebrew). Vol. 9. Jerusalem:
Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence. pp. 222–223.
OCLC745203905.
^Yeivin, S. "A Year's Work in Israel." Archaeology, vol. 11, no. 4, 1958, pp. 244–245. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41663614.
^[1] "One of the Most Spectacular Mosaic Floors Ever Discovered in Israel was Restored and Renovated and Can Now be Seen by the General Public," (30/3/09), Israel Antiquities Authority.
^Negev, Avraham & Gibson, Shimon. Mosaics. Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, pp. 314-315.