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{{Short description|Ancient religious site in Hebron}}
{{About||the tree at the Russian Orthodox monastery at Hebron|Oak of Mamre|other uses|}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name           = Mamre
|native_name=
|alternate_name = Mambre. ''For Ramat el-Khalil site:'' Ramat el-Khalil, Ramet el-Khalil (Rāmet el-Ḥalīl), Haram Ramet el-Khalil, Beit Khalil er-Rahman, Beit el-Khalil ('Abraham's House')<ref name=PPTS>Macpherson (1895), p.[https://archive.org/details/libraryofpalesti03paleuoft/page/n57/mode/2up 33]–34, fn. 1.</ref><ref name=Greenberg>Greenberg & Keinan (2009)</ref><ref name=Jericke>Jericke (2003), p. 1</ref><ref name=ChrRex>Magen, Duval, Donner, Bagatti, Di Segni (2000)</ref>
|image          = File:Elonei Mamre 04.jpg
|alt=
|caption        = Archaeological remains at Ramat el-Khalil
|map_type       = West Bank
|map_alt=
|map_size       = 220
|location       = [[West Bank]], [[Hebron]] area
|region=
|coordinates    = {{coord|31.556536|35.105336|display=inline}}
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|built          = ''Ramat el-Khalil site:'' doubtful according to latest data: 9th–8th century BCE, [[Kingdom of Judah]];<ref name=Drbal>Drbal (2017)</ref><br />1st century BCE, [[Herod the Great]];<br />130 CE, [[Emperor Hadrian]];<br />324 CE, [[Constantine the Great]];<ref name=Negev>Negev & Gibson (2001)</ref><br />doubtful: 12th century, Crusaders<ref name=Negev /><ref name=Greenberg /><ref name= Pringle1998/>
|abandoned=
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|excavations=
|archaeologists = ''Ramat el-Khalil:'' Andreas Evaristus Mader (1926–1928), Sayf al-Din Haddad (1977), 'Abd el-Aziz Arjub (1984–1985),<ref name=Greenberg /> Yitzhak Magen (1986–1988)<ref name=Langfur>[http://www.netours.com/content/view/105/26/1/3/ Stephen Langfur, ''Byzantine Mamre'']</ref>
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}}
'''Mamre''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|m|r|i}}; {{langx|he|מַמְרֵא}}), full name "Oaks of Mamre", refers to an ancient religious site originally focused on a single holy tree growing "since time immemorial" at [[Hebron]] in [[Canaan]].<ref name=Spano>Niesiolowski-Spano (2016).</ref> At its first location, Khirbet Nimra, a pagan [[Sacred tree|tree cult]] predated the biblical narrative.<ref name=Heyden2016>Heyden (2016)</ref> It is best known from the [[Hebrew Bible|biblical]] story of [[Abraham#Three visitors|Abraham and the three visitors]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|18:1–8|niv}}</ref> The tree under which he had pitched his tent is known as the oak or terebinth of Mamre. Modern scholars have identified three sites near Hebron which, in different historical periods, have been successively known as Mamre: '''Khirbet Nimra''' (a little excavated Persian and Hellenistic period site), '''Ramat el-Khalil''' (the best known site, flourished from the Herodian through the Byzantine period), and '''Khirbet es-Sibte'''. The last one contained an old oak tree identified by a relatively new tradition as the [[Oak of Mamre]], which has collapsed in 2019, and is on the grounds of a [[Abraham's Oak Holy Trinity Monastery|Russian Orthodox monastery]].
Jewish-Roman historian [[Josephus]], as well as Christian and Jewish sources from the [[Byzantine]] period, locate Mamre at the site later renamed in Arabic as Ramat el-Khalil, 4&nbsp;km north of historical Hebron and approximately halfway between that city and [[Halhul]]. [[Herod the Great]] apparently initiated the Jewish identification of the site with Mamre, by erecting there a monumental enclosure. It was one of the three most important "[[fair]]s" or market places in [[Judea]], where the fair was held next to the venerated tree, accompanied by an interdenominational festival joined in time by Jews, pagans, and Christians. This prompted Emperor [[Constantine the Great]] to unsuccessfully attempt at putting a stop to this practice by erecting a Christian [[basilica]] there.
==Hebrew Bible==
===Names and events===
Mamre is the site where Abraham pitched the tents for his camp, built an [[altar]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|13:18}}), and was brought divine tidings, in the guise of three angels, of [[Sarah]]'s pregnancy ({{bibleverse|Genesis|18:1-15}}).
Genesis 13:18 has Abraham settling by 'the great trees of Mamre'. The original Hebrew tradition appears, to judge from a textual variation conserved in the [[Septuagint]], to have referred to a single great oak tree, which Josephus called [[Ogyges]].<ref name=Spano /> Mamre may have been an [[Amorites|Amorite]], a tribal chieftain after whom a grove of trees was named. Genesis connected it with Hebron or a place nearby that city.<ref name=Pagolu>Pagolu (1998)</ref> Mamre has frequently been associated with the [[Cave of the Patriarchs]]. According to one scholar, there is considerable confusion in the Biblical narrative concerning not only Mamre, but also Machpelah, Hebron and [[Kiryat Arba]], all four of which are aligned repeatedly.<ref name=Stavros>Stavrakopoulou (2011)</ref> In [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], Mamre is also identified with Hebron itself ({{bibleverse|Genesis 23:19, 25:27|multi=yes}}).<ref>Jericke p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=67Q3uY4opoAC&pg=PA1 4]: Book of Genesis, 23:19; 25:27.</ref><ref name=Letellier>Letellier (1995)</ref> The Christian tradition of identifying a ruined site surrounded by walls and called in Arabic ''Rāmet el-Ḥalīl'' ('Hill of the Friend', meaning: "the friend of God", i.e. Abraham), with the Old Testament Mamre, goes back to the earliest Christian pilgrims in the 4th century CE, and connects to a tradition from the time of Herod (1st century BCE).<ref name=Jericke />
Elsewhere ({{bibleverse|Genesis|14:13}})<ref name=Gitlitz>Gitlitz & Davidson (2006)</ref>{{clarify|reason=1. What page? 2. What is this needed for? Just to show the Bible passage? If so: no need, as that's contained in the next, more relevant and online-accessible reference!|date=October 2021}} it is called 'the Terebinths of Mamre the Amorite',<ref name=Alter>Alter (1996)</ref><ref>Horne (1856)</ref>{{clarify|reason=The cited 1856 edition consists of several (5?) volumes - p. w/o vol. is USELESS. Once all minimal details are indicated, an URL can also be offered, and that's essential. Vol. 2 (1856) it's not.|date=March 2021}} Mamre being the name of one of the three Amorite chiefs who joined forces with those of Abraham in pursuit of [[Chedorlaomer]] to save [[Lot (Bible)|Lot]] (Gen. 14:13, 24).<ref>Mills & Bullard (1998), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA543 543].</ref><ref>Haran (1985)</ref>
The supposed discrepancy is often explained as reflecting the discordance between the different scribal traditions behind the composition of the [[Pentateuch]], the former relating to the [[Yahwist]], the latter to the [[Elohist]] [[recension]], according to the classic formulation of the [[documentary hypothesis]].<ref>Haran (1985): The third, Priestly recension excludes any such attachment of Abraham to the Terebinth cult.</ref>
==Identification==
There appear to be three main sites which have been known, at different times in history, as Mamre. These are, chronologically:
#'''Khirbet Nimra''', an archaeological site next to Hebron and 2,5&nbsp;km north of Ramat el-Khalil, identified as the [[Yehud (Persian province)|Persian]]- and [[Hellenistic]]-period Mamre.<ref name=Heyden2016/>
#'''Ramat el-Khalil''', also spelled Ramet el-Khulil, is the site identified as Mamre in the time of King Herod (1st century BCE), Constantine the Great (4th century CE), and – strongly contested by some – the Crusader [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]] (12th–13th centuries CE). [[Talmud]]ic sources refer to the site as '''Beth Ilanim''' or '''Botnah'''. The ruins of the Herodian and Constantinian structure became also known in Arabic as '''Beit el-Khalil''', meaning "'''Abraham's House'''".
#'''Khirbet es-Sibte''' (also '''Ain Sebta'''), the present-day site of the so-called [[Oak of Mamre]], 2&nbsp;km southwest of Ramat el-Khalil, has been considered since the 19th century by Christians to be the place where Abraham saw the angels.<ref>Jericke p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=67Q3uY4opoAC&pg=PA2 2].</ref> A modern Russian Orthodox monastery is marking the site.
==History and archaeology==
[[File:Madaba07(js).jpg|thumb|Mamre on Madaba Map]]
===Khirbet Nimra: Persian and Hellenistic Mamre===
According to Jericke among others, Persian and Hellenistic Mamre was located at Khirbet Nimra, 1&nbsp;km north of modern Hebron, where a pagan tree cult predated the composition of the biblical Abraham narrative.<ref name=Heyden2016 />
===Ramat el-Khalil===
====Research and analysis====
The archaeological site of Ramat el-Khalil (Grid Ref. 160300/107200) was first excavated by {{ill|Andreas Evaristus Mader|de}} in 1926–1928, followed by Sayf al-Din Haddad (1977), 'Abd el-Aziz Arjub (1984–1985),<ref name=Greenberg /> and Yitzhak Magen (1986–1988),<ref name=Langfur/> Magen publishing his findings in 1991 and 2003.<ref name=Greenberg/> Greenberg & Keinan, summarising previous dig reports, list the outstanding components of the site as being a large Roman-era enclosure, a Byzantine church, and a Crusader church.<ref name=Greenberg/> However,&nbsp;[[Denys Pringle]]'s analysis of both historical and archaeological sources leads to the firm conclusion that the Crusader-era Church of the Trinity, mentioned by medieval pilgrims, stood at the foot of a hill, not at its top, and certainly not at Ramat el-Khalil, where the remains of the Constantinian church were found undisturbed by any later building in 1926.<ref name=Pringle1998>Pringle (1998), p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC&pg=PA203 203]</ref> Greenberg & Keinan are listing the main periods of settlement as: Early Roman, Late Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader, with less substantial findings from the Iron Age IIc and the Hellenistic period.<ref name=Greenberg/> However, Yitzhak Magen, the last to excavate the site, claims that findings previously attributed to the biblical time of the [[Kings of Judea|Kings]] during the Iron Age, and the Hellenistic [[Hasmonean]]s, are in fact of far newer date, [[Byzantine]] or later.<ref name=Drbal/>
====Bronze Age====
Early [[Bronze Age]] pottery [[sherd]]s found at the Ramat el-Khalil site may indicate that a cultic shrine of some kind was in use from 2600–2000 BCE,<ref>Taylor (1993), p. 92.</ref> but there is no archaeological evidence for the site being occupied from the first half of the second millennium down to the end of the Iron Age<ref name=Pagolu /> – that is, very broadly speaking, between 2000 and 600 BCE.
====Herod: the enclosure====
[[Herod the Great]] transferred the Mamre tradition 2.5&nbsp;km to the north, from the site at Khirbet Nimra (see above) to the site at Ramet el-Khalil.<ref name=Heyden2016 /> This was part of Herod's upgrade of Hebron as a cult centre dedicated to the patriarch Abraham, by erecting two shrines: one at [[Machpela Cave|Abraham's tomb]], and one at a site he connected to his place of residence, where the patriarch dined under a tree together with the three men.<ref name=Heyden2016 /> It has been noted that Hebron and Mamre were located in [[Edom#Classical Idumaea|Idumaean territory]], that both Jews and Idumaeans regarded Abraham as their common ancestor, and that Herod came from an Idumaean family that had only recently converted to Judaism.<ref name=friend>Richardson (1996)</ref>
The 2&nbsp;m thick stone wall enclosing an area 49&nbsp;m wide and 65&nbsp;m long was constructed by Herod, possibly as a cultic place of worship.<ref>Murphy-O'Connor (2008)</ref><ref>Robinson (1856)</ref> It contained an ancient well, more than 5&nbsp;m{{dubious|Quoted sources don't offer the size, and Mader's plans all show the well from Constantine's time at c. 2.5 m diametre, so half. If there was an wider Herodian well there, found at digs, we need a source.|date=March 2021}} in diameter,<ref>Jericke p.?.</ref><ref name=Letellier />{{dubious|Both sources are useless: one offers no page or URL, the other seems wrong altogether - no page, plus it only deals with text exegesis, not archaeology.|date=March 2021}} referred to as Abraham's Well.<ref name=Heyden2020>Heyden (2020)</ref>{{dubious|For now offered Heyden 2020 as alternative source, but she refers to BYZANTINE times, so name "Abraham's Well" could be valid for earlier, or maybe not. Is this whole last sentence based on Josephus, or is it about the next period altogether? |date=March 2021}}
====Josephus: the terebinth====
:'''''Josephus's terebinth tree is distinct from the modern [[Oak of Mamre]] and stood at a different location'''''
[[Josephus]] (37 – c. 100) records a tradition according to which the terebinth at Mamre was as old as the world itself (''[[The Jewish War|War]]'' 4.534). The site was soaked in legend. Jews, Christians and Pagans made sacrifices on the site, burning animals, and the tree was considered immune to the flames of the sacrifices.<ref name=Adler>Adler (2013)</ref> Constantine the Great (r. 302–337) was still attempting, without success, to stop this tradition.<ref name=Adler />
====Late Roman period: Hadrian's temple====
The Herodian structure was destroyed by [[Simon bar Kokhba]]'s army, only to be rebuilt by the [[Roman emperor]] [[Hadrian]]. Hadrian revived the fair, which had long been an important one as it took place at an intersection forming the transport and communications nub of the southern [[Judea]]n mountains. This ''[[wikt:mercatus|mercatus]]'' (Heb. ''yerid'' or ''shuq'': {{langx|grc|[[wikt:πανήγυρις|πανήγυρις]]}}) or "fair, market" was one of the sites, according to a Jewish tradition conserved in [[Jerome]],<ref name=Adler/> chosen by Hadrian to sell remnants of Bar Kochba's defeated army into [[slavery]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}
====Rabbinical tradition====
Due to the [[idolatry|idolatrous]] nature of the rituals at the fair, Jews were forbidden to participate by their [[rabbi]]s.<ref name=Safrai>Safrai (1994), p. 254</ref> According to the [[Jerusalem Talmud]]:
<blockquote>They prohibited a fair only in the case of one of the character of that at Botnah. As it has been taught along these same lines in a [[Tannaitic]] tradition. "There are three fairs, the fair at [[Gaza City|Gaza]], the fair at [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], and the fair at Botnah, and the most debased of the lot of them is the fair of Botnah."<ref name=Adler/><ref>Neusner (1982)</ref><ref>Rozenfeld (2005)</ref></blockquote>
====Late Roman festival and Byzantine basilica====
[[Eusebius]] and [[Sozomen]] describe how, notwithstanding the rabbinic ban, by the time of Constantine the Great's reign (302–337), the market had become an informal interdenominational festival, in addition to its functions as a trade fair, frequented by Christians, Jews and pagans.<ref name=Pringle1998 /> The cultic shrine was made over for Christian use after [[Eutropia]], Constantine's mother-in-law, visited it and was scandalised by its pagan character.<ref name=Safrai /> Constantine, informed of these pagan practices, attempted without success to put an end to the festive rituals celebrated around the tree.<ref name=Adler /> He angrily wrote to [[Macarius of Jerusalem|Macarius]], bishop of Jerusalem and all the other bishops of Palestine and admonished them, letting them know that he had ordered the ''[[comes]]'' Acacius to destroy all pagan idols and punish those holding on to pagan practices.<ref>Eusebius, ''Life of Constantine'', p.301.</ref><ref name=JETCHP /> The enclosure was then consecrated, Constantine had a basilica built, dedicated to [[Saint George]] (its foundations are still visible), and the enclosure of the Terebinth of Mamre roofed over.<ref name=Safrai /><ref>Fergusson, James (2004)</ref>
The 1957 plan and reconstruction of the site made after the excavation performed by German scholar A. E. Mader in 1926–1928, shows the Constantinian basilica along the eastern wall of the ''Haram Ramet el-Khalil'' enclosure, with a well, altar, and tree in the unroofed western part of the enclosure.<ref name=ChrRex /><ref name=quondam>Magen (1993)</ref><ref>Safrai (1994), p.249</ref><ref>Netzer & Laureys-Chachy (2006)</ref>
The venerated tree was destroyed by Christian visitors taking souvenirs, leaving only a stump which survived down to the seventh century.<ref name=JETCHP>Taylor (1993), pp. 86-95</ref><ref>Stanley (1856), p. 142</ref>
The fifth-century account by [[Sozomen]] (''Historia Ecclesiastica'' Book II 4-54) is the most detailed account of the practices at Mamre during the early Christian period.<ref name=JETCHP />
{{Blockquote|The place is presently called the Terebinth, and is situated at the distance of fifteen stadia from Hebron. ... There every year a very famous festival is held in the summer time, by people of the neighbourhood as well as by the inhabitants of more distant parts of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and by [[Phoenicia]]ns and [[Arabia Petraea|Arabians]]. Very many go there for the sake of business, some to sell and some to buy. The feast is celebrated by a very big congregation of Jews, since they boast of Abraham as their forefather, of heathens since angels came there, of Christians since he who should be born from the Virgin for the salvation of humankind appeared there to that pious man. Everyone venerates this place according to his religion: some praying [to] God the ruler of all, some calling upon the angels and offering libations of wine, burning incense or sacrificing an ox, a goat, a sheep or a cock. ... Constantine's mother in law (Euthropia), having gone there to fulfill a vow, gave notice of all this to the Emperor. So he wrote to the bishops of Palestine reproaching them for having forgot[ten] their mission and permitted (sic) such a most holy place to be defiled by those [[libation]]s and sacrifices.'<ref>Frazer (2003), p.336.</ref>}}
A vignette of the Constantinian basilica with its colonnaded atrium appears on the 6th-century [[Madaba Map]], under the partially preserved Greek caption "Arbo, also the Terebinth. The Oak of Mambre".<ref name=ChrRex />
[[Antoninus of Piacenza (pilgrim)|Antoninus of Piacenza]] in his ''Itinerarium'', an account of his journey to the Holy Land (ca.570 CE) comments on the basilica, with its four porticoes, and an unroofed [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]]. Both Christians and Jews worshipped there, separated by a small screen (''cancellus''). The Jewish worshippers would flock there to celebrate the deposition of Jacob and David on the day after the traditional date of Christ's birthday.<ref>Jacobs (2004), p. 130</ref>
The Constantinian basilica was destroyed during the [[Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem|Persian invasion]] of 614.<ref name=Negev />
====Early Muslim period====
[[Arculf]], a Frankish bishop who toured the Levant in around 670–680, witnessed the [[monastery]] still being active around 670, a few decades after [[Umar]]'s [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|conquest]].<ref name=PPTS /> He reported, indicating a slightly erroneous location in relation to the Tombs of the Patriarchs:
<blockquote>A mile to the north of [[Cave of Machpelah|the Tombs]] that have been described above, is the very grassy and flowery hill of Mambre, looking towards Hebron, which lies to the south of it. This little mountain, which is called Mambre, has a level summit, at the north side of which a great stone church has been built, in the right side of which between the two walls of this great Basilica, the Oak of Mambre, wonderful to relate, stands rooted in the earth; it is also called the oak of Abraham, because under it he once hospitably received the Angels. St. Hieronymus elsewhere relates, that this tree had existed from the beginning of the world to the reign of the Emperor Constantine; but he did not say that it had utterly perished, perhaps because at that time, although the whole of that vast tree was not to be seen as it had been formerly, yet a spurious trunk still remained rooted in the ground, protected under the roof of the church, of the height of two men; from this wasted spurious trunk, which has been cut on all sides by axes, small chips are carried to the different provinces of the world, on account of the veneration and memory of that oak, under which, as has been mentioned above, that famous and notable visit of the Angels was granted to the patriarch Abraham.<ref name=PPTS /></blockquote>
====Crusader period====
Yitzhak Magen was in 1993 of the opinion that during the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Crusades]], the site may have been used by a Church of the Trinity.<ref name=ChrRex /> Denys Pringle firmly refutes this possibility, based on the analysis of pilgrims' reports.<ref name=Pringle1998 />
[[Avraham Negev]] considers the last clear identification and description of the Byzantine church remains at Ramat el-Khalil to come from the Russian pilgrim known as [[Abbot Daniel]], who visited the site in 1106/8, and he qualifies other medieval reports from the 12th century onwards as not clear with regard to the location of the site they describe.<ref name=Negev />
===After 1150s: different Jewish and Christian locations===
After the middle of the 12th century the reports become vague and the location of "Abraham's Oak" seems to have migrated to one or more locations situated on the road connecting Ramat el-Khalil with Hebron.<ref name=Negev /> What is nowadays considered the traditional location of the Oak of Abraham is a site originally known in Arabic as Ain Sebta,<ref name=Negev/> which used to be outside historical Hebron but is now within the urban sprawl of the Palestinian city.
As written in a footnote from an 1895 publication of Arculf's pilgrimage report,
<blockquote>The Oak or Terebinth of Abraham has been shown in two different sites. Arculf and many others (Jerome, [[Itinerarium Burdigalense|Itin[erarium] Hierosol[ymitanum]]], Sozomen, Eucherius [possibly [[Eucherius of Lyon]]], [[Benjamin of Tudela]], the Abbot Daniel,.... etc.) seem to point to the ruin of er Râmeh, near which is Beit el Khulil, or Abraham's House, with a fine spring well. This is still held by the Jews to be the Oak of Mamre. The Christians point to another site, [[Oak of Mamre|Ballûtet Sebta]], where [there] is a fine specimen of Sindian ([[Quercus pseudococcifera|Quercus Pseudococcifera]])."<ref name=PPTS /></blockquote> ''Ballut'' is the Arabic word for oak.
==Ramat el-Khalil today==
The Palestinian authorities have made the site accessible to visitors under the name '''Haram Ramat Al Khalil'''.<ref name=haram>[http://visitpalestine.ps/where-to-go/listing/hebron/sites-attractions-hebron/archeological-sites-hebron/mamre-haram-ramat-al-khalil/ Mamre (Haram Ramat Al Khalil)], VisitPalestine.com, retrieved 13 April 2020</ref>
Since, in Islam, the [[Kaaba]] in [[Mecca]] is sacred as the "house of Ibrahim/Abraham" (see [[Qur'an]] 2:125), his tradition of hospitality has also moved to that city, and under Muslim rule Mamre has lost its historical significance as an inter-religious place of worship and festivity.<ref name=Heyden2020 /> The site was excavated by 20th-century Christian and Jewish archaeologists, and a 2015 initiative by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, joined by the [[UN]] and youth belonging to all three communities in the area—Muslim, Jewish, and Christian—restored the site for visitors and built a new "meeting centre".<ref name=Heyden2020 /> However, as of 2019, the centre had not yet been opened and the site itself doesn't see much traffic.<ref name=Heyden2020 />
==See also==
*[[Oak of Mamre]], an ancient tree, situated about halfway between historical Mamre and Hebron, distinct from Josephus's "terebinth tree of Mamre" and the Constantinian site
*[[Abraham's Oak Holy Trinity Monastery]], a Russian Orthodox monastery located at what a more recent tradition identifies as the "[[Oak of Mamre]]"
*The [[Mamre Institute]], an Israeli research institute aimed at providing accurate access to Jewish religious texts, including the Hebrew Bible, presented in both Hebrew and English.
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
{{divcol}}
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*[[Adomnán|Adamnanus]], ''De Locis Sanctis'' – see Macpherson translation
*{{cite book |last=Alter |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Alter |title=Genesis: Translation and Commentary |page=60 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Co. |location=New York, London |year=1997 |isbn= 9780393070262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vR8R7X2G7G8C&pg=PA40 |access-date=19 October 2021}}
*{{cite book |last=Drbal |first=Vlastimil |chapter=Pilgrimage and multi-religious worship: Palestinian Mamre in Late Antiquity |editor-first1=Troels Myrup |editor-last1=Kristensen |editor-first2=Wiebke |editor-last2=Friese |title=Excavating Pilgrimage: Archaeological Approaches to Sacred Travel and Movement in the Ancient World |publisher=Taylor & Francis |series=Routledge Studies in Pilgrimage, Religious Travel and Tourism |year=2017 |pages=245–264 (247) |isbn=9781351856263 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AUElDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |access-date=13 April 2020}}
*[[Eusebius]]. ''Life of Constantine''. Averil Cameron and Stuart George Hall (tr., ed.), Oxford University Press (1999) {{ISBN|0-19-814917-4}}
*{{cite book |last=Fergusson |first=James |author-link=James Fergusson (architect) |title=Tree and Serpent Worship: Or Illustrations of Mythology and Art in India in the First and Fourth Centuries After Christ |page=7 |publisher=India Museum |location=London |year=1873 |via=2004 reprint of the 1873 second edition by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi |isbn=81-206-1236-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhOtFpEt9l8C&pg=PA7 |access-date=19 October 2021}}
*Frazer, James George (2003). ''Folklore in the Old Testament Studies in Comparative Religion Legend and Law: Studies in Comparative Religion, Legend, and Law Kessinger Publishing''''. {{ISBN|0-7661-3238-2}}
*{{cite book |last1=Gitlitz |first1=David M. |last2=Davidson |first2=Linda Kay |title=Pilgrimage and the Jews |page= |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, CT |year=2006 |isbn=9780275987633 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Raphael |last2=Keinan |first2=Adi |title=Israeli Archaeological Activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem 1967-2007: A Sourcebook |publisher=Ostracon Press |year=2009 |page=130 |isbn=978-965-91468-0-2 |url=http://alt-arch.org/he/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/WBADB_sourcebook1.pdf |access-date=13 April 2020}}
*Haran, Menahem (1985). ''Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel''. Eisenbrauns, {{ISBN|0-931464-18-8}}, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iHsee69P6KgC&pg=PA53 53].
*Horne, Thomas Hartwell (1856). ''An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures''''. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts
*{{cite journal |last=Heyden |first=Katharina |title=Construction, Performance, and Interpretation of a Shared Holy Place: The Case of Late Antique Mamre (Rāmat al-Khalīl) |journal=Entangled Religions |volume=11 |number=1 |year=2020 |doi=10.13154/er.11.2020.8557 |s2cid=225915645 |url=https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/8557/8128 |access-date=22 March 2021}}
*{{cite book |last=Heyden |first=Katharina |chapter=Hain der Religionen: Das Abrahamsheiligtum von Mamre als Begegnungsort und locus theologicus |title=Fremdenliebe – Fremdenangst: Zwei akademische Reden zur interreligiösen Begegnungin Spätantike und Gegenwart |publisher=Theologischer Verlag Zürich (TVZ) |year=2016 |page=21 (with footnote 10) |language=German |isbn=9783290178635 }}
*[[Thomas Hartwell Horne|Horne, Thomas Hartwell]] (1856). ''An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures''. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, p.&nbsp;63.{{clarify|reason=Page number without volume number is USELESS.|date=March 2021}}
*Jacobs, Andrew S. ''Remains of the Jews: The Holy Land and Christian Empire in Late Antiquity''. Stanford University Press, 2004.
*{{cite book |last=Jericke |first=Detlef |title=Abraham in Mamre: Historische und exegetische Studien zur Region von Hebron und zu Genesis 11, 27-19, 38 |trans-title=Abraham in Mamre: Historical and Exegetical Studies on the Hebron Region and on Genesis 11, 27-19, 38 |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden NL |series=Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, Volume 17 |year=2003 |language=de |isbn=90-04-12939-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67Q3uY4opoAC&pg=PA1 |access-date=19 October 2021}}
*[[Robert Letellier|Letellier, Robert Ignatius]] (1995). ''Day in Mamre, Night in Sodom: Abraham and Lot in Genesis 18 and 19''. BRILL, {{ISBN|90-04-10250-7}}{{clarify|reason=What page?|date=March 2021}}{{dubious|"Abraham's well", "diameter/-re" receives no hit in the book. The topic is text exegesis, not archaeology. Seems to be the wrong book for what it's offered as a source for!|date=March 2021}}
*Louth, Andrew & Oden, Thomas C. & Conti, Marco. ''Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament''. InterVarsity Press {{ISBN|0-8308-1472-8}}, pp60–66
*{{cite book |last=Macpherson |first=James Rose (tr., ed.) |chapter=Arculf's Narrative about the Holy Places, Written by Adamnan. Book I: X.–The Hill and the Oak of Mambre. |pages=33–34, fn. 1 |title=The Pilgrimage of Arculfus in the Holy Land (About the Year A.D. 670) |publisher=[[Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society]] (PPTS) |location=London |series=PPTS Publications |volume=33 |year=1895 |url=https://archive.org/details/libraryofpalesti03paleuoft/page/n57/mode/2up |access-date=2016-07-15}}
*Mader, Andreas Evaristus (1954). ''Mambre. Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im heiligen Bezirk Râmet el-Ḫalîl in Südpalästina 1926–1928''. 2 volumes, Erich Wewel Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, in German.
*Magen, Itzhaq (1993). [http://www.quondam.com/82/8281.htm ''The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land''], Jerusalem, via www.quondam.com, re-accessed 19 Oct 2021.
*{{cite web |author=Magen, Itzhaq; [[Noël Duval|Duval, Noël]]; Donner, Herbert; [[Bellarmino Bagatti|Bagatti, Bellarmino]]; Di Segni, Leah |title=Arbo, also the Terebinth. The Oak of Mambre - (Ramat al-Khalil) |website=The Madaba Map: a virtual travel through the Holy Places |publisher=[[Studium Biblicum Franciscanum]] - Jerusalem |date=2000 |url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/078discuss.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306212118/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/078discuss.html |archive-date=2018-03-06}}
*{{cite book |last=Murphy-O'Connor |first=Jerome |author-link=Jerome Murphy-O'Connor |title=The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700 |series=Oxford Archaeological Guides |year=2008 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-923666-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSuErBFmykQC&pg=PA370 |page=370 |access-date=19 October 2021}}
*{{cite book |last1=Negev |first1=Avraham |last2=Gibson |first2=Shimon |chapter=Mamre (Plain of), and Ramat el-Khalil |title=Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land |pages=312–313, 427–428 |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum |location=New York and London |isbn=0-8264-1316-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3JtAAAAMAAJ&q=Mamre |access-date=2021-03-22}}
*Netzer, Ehud and Laureys-Chachy, Rachel (2006). ''The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder''. Mohr Siebeck, {{ISBN|3-16-148570-X}}, p.&nbsp;231
*{{cite book |last=Neusner |first=Jacob |author-link=Jacob Neusner |title=Abodah Zarah: A Preliminary Translation and Explanation |pages=29-30 quoting [[Yohanan#Rabbinic sages|Rabbi Yohanan]], ''[[Avodah Zarah]]'', 1:4,39d |publisher=University of Chicago Press |series=The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 33 |year=1982 |isbn=9780226576930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_96zjgEACAAJ&pg=PA29 |access-date=19 October 2021}}
*Niesiolowski-Spano, Lukasz (2016). ''The Origin Myths and Holy Places in the Old Testament: A Study of Aetiological Narratives'', Routledge, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=y7fsCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 132].
*Pagolu, Augustine (1998). ''The Religion of the Patriarchs'', A&C Black, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vRolnGU5KvAC&pg=PA59 59]-60.
*{{cite book |last=Pringle |first=D.|author-link=Denys Pringle |title=The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: L-Z (excluding Tyre) |volume=II |year=1998 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=0-521-39037-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Y0tA0xLzwEC}}
*{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=Peter |title=Herod: king of the Jews and friend of the Romans |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |series=Studies on personalities of the New Testament |year=1996 |pages=61–62 |isbn=9781570031366 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWTakr1BbvkC&pg=PA61 |access-date=13 April 2020}}
*Rosenfield, Ben-Zion; Joseph Menirav, Chava Cassel. ''Markets and Marketing in Roman Palestine''. Brill, 2005 {{ISBN|90-04-14049-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Robinson (scholar) |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, 1838-52: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838 |pages=215–216}}
*{{cite book|last=Rozenfeld|first=Ben Tsiyon|title=Markets And Marketing in Roman Palestine|page=63|year=2005|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-14049-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRQXQKA4W1AC}}
*{{cite book |last=Safrai |first=Ze'ev |title=The Economy of Roman Palestine |year=1994 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-10243-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2-9ER6y1BAC |access-date=2008-10-22}}
*Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn (1856). ''Sinai and Palestine, in Connection with Their History''. J. Murray, London
*Stavrakopoulou, Francesca (2011). ''Land of Our Fathers: The Roles of Ancestor Veneration in Biblical Land Claims''. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vbaoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 51]-52: "Throughout Genesis, all these toponyms crowd the ancestral burial site, jostling for recognition. Though it is often assumed these were all essentially the same place, the aligning, glossing or renaming of locations is frequently suggestive of changing or competing claims to ownership."
*{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Joan E. |author-link=Joan E. Taylor |chapter=Mamre |title=Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-814785-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWAXbCNxH6YC&pg=PA86 |access-date=19 October 2021}}
*Mills, Watson E. & Bullard, Roger Aubrey (1998). ''Mercer Dictionary of the Bible''. Mercer University Press, {{ISBN|0-86554-373-9}}
{{divcol end}}
{{Refend}}
==External links==
*[https://www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk/pages/search.php?search=%21collection2210 Photos of the Mamre site] at the [[Manar al-Athar]] photo archive
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:4th-century establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in the West Bank]]
[[Category:Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches]]
[[Category:History of Hebron]]
[[Category:Torah places]]