Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Khan el-Ahmar

There's a Christian Star of David from the 7th century AD in the mosaic floor of the Euthymius Monastery in the Judean Dessert. In order to get there you need to drive east of Jerusalem in the direction of Jericho until Mishor Adummim and near the gas station to turn right and drive for one mile into the industrial area. Khan el-Ahmar means red hostel.
Y. Hirschfeld wrote an extensive article about the Euthymius Monastery and in it I found the following description:
The easternmost unit contains a six-pointed star pattern with a red chalice at its center…The mosaic stone pavements of the northern aisle were almost completely destroyed, except for a small section at its eastern end. In this section a small portion has survived of a six-pointed star identical with the six-pointed star of the southern aisle.

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