Tell er-Rameh


Tell er-Rameh or Tall el-Rama is a small mound in Jordan rising in the plain east of the River Jordan, about from Jericho. It presently has a Muslim cemetery on the acropolis that prevents it from being excavated. It has been traditionally identified as the location of Livias. The team recently excavating at Tell el-Hammam however, has proposed that Tell er-Rameh was the commercial and residential centre of Livias, while the administrative centre was located at Tall el-Hammam.

Etymology

According to and Abel the modern name er-Rameh may have derived from the ancient names of Βηθαραμφθά, which is what Josephus indicates was the name for Livias Dvorjetski believes that the modern name er-Rameh is derived from Wadi er-Rameh.

Identification

Regarding the name evolution from biblical Beth-haram through the Roman-period Livias/Julias to Arabic Tell er-Rameh, Nelson Glueck states that:
Graves & Stripling propose that, while Tell er-Rameh was the commercial and residential centre of Livias, the administrative centre was situated at nearby Tall el-Hammam. Tell er-Rameh had no natural water source, and some have argued that it received its water from the hot springs at Tall el-Hammam. Dvorjetski identified Tell er-Rameh with Livias based on the presence of "pottery or mosaic stone cubes from the Byzantine and early Islamic eras."