| Rehovot-in-the-Negev | |
| Native Name: | 'Rehovot ba-Negev' (Hebrew) 'Khirbet Ruheibeh' (Arabic) |
| Map Type: | Israel |
| Map Size: | 250 |
| Coordinates: | 31.0317°N 34.565°W |
| Location: | Southern District, Israel |
| Region: | central Negev |
| Type: | Settlement |
| Built: | 1st century |
| Abandoned: | 7th century |
| Cultures: | Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine |
| Archaeologists: | Yoram Tsafrir |
| Condition: | In ruins |
| Public Access: | Yes |
Rehovot-in-the-Negev (English), from (רחובות בנגב, modern Hebrew name), derived from Khirbet Ruheibeh (Arabic, 'Ruheibeh Ruins'), is an archaeological site in the Wadi er-Ruheibeh area of the central Negev in Israel,[1] containing the remains of an ancient town. Apparently founded in the first century CE by the Nabateans, it was a thriving city by the fifth century during the Byzantine period, when it grew to more than 10,000 inhabitants, thanks to its being on the Arabian incense trade route.
By population, Rehovot-in-the-Negev was the second largest of the Byzantine-period "Negev towns".[2]
The city was repeatedly hit by earthquakes, the major 7th-century seismic event which destroyed Avdat also leading to the abandonment of this city.[3]
Easton's Bible Dictionary, published in 1893-97, tentatively associated the well dug by Isaac in Gerar and called by him Rehoboth (see 26:22 KJV) with a site "in Wady er-Ruheibeh, some 20 miles south of Beersheba."[4] Modern archaeology, however, dismisses the identification of Ruheibeh (Rehovot-in-the-Negev) with Isaac's Rehoboth, because the site contains no remains older than the Roman period.[1]