The Beersheba Edict and Travel in Late Antique Palestine

Abstract

Ever since its first edition and commentary in 1921, the Beersheba Edict has been regarded as a collection of four inscriptions. It continues to be debated amongst scholars, such as Denis Feissel, because it records a collection of yearly sums from settlements across all three Palaestinae in the sixth century. As the Beersheba Edict does not specify a reason for the annual collection of solidi from these settlements, scholars have put forth numerous hypotheses in order to explain them. This paper does not aim to propose a new hypothesis, nor does it seek to disprove the latest interpretation of the Edict by Leah Di Segni. This paper, instead, prefers to work with the hypothesis of Di Segni by investigating the evidence for hospitality services and general travel along the roman roads connecting settlements recorded in the Beersheba Edict.