| Tell er-Rameh | |
| Alternate Name: | Tell/Tall el/er-Ramah/Rameh/Rama |
| Map Type: | Jordan |
| Map Size: | 250 |
Tell er-Rameh or Tall el-Rama is a small mound in Jordan rising in the plain east of the River Jordan, about twelve miles 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, is proposing that Tell er-Rameh was the commercial and residential centre of Livias, while the administrative centre was located at Tall el-Hammam.[1]
According to and Abel the modern name er-Rameh may have derived from the ancient names of Βηθαραμθα (Betharamtha), which is what Josephus indicates was the name for Livias[2] Dvorjetski believes that the modern name er-Rameh is derived from Wadi er-Rameh.[3]
Regarding the name evolution from biblical Beth-haram through the Roman-period Livias/Julias to Arabic Tell er-Rameh, Nelson Glueck states that:
"the equation of Beth-haram, Beth-ramtha, Beit er-Ram, Beit Ramah, Tell er-Rameh with Livias (Julias), . . . is undoubtedly correct. It does not prove, however, that Tell er-Rameh is to be identified with the actual site of ancient Biblical Beth-haram. . . An examination of the pottery of Tell er-Rameh proves that this identification cannot possibly be correct."[1] [4]
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.[1] 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.[5] Dvorjetski identified Tell er-Rameh with Livias based on the presence of "pottery or mosaic stone cubes from the Byzantine and early Islamic eras."[6]