Roads in the period of the First Testament
For the period of
the First Testament, we have no archaeological evidence enabling us to
locate roads in the land of the Bible. We must rely on educated conjecture,
taking into consideration the following factors:
1. The need for a
road from one point to another: in other words, the locations of major
cities.
2. The
availability of drinking water.
3. The
topography. (Ancient travelers wished to avoid mountains, swamps and
overgrown areas.)
4. On rivers, the
location of fords or the headwaters. (The First Testament contains no word
for bridge, although there were then bridges in Mesopotamia.)
5. The courses of
later, well-attested roads, beginning from the Roman period.
The roads in this
website, where the First Testament is concerned, are educated guesses. We
have followed, in general, David A. Dorsey, The Roads and Highways of
Ancient Israel (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1991). We have adapted Dorsey's information to Dr. Jim Fleming's
topographical model.
