Road station

Oboda

Avdat

Oboda, today's Avdat in the Negev, probably takes its name from a Nabataean king, most likely Obodas the Third. Set on a rocky spur, it watched over the southern approach to the Negev and the caravan traffic between Aila, Elusa and Gaza. By about 300 BC a Nabataean camp for tents and camels stood here on the Incense Road, with an important temple and a pottery workshop. Milestones found in 2018 show that trade still passed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and in the 6th the hilltop received a church and monastery complex and a fortress. On the map it is the last station but one before Jerusalem.

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