Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Beersheba

​Beersheba, now Bir-es-Seba, a place in the southernmost part of Canaan, 27 miles S.E. from Gaza, celebrated for the sojourn of the patriarchs. The name, signifying the well of the oath, was bestowed in allusion to the covenant made there between Abraham and Abimelech, and is frequently referred to in the Scriptures in describing the extent of the country—"from Dan to Beersheba." The place is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome in the 4th century as a large village, and the seat of a Roman garrison. At a later period it seems to have been one of the episcopal cities of Palestine, and some of its churches were standing in the 14th century. Hardly any remains of its buildings are now left, but its two wells are still open, and afford an abundant supply of pure water, which stands in the larger at a depth of 44½ feet, and in the smaller at a depth of 12. (See Robinson's Researches, i. 301.)

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