On the identification problem of the Georgian “Devtubani” Monastery

We propose in this article that the Devtubani monastery was located in Rephaim valley, southwest of the walls of Jerusalem. The unusual name of monastery itself is derived from a well known historical toponym; there is evidence about a Byzantine “namesake” of Devtubani, monastery of Giants; and it is a fact that Georgians owned the lands of the valley in the XIII-XV centuries. It is likely that the Byzantine monastery of Giants, as also the Medieval Devtubani afterwards, was part of a large group of monasteries that were located in the neighbourhoods of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.