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(Hebrew Mošæh, Greek Μω(υ)σῆς; Mō(y)sȇs). [1] Israelite religious founder [German version] I. Biblical tradition According to tradition, M. was a Levite who grew up as an Egyptian prince, was forced to flee to Midian, was called there by the god Yahweh to lead the enslaved Hebrew people out of Egypt; Biblical cultic and moral law were revealed to him on Mt. Sinai, and he led the Hebrew people through the desert to the edge of the Promised Land, where he died on Mount Nebo, across from Jericho (Ex 2 - Dt 34). …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Aegean Koine City(state) of Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Age that controlled the exit of the road from Jerusalem to the coast out of the mountains. Conquered from the 15th to the 10th cents. BC. by Egypt, acquired and fortified by Solomon (1 Kg 9,16-18; 9,15 is anachronistic). It is impossible to decide whether G. was Israelitic, Judaic, Philistine or independent in the period that followed. From 734 it was under Assyrian rule, and in the 7th…

Gat (Canaanitic gint, Hebrew gat, ‘winepress’). In Syria-Palestine frequent place name of the late Bronze and Iron Age. [German version] [1] The Philistine Gat The Philistine Gat, the south-eastern corner of the Pentapolis (1 Sam 7,14; 17,52), probably Tall aṣ-Ṣāfı̄. As the direct neighbour of Judah, G. was involved in the 10th cent. BC in the uprising of David who as a condottiere received Ziklag (Tall as-Saba/Tel Ber Ševa) as a fief from G. (1 Sam 27). Perhaps already conquered by Hasaël of Damascus as early as the 2nd half of the 9th cent. BC as par…

Name of the God of the Israelites and Judaeans, and after the collapse of these states (722/720 and 586/582 BC), of the God of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). [German version] A. Name The Old Testament gives only the consonants of the god's name ( Yhwh; epigraphically attested from the 9th cent. BC), its pronunciation is a taboo in Rabbinic Judaism. Yhwh is usually read as 'Lord', adōnāy, hence the Κύριος ( kýrios) of LXX as well as the erroneous 'Jehovah', in which the consonants of the written Yhwh are provided with the vowels of the read adōnāy. The pronounciation * Yahwē is based on t…

(Λευκὴ κώμη; Leukḕ kṓmē). [German version] [1] Phoenician village on the coast between Sidon and Berytus Phoenician village on the coast between Sidon and Berytus, where Mark Antony and Cleopatra met after the Parthian campaign (Plut. Antonius 51,2f.). Knauf, Ernst Axel (Berne) [German version] [2] Harbour town on the Arabian shore of the Red Sea This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with Harbour town on the Arabian shore of the Red Sea and a Nabataean border post. It was from here that Aelius Gallus set out by land for the Sabaean capital …

[German version] (Biblical Gilgāl, ‘circle of stones’, probably not a settlement). Pre-Israelite sanctuary (Judg. 3:19) on the eastern shore of the oasis of Jericho (Jos 4:19), probably the site of Saul's elevation as king (1 Sam 11:15) and a pilgrimage centre of the 8th/7th cents. BC (Amos 4:4; 5:5; Hos 4:15; 9:15; 12:12), historicized as a memorial for the crossing of the Jordan under Joshua (Jos 4:20-24, hence Δωδεκαλιθον ( Dōdekalithon), ‘place of twelve stones’ on the Madaba map). The Jewish-Christian topographical tradition is continued in Tosefta Sōfṭa 8,6 (2nd cent. AD ?) …

[German version] Probably Tall Abı̄ Huraira/Tall Haror between  Gaza and Beeršeba. Important settlement of the 18th-11th cents. and the 7th-4th cents. BC. The sources 1 Chr 4,39-40 and 2 Chr 14,8-14 refer to the events of the 4th or 3rd cent. BC, although it remains unclear, where the authors were looking for G. 2 Macc 13,24 no longer refers to G., only to ‘Gerrenians’. In the 4th-6th cents. AD, there is mention of a saltus Gerariticus, seat of the bishop of Orda in 518. Knauf, Ernst Axel (Berne) Bibliography 1 O. Keel, M. Küchler, Orte und Landschaften der Bibel, vol. 2, 1982, 134-137 2 NE…

[German version] (Canaanite * gab, ‘hill’). Settlement 5 km northwest of  Megiddo in the Valley of Jezreel, modern Tall Abı̄ Šūša. The name first appears as qb (no. 114) on  Thutmosis' III (1479-1425 BC) list of conquered Palestine cities, and is probably identical with Γαιβαι (Γεβαι, Γαβαι) in Jdt 3,10. Under  Alexander [16] Iannaeus (103-76 BC), G. was part of the Hasmonaean kingdom (Sync. 558,17-559,3). According to Josephus (Jos. BI 1,166; Ant. Iud. 14,88), the settlement was ‘restored’ by Gabinius between 57 and 55 BC; however, accordi…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Dead Sea (textual finds) Canaanite ḥæbrōn (‘place of alliance’ or ‘junction’, the same semantics are at work in the more recent (!) name Qiryat ʿArbaʿ, ‘four-town’, sc. the four clans or tribes named in 1 Sam 25:3; 27:10; 30:26-31); Greek Χεβρων (LXX), Ἑβρών, Γιβρών, Ναβρόν, Χεβρών etc. (Jos passim); ha-barûk (‘the blessed’ = Abraham, Gen 14,19) in  Qumran (DJD III 298, DJD II 160); Arab. al-Ḫalīl ar-Raḥmān (‘the friend [= Abraham, see e.g. Is 41,8] of the merciful [= Allah]’). Central city in the Judaean mou…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Egypt | Syria | Zenobia | Alexander | Commerce | Hasmonaeans | India, trade with | Arabia | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pilgrimage | Pompeius | Egypt (Arabic Ġazza, Hebrew Azzā, from Semitic ǧzz, ‘being thorny’). From  Thutmosis III (1457 BC) to Ramses IV (mid 12th cent. BC) an Egyptian administrative centre in southern Palestine [1], under the Ramessids ‘the town of Canaan’, short ‘Canaan’ (Κάδυτις, Hdt. 2,159; 3,5); under  Ramses II also the ‘town of Ramses in Canaan’. Taken over…

[German version] (Γαβαρα; Gabara, also Γαβαρωθ, Γαδαρα, Γαμαλα, Γαραβα, Γαβαρους; Gabarōth, Gadara, Gamala, Garaba, Gabarous [1]; from the Semitic ǧrb ‘to bear a grudge against someone’ or ‘to be angry’, which is the root of all variations of the name ─ apart from orthographic mistakes). Settlement in Lower Galilee, more likely the modern Arrāba/Arāv than Ḫirbat al-Qabra. At the beginning of the Jewish War (AD 66-70), G. sympathized with Josephus' opponent John of Gischala (Jos BI 2,629; Vita 82; 123f.; 203; 229…

(hebr. Mošæh, griech. Μω(υ)σῆς). [1] israelit. Religionsstifter [English version] I. Biblische Überlieferung Nach der Überl. war M. ein Levit, der als äg. Prinz aufwuchs, nach Midian fliehen mußte, dort vom Gott Jahwe berufen wurde, die versklavten Hebräer aus Ägypten führte, am Sinai die Offenbarung des biblischen Kult- wie Sittengesetzes empfing und die Hebräer durch die Wüste bis an den Rand des verheißenen Landes führte, wo er auf dem Berg Nebo gegenüber von Jericho starb (Ex 2 - Dt 34). An diesem Bild …

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Totes Meer (Textfunde) kanaan. ḥæbrōn (“Bündnisort” oder “Verkehrsknotenpunkt”, die gleiche Semantik liegt dem jüngeren(!) Namen Qiryat Arba, “Vierstadt”, sc. der vier in 1 Sam 25,3; 27,10; 30,26-31 genannten Sippen bzw. Stämme, zugrunde); griech. Χεβρων (LXX), Ἑβρών, Γιβρών, Ναβρόν, Χεβρών u.ä. (Ios. passim); ha-barûk (“der Gesegnete” = Abraham, Gn 14,19) in Qumran (DJD III 298, DJD II 160); arab. al-Ḫalīl ar-Raḥmān (“der Freund [= Abraham, s. z.B. Jes 41,8] des Erbarmers [= Allah]”). Zentralo…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Ägäische Koine Stadt(staat) Palaestinas in der Brz. und Eisenzeit, die den Austritt der Straße von Jerusalem zur Küste aus dem Gebirge kontrolliert. Vom 15. bis zum 10. Jh. v.Chr. von Äg. erobert, von Salomo erworben und befestigt (1 Kg 9,16-18; 9,15 ist anachronistisch). Ob G. in der Folgezeit israelitisch, judäisch, philistäisch oder selbständig war, ist nicht zu entscheiden. Seit 734 befand es sich unter assyr. Herrschaft, im 7. Jh. v.Ch…

[English version] Wohl Tall Abı̄ Huraira/Tall Haror zw. Gaza und Beeršeba; bed. Siedlung des 18.-11. und 7.-4. Jh. v.Chr. Die Belegstellen 1 Chr 4,39-40 und 2 Chr 14,8-14 beziehen sich auf Vorgänge des 4. oder 3. Jh. v.Chr., wobei unklar bleibt, wo die Verf. G. suchten. In 2 Makk 13,24 ist nicht mehr von G. die Rede, sondern nur noch von ‘Gerrenern’, im 4.-6. Jh. n.Chr. vom saltus Gerariticus, wo sich 518 der Sitz des Bischofs von Orda befand. Knauf, Ernst Axel (Bern) Bibliography 1 O. Keel, M. Küchler, Orte und Landschaften der Bibel, Bd. 2, 1982, 134-137 2 NEAEHL 2, 553-560 3 P. Thomsen, …

[English version] (kanaan. * gab, “Hügel”). Ort 5 km nordwestl. von Megiddo in der Jesreel-Ebene, h. Tall Abı̄ Šūša. Der Name erscheint zuerst in der Palästina-Liste Thutmosis' III. (1479-1425 v.Chr.) als qb (Nr. 114) und ist wahrscheinlich Jdt 3,10 mit Γαιβαι (Γεβαι, Γαβαι) gemeint. Unter Alexandros [16] Iannaios (103-76 v.Chr.) gehörte G. zum hasmonäischen Herrschaftsbereich (Synk. 558,17-559,3). Nach Iosephos (bell. Iud. 1,166; ant. Iud. 14,88) wurde der Ort von Gabinius zw. 57 und 55 v.Chr. ‘wiederhergestellt’, doch nach dem Befun…

Gat (kanaan. gint, hebr. gat, “Kelter”). In Syrien-Palästina häufiger ON der Spätbrz. und Eisenzeit. [English version] [1] das philistäische Gat Das philistäische Gat, südöstl. Eckpunkt der Pentapolis (1 Sam 7,14; 17,52), wahrscheinlich Tall aṣ-Ṣāfı̄. Als unmittelbarer Nachbar Judas war G. im 10. Jh. v.Chr. in den Aufstieg Davids involviert, der als Condottiere Ziklag (Tall as-Saba/Tel Ber Ševa) als Lehen von G. erhielt (1 Sam 27). Vielleicht schon in der 2. H. des 9. Jh. v.Chr. von Hasaël von Damaskos im Zuge …

Eigenname des Gottes der Israeliten und Judäer und nach dem Untergang dieser Staaten (722/720 bzw. 586/582 v.Chr.) des Gottes der Hebr. Bibel (AT). [English version] A. Name Das AT gibt nur die Konsonanten des Gottesnamens ( Yhwh; epigraphisch seit dem 9. Jh. v.Chr. bezeugt), die Aussprache ist im rabbinischen Judentum tabuisiert. Gelesen wird Yhwh gewöhnlich als “Herr” ( adōnāy, daher das Κύριος ( kýrios) der LXX und das “HErr” der Lutherbibel sowie das irrige “Jehova”: Die Konsonanten der “Schreibung” Yhwh werden mit den Vokalen der “Lesung” adōnāy versehen. Die Lesung * Yahwē st…

[English version] (bibl. Gilgāl, “Steinkreis”, wohl keine Siedlung). Vorisraelitisches Heiligtum (Ri 3,19) am Ostrand der Oase von Jericho (Jos 4,19), wahrscheinlich Ort der Königserhebung Sauls (1 Sam 11,15) und Wallfahrtszentrum des 8./7. Jh. v.Chr. (Am 4,4; 5,5; Hos 4,15; 9,15; 12,12), historisiert als Gedenkstätte des Jordanüberganges unter Josua (Jos 4,20-24, daher Δωδεκαλιθον, “Zwölfsteine-Ort” der Madaba-Karte). Die jüd.-christl. Ortstrad. setzt sich in Tosefta Sōfṭa 8,6 (2. Jh. n.Chr.?) und beim Pilger von Bordeaux 19 (333 n.Chr.) sowie bei Hieronymus (ep…

[English version] (Γαβαρα, auch Γαβαρωθ, Γαδαρα, Γαμαλα, Γαραβα; Γαβαρους [1]; von semit. ǧrb “grollen”, “zürnen”, woraus sich alle Namensformen - bis auf die Schreibfehler - erklären lassen). Ort in Untergalilaea; h. eher Arrāba/Arāv als Ḫirbat al-Qabra. Zu Beginn des jüd. Krieges (66-70 n.Chr.) sympathisierte G. mit Iosephos' Gegenspieler Iohannes von Gischala (Ios. bell. Iud. 2,629; vita 82; 123f.; 203; 229-243; 265; 313) und wurde von Vespasianus als erster aufständischer Ort eingenommen und zerstört (Ios. bell. Iud. 3,132-134). Eus. On. 16,13 erwähnt ihn als Dorf Αραβα. K…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Ägypten | Ägypten | Alexandros | Arabia | Handel | Hasmonäer | Indienhandel | Phönizier, Punier | Pilgerschaft | Pompeius | Syrien | Zenobia (arab. Ġazza, hebr. Azzā, von semit. ǧzz, “dornig sein”). Von Thutmosis III. (1457 v.Chr.) bis Ramses IV. (Mitte 12. Jh. v.Chr.) ägypt. Verwaltungszentrum in Südpalästina [1], unter den Ramessiden “die Stadt Kanaans”, kurz “das Kanaan” (Κάδυτις, Hdt. 2,159; 3,5); unter Ramses II. auch “Ramsesstadt in Kanaan”. Im 12. Jh. v.Chr. v…

(Λευκὴ κώμη). [English version] [1] Phöniz. Dorf an der Küste zw. Sidon und Berytos Phöniz. Dorf an der Küste zw. Sidon und Berytos, Treffpunkt von M.Antonius und Kleopatra nach dem Partherfeldzug (Plut. Antonius 51,2f.). Knauf, Ernst Axel (Bern) [English version] [2] Hafenstadt an der arab. Küste des Roten Meeres Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Indienhandel Hafenstadt an der arab. Küste des Roten Meeres und nabatä. Grenzposten. Von hier aus trat Aelius Gallus 25 v.Chr. den Landweg nach der Sabäerhauptstadt Marib (Maryab) an (Strab. 1…

1. History and Results of Research From Numbers to 1 Kgs. 11:30, Israel is portrayed as a community of 12 tribes. Discrepancies in the lists (either with Levi and Joseph, the sons of Jacob, or without Levi and with Ephraim and Manasseh, the grandchildren of Jacob), as well as an older system of 10 tribes of Israel (Judges 5 [without Judah, Simeon, Gad, and Manasseh, but with Machir and Gilead]; 1 Kgs. 11:31) plus Judah (1 Kgs. 11:32), show the 12-tribe system to be a recent, theoretical construct (see 4). In their material culture and linguistically, the tribes of the 12…

[German Version] According to Amos 1:12; Jer 49:13, 22; Isa 34:6; 63:1, Bozrah was the capital of Edom (Gen 36:33 refers to the Bozrah in Syria), and can be identified with the Buṣērā in southern Jordan (Palestine grid 2077.0170). According to the excavational discoveries of C.-M. Bennett Bosrah was founded at the end of the 8th century or start of the 7th century bce under the influence of Assyrian culture. The city came to its end in the Persian era after the neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus conquered i…

[German Version] The refuges of tribal societies were often, as in Edom, natural, inaccessible rock formations such as Sela/as-Silʿ; even 11th- and 10th-century sites known as “fortresses” in the Negev actually represent fortified farmsteads of a local population that was not yet fully sedentary. Apart from such structures, military architecture associated with a centralized state could serve both defensive (final line of resistance against invaders) and offensive purposes (operational and reinforcement bases for an army in the field). Mature cities as such were ¶ often fortifi…

[German Version] A tribe of the 11th and 10th centuries bce that later assimilated into the tribe of Judah (Tribes of Israel). The area in which it settled (Judg 1:16f.; 1 Sam 30:29) and which it patrolled (1 Sam 27:10) lay south of the Judean hills. A Kenite clan is also attested in the plain of Jezreel during the same period (Judg 5:24; 4:11, 17). The name is derived more convincingly from “smith” in Aramaic (see Gen 4:22) than from “spear” in Hebrew. The geographical disparity of these references eithe…

[German Version] I. The State of Israel – II. History – III. Society I. The State of Israel The formal full name, State of Israel (Heb. Medinat Yisrael), calls attention to the spatial divergence between the political entity and the geographical and historical Erets Israel (Land of Israel, Palestine and its linguistic equivalents). Israel is located in southwest Asia, on the southern stretch of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. In its northern half, inland from the shore, is the coastal area and further east are the hills, from n…

[German Version] Biblical Israel (II, 1) is theoretically divided into 12 tribes (cf. also Rev 7:4–8). The oldest enumerations mention fewer tribes (2 Sam 2:9 [four]; Judg 5 [ten]) but include “non-canonical” tribal names instead (Machir, Gilead). Biblical Israel (II, 1) is theoretically divided into 12 tribes (cf. also Rev 7:4–8). The oldest enumerations mention fewer tribes (2 Sam 2:9 [four]; Judg 5 [ten]) but include “non-canonical” tribal names instead (Machir, Gilead). I. Tribe and State Tribes are political amalgamations of clans, which in turn represent territori…

[German Version] (מַמְרֵא, genuine place name meaning something like “fat pasture”) stood in the middle of the hill country of Judah, about 3 km north of Hebron (Arab. name [until 15th cent. ce], Rāmat or Bēt al-Ḫalîl, “High Place/House of the Friend [of God]”). According to ancient tradition in Gen 18* a divine triad (from Hebron?) appeared here to the tent-dwelling peasant Abraham. When in the 6th century bce Abraham was made the mythic origin of the population of Judah, Mamre stood on the frontier between Judah and Idumaea (from 597/586 bce; Gen 13:18*; 16*). In the late 6th or ear…

[German Version] Southern Syria-Palestine is predestined to ethnic pluralism and a small-state existence by its riven, restricted land form and the boundaries and intermixture of several climate zones. The neighbors of the states of Israel and Judah include, on the coasts, the Phoenicians (Phoenicia; with Akko and Dor), in the north and northwest, the Arameans (Beth-Rehob, Geshur, Aram-Damascus), in the east, the Ammonites, Moab and Edom, and in the south, the desert tribes (Amalekites, Ishmaelite…

[German Version] Kinneret, a city on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Galilee, Sea of; Heb. yam kinneret), today Tell el-'Orēme/Tel Kinrōt. A large settlement of the EBA I–II period (stratum IX) was followed by two cities of the 16th and 15th centuries bce (strata VIII and VII; MBA III/LBA Ia periods; mentioned in Egyptian sources under the name knrt) that covered an area of 7–9 hectares and were surrounded by a rampart-topped glacis. The city wall was rebuilt towards the end of the IA I period (late 11th to mid-10th cents. bce) and the settlement was repopulated. It seems v…

[German Version] a Judahite inscription discovered in 1880 in the Siloam Tunnel (also called Hezekiah’s Tunnel); it describes the construction of the tunnel, which links the Gihon Spring (east of the spur of the so-called City of David; Jerusalem: VIII, 2; with maps) with the Pool of Siloam to the southwest. The inscrip-¶ tion is now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. The usual association of the inscription with Hezekiah’s defensive measures in 701 bce (cf. 2 Kgs 20:20) has been challenged by issues of hydraulic engineering, city planning, and paleography. Archaeol…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Islam I. Old Testament Through recourse to the name of a northern Arabian tribal confederation in the 7th century bce (* Šamaʿʾil; attested in Neo-Assyrian sources and reflected in ¶ Gen 25:13–15 [P]), which was transformed in analogy to “Isaac",” the figure of Ishmael served the parties in the course of the edition of the Pentateuch in defining the proximity or distance between the two sons of Abraham", Ishmael and Isaac, that is, Jews and Arabs (including Idumeans), who shared the land in…

[German Version] (in Phoenicia); Hebrew רוֹצ/ ṣôr, Phoenician/Akkadian ṣurru, “rock”; modern Ṣūr. Tyre was an island city off the coast of Lebanon with a maximum area of 50 to 60 ha and a population of 12,000–15,000 (swollen to about 50,000 by refugees in 332 bce); it was associated with the mainland settlement of Ushu/Palaityros. Settlement began in the second half of the 3rd millennium bce, with the colonial expansion of Egypt into the Lebanon (Hdt. II 44); it is mentioned throughout the 2nd millennium as a subject territory within the Egyptian sphere of …

[German Version] a Moabite city north of the Arnon (Num 21:30; Isa 15:2; Jer 48:18, 22), modern Dībān. Under Mesha' (mid-9th cent. bce) it was the center of the Moabite state-formation process (Moab), although the Mesha' inscription (the most important archaeological find from the site) still uses Dibon as a tribal or regional name ( KAI 181, ll. 1, 21, 28), while the city itself was still called *Qarḥō or similar (ll. 3, 21, 24, 25). According to Num 32:34, it was a Gadite settlement (thus “Dibon-Gad”…

[German Version] (חֶשׁבוּן, Arab. Ḥisbān), a Reubenite (Num 32:37) and, from the 9th century bce onward, Moabite (Isa 15:4; 16:8; Jer 48:2, 34, 45; 49:3 [!]) locality with famous water reservoirs (Song 7:5*) situated on the western edge of the Moabite plateau to the north of the Wādī l-Wālā. Not established as a city until the late 8th or early 7th century, evidence of human presence on the site is attested from the 11th century, although no noteworthy architectural remains antedate the 8th century. The city existed until the beginning of the Persian period (c. 500 bce). The ostraca docume…

[German Version] (Heb. הָגָר) was Sarah's slave, Abraham's (Abraham: I) concubine and Ishmael's (I) mother in Gen 16; 21:9–21 and 25:12. On the ethnographical level, the origins of Ishmael's mother may have been (a) the city and region of Hagar in eastern Arabia attested from the late 2nd millennium bce to the end of the 1st millennium ce, modern t̲āg in al-ḥasā; (b) the extension of this geographical designation by the Achaemenid administration to all of northern Arabia and its inhabitants, which is certainly reflected in the designation Hag(a)rites …

[German Version] (Heb. מֵישַׁע/ mêšaʿ), king of Moab and founder of the Moabite state, with whom written culture was introduced to Moab, according to his stele. Throughout the reign of Omri (Kingship in Israel) Mesha had no annal-type records. The Mesha stele represents Mesha after his death before his god, Chemosh; it contains the account of his deeds. The stele does not give any information about the length of his reign, but the type and range of his civilizing achievements point to its having been written in the last quarter of the 9th century bce (c. 820/810) rather than at an earlier…

[German Version] (Heb. derek yām; Isa. 8:23 [Vulgate and Eng. 9:1]; Matt 4:15), Vulgate designation of the Palestinian section of the main link between Egypt and Syria/Mesopotamia (Eng. “way of the sea” or “road by the sea”). It hugged the Mediterranean coast as far as Mount Carmel, entered the Plain of Jezreel at Megiddo, passed through Galilee, crossed the Jordan at Ǧisr Banāt Yaʿqūb/Gešer Bĕnōt Yaʿăqōb (“Jacob’s Ford”) near Hazor, finally reaching Damascus over the Golan Heights. Ernst Axel Knauf Bibliography D.A. Dorsey, The Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel, 1991.

[German Version] I. Paleography Today – II. Palestine – III. Texts I. Paleography Today Paleography is the study of the development of writing; as an important element in codicology, it examines early forms of writing, particularly those of antiquity and the Middle Ages. The distinction between the use of ink and “epigraphic” writing is irrelevant. Writing is an empirical bridge between archaeology and the historical sciences (History/Concepts of history); it provides two starting points for paleography, one …

[German Version] Midian (מִדְיָן/ midyān) was a son of Abraham and Keturah (Gen 25:2), but the name refers primarily to the land of east of the Gulf of ʿAqaba (1 Kgs 11:18). At least from the 13th to the 9th century bce, it thrived on terrace cultivation, copper mining, camel breeding (cf. Isa 60:6), and trade (cf. Gen 37:28; 36). During this period, Midian's influence extended well into the later territory of Edom (Israel and its neighbors in Syria-Palestine, map). Midianite pottery from the 9th century bce (carbon- 14 dating) has been found in the copper-mining regions of Timna…

[German Version] (מֹאָב /mōʾāb, cf. Arab. waʾ ba, “rock cleft containing water”), primarily a toponym denoting the region on both sides of the Arnon (Israel and its neighbors in Syria-Palestine, map). The plateau produces a surplus of grain (cf. Ruth 1), the slopes of the hills a surplus of wine (cf. Isa 16:7–11; Jer 48:29–33), and the edges of the steppe a surplus of animal products (cf. 2 Kgs 3:4), but this economic potential is impeded by a geographic location that makes commerce difficult. There is evidence of several complex chiefdoms in southern Moab in the 3rd millennium bce. In the (…

[German Version] Syria and Palestine were part of a supraregional Mediterranean economic system (see also Trade and traffic in the Mediterranean world) from the second millennium bce to the 16th century ce. During this period, the economic and cultural center of what may be termed the “First World” of the time was initially concentrated in the eastern Mediterranean, only to encompass the entire Mediterranean from the first millennium bce onward. Even the non-seafaring adjoining states and cultures integrated themselves in the basic structure of agrarian, tribal …

[German Version] (Heb. תִּרְצָה; Tell el-Fāriʿa). This site in northeastern Samaria controlled the main route into central Transjordania (Peniel). Taken by Shoshenq (Shishak; Karnak list no. 59 [G. Hughes, Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak, vol. III, 1954]), it was the ¶ residence of the kings of Israel from Baasha (1 Kgs 15:21) to Omri (1 Kgs 16:23). It was destroyed by Menahem even before Tiglath Pileser III (2 Kgs 15:16). In Song 6:4, Tirzah might be a cover name for Samaria. Tirzah was a significant settlement in Early Bronze I/II (18 hectares) and was fortified in Midd…

[German Version] I. General Survey 1. Origin and classification. Like the Indo-European and Hamitic languages, the Semitic languages are inflectional; in contrast to isolating and agglutinative languages, they can change the form of a root, for example Arabic singular rūḥ, “spirit, breath,” plural ʾ arwāḥ. The relationship between the Semitic and Hamitic languages is clearly the product of prehistoric migrations of groups speaking proto-Afro-Asiatic (formerly called Hamito-Semitic) from North Africa – from a Sahara still “green” from the …

[German Version] (ketib הוהי, qere in codices A and L אמָשְׁ/ šĕmāʾ, in later manuscripts ינָֹדאֲ/ʾ ădonāy), the personal name of the God of the Israelites and Judahites. Historically YHWH is associated religiously and theologically with the prehistory of the one and only God as defined by the Hebrew Bible. Attested epigraphically since the 9th century bce (Mesha stele), saying the name became taboo in late biblical and rabbinic Judaism and it was replaced by Lord (hence the κύριος/ kýrios in the LXX, HErr in Luther’s trans., and Lord in most Eng. trans.). The reading of the tetrag…

[German Version] (עָפְרָה; cf. for the meaning of the name ʿ āpār, “dust,” or more probably ‘ oper, “young deer, gazelle kid”), mentioned in Josh 18:23 in the list of places belonging to Benjamin. However, Ophrah lies beyond the northern frontier of Benjamin ( Josh 18:12f.) and has probably entered the place list from 2 Chr 13:19 (ʿ eprōn), plausibly identified with eṭ-Ṭayyibe (eudemonism because of the echo of the Canaanite Ephron with Arab. ʿ ifrīt, “goblin”), and matching details given by Jerome (5 Roman miles north of Bethel); probably to be identified with Aph…

[German Version] was home town and residence of the Abiezrite chieftain Gideon (Judg 6:11), where he used booty taken from the Midianites to build ¶ a sanctuary (Judg 8:27, in contrast to 8:22f.: the act of a ruler). Its identification within the territory of the clan of Abiezer (from the 10th/9th cent. bce Manasseh territory), well outlined in the Samaria ostraca (Samaria), depends on how one defines the clan’s relation to the town of Shechem: whether as close as possible (Donner: Tell Ṣōfar), or as distant as possible (Knauf: Ḡinṣāfūṭ Gan-[ha]S̄opeṭ). Ernst Axel Knauf Bibliograp…

[German Version] The Limes Arabicus (in Transjordan) and the Limes Palaestinae (in the Negeb) were not boundaries but frontier zones with legionary camps ( castra), detached forts for cohorts ( castella), and watchtowers ( burgi). In the Provincia Arabia (created in 106 ce), the Limes Arabicus was not set up until the end of the 3rd century. Its occupation troops, called limitani, were soon recruited from the local population and increasingly lost their fighting capacity. The Limes was more a zone of contact between the Roman Empire and Arabia than an “iron curtain.” To…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Liturgy I. Religious Studies The custom of making olfactory sacrifices to the gods as heavenly beings dates from at least the 4th millennium bce (Egypt. śnčr = “to smoke; to perfume,” lit. “to deify”). However, frankincense, of which there is no evidence in the Mediterranean area before the 8th century bce, should be distinguished from all other types of incense. There was a growing demand for frankincense until the first century ce. This subsequently dropped, and in the 4th century collapsed almost completely. Along with this…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Geography – III. Archaeology – IV. History and Society – V. History of Religions I. Terminology The area settled by the Philistines, referred to collectively in Akkadian by such names as palaštu after their conquest by Assyria, probably provided the basis for the Greek ( Sýria hḗ) Palaistínē, first found in Herodotus (1.105; 2.104, 106; 3.5, 91; 4.39; 7.89), even though the hypothetical intermediate Aramaic expression of the Persian period, the likely basis of the Greek form, is still unattested. To the exten…

[German Version] (Heb. תִּמְנָע), Hebrew name (after the mother of Amalek in Gen 36:12, 23, 40) for the copper-producing area of el-Meneʿiyye in the southeastern ʿAraba (Egyp. ʿAtika), to which Egypt dispatched mining expeditions in the 13th/12th centuries and the second half of the 10th century; with the help of specialists from northwestern ʿArabia and southern Palestine, they mined copper ore and smelted it in situ; they probably also traded in copper from the far richer deposits at Punon/Fēnān to the northeast. A tented Egyptian shrine of Hathor was used at the same time or reused ¶ som…

[German Version] Peniel, Heb. פְּנוּאֵל/ pĕnûʾ ēl, “face of El” (probably from a landform). Peniel (or Penuel) was a site in northern Transjordan, according to Gen 32:22–32 at a ford of the Jabbok, according to Judg 8:5–11 between Succoth (Deir ʿAllā) and Jogbehah (Ǧubēḥa), and according to Judg 8:16 partially destroyed by Gideon (secondary addition to the Succoth episode); in the last third of the 10th century bce, it was taken (or made to pay tribute) by Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonk) under the name New Pnuel ( pnwʾ l ḥdšt; Karnak king list [Hughes, plates 2–9] nos. 53f., immediate…

[German Version] מִריָם ( miryām, “the well-nourished one”), alternatively identified as the sister of Aaron (Exod 15:20) or the sister of Moses and Aaron (Num 26:59; 1 Chr 5:29). If it was not Miriam who sang (or composed) the song of triumph in Exod 15:21 (often, and probably correctly, considered one of the earliest of Israel's traditions), her traditio-historical roots are totally obscure. Exod 15 in its final form reacted to the scandal of a prominent female voice from Israel's distant past by …

[German Version] is a semilegendary land of gold, reachable by ship from Elath (1 Kgs 9:28; 10:11; 22:49). According to Gen 10:29 (post-P), which makes Ophir a “son of Joktan” and a “brother of Havilah” (Hā’il or the Nufũd desert?), it was probably on the western coast of Arabia; the alternative Punt (Somalia) is based on the catalogue of trade goods in 1 Kgs 10:22, including ivory and apes, but Ophir may also have been a transfer station for the transport of Somali goods. In the mid-10th century bce, gold was mined in the vicinity of Medina. The gold of Ophir was proverbial (Isa 1…

[German Version] Frankincense Road, a caravan route from the incense producing region in southeast Arabia (Ḥaḍramaut, Oman) through western Arabia to Gaza (Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, VII 64). As a luxury item that combines limited volume with high value, frankincense was a typical international article of merchandise in antiquity. In turn, the flow of capital and technical expertise from the Fertile Crescent to Arabia resulted in secondary formations of tribes and states (formative phase of the Sabaean Kingdom [Sabaeans] c. 750–675 bce) and, in northern Arabia, in t…

[German Version] Roman roads were provided with milestones every 1,000 double paces (Lat. milia passuum, hence “mile”), which not only served as landmarks but might also include the name and position of the person responsible for building it, its date of construction, and the distance to the destination. Multiple renovations resulted in groups of milestones. Alongside ancient maps, these milestones provide evidence for the existence and routes of Roman roads; they are a primary source for the administrative and economic history of ¶ the Roman provinces, their trade and traffic…

[German Version] In addition to the temple in Palestine and northern Arabia, there were open-air sanctuaries, demarcated sites whose inventory regularly included an asherah , a holy tree, and a massebah, a holy stone, at least since the late Neolithic era. As its Old Testament designation, asherah, indicates, the tree represents the goddess, while the massebah was considered the locus of the presence of the god (thus Beth-El, Bethyl [Bethel]; cf. Gen 28:18–19a). Masseboth/bethyls could be left in their natural state, decorated with reliefs, sculpted geometrica…

Peoples who make and remake their settlements in a variety of places, often depending upon climactic conditions. Nomads ¶ (aʿrāb) are the non-urban population of the Arabian peninsula, attested ten times in the Qurʾān. Oasis-town and countryside By the time of the Prophet, the Near Eastern social trichotomy of peasants, townspeople and nomads had developed into the dichotomy of nomads and urbanites in northern and central Arabia (see city; pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān). This was the result of the “bedouinization of Arabia,” a social process which had set in with…

[English Version] . Nach der Vulgata (Jes 9,1 [8,23 MT]; Mt 4,15; hebr. dæræk jām) Bez. des paläst. Abschnitts der Hauptverbindung zw. Ägypten und Syrien/ Mesopotamien, die bis zum Karmel der Mittelmeerküste folgt, bei Megiddo in die Jesreel-Ebene eintritt, Galiläa durchquert und bei Gˇisr Banāt Yaʿqūb/Gešer Běnōt Ya‘ăqōb (d.h. auf der Höhe von Hazor) den Jordan überschreitet, um über den Golan Damaskus zu erreichen. Ernst Axel Knauf Bibliography D.A. Dorsey. The Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel, 1991.

[English Version] Ophir, halbsagenhaftes Goldland, von Elat aus per Schiff zu erreichen (1Kön 9,28; 10,11; 22,49). Nach Gen 10,29 (nachpriesterschriftlich) als »Sohn Joktans« und »Bruder Hawilas« (Hāʾil oder die Wüste Nufūd?) wohl an der arab. Westküste zu suchen; die Alternative (Punt [Somalia]) beruft sich auf den Katalog der Handelswaren 1Kön 10,22 (u.a. Elfenbein und Affen), doch kann O. auch eine Station für den Zwischenhandel von somalischen Gütern gewesen sein. Mitte des 10.Jh. v.Chr. wur…

[English Version] (hebr. תִּרְצָה; Tell el-Fāriʿa), Ort im nordöstlichen Samaria, kontrolliert die Hauptverbindung ins mittlere Ostjordanland (Penuel). Von Schoschenk (Schischak) erobert (Karnak-Liste Nr. 59 [G. Hughes, Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak, Bd.3, 1954]), von Baesa (1Kön 15,21) bis Omri (1Kön 16,23) Residenz der Könige von Israel; von Menahem, also schon vor Tiglat Pileser III., zerstört (2Kön 15,16). In Hhld 6,4 könnte Th. Deckname für Samaria sein. – Ein bedeutender Ort der FB-I/II-Z…

[English Version] I. Bezeichnungen Die Siedlungsgebiete, die von den Philistern besiedelt und nach den ass. Eroberungen im akkad. Sprachgebrauch als Palasˇtu u.ä. zusammenfassend benannt worden waren, dürften die Grundlage jener Bez. bilden, die im Griech. erstmals bei Herodot (als Sy´ria hē´) Palaisti´ne (Hdt. 1,105; 2,104.106; 3,5.91; 4,39; 7,89) belegt ist, auch wenn das zu vermutende aram. Zwischenglied der pers. Zeit, auf das der griech. Sprachgebrauch zurückgehen dürfte, (bisher) nicht beleg…

[English Version] (in Manasse), Heimat- und Residenzort des abiesritischen Häuptlings Gideon (Ri 6,11), an dem er aus der Midianiterbeute ein Heiligtum stiftet (Ri 8,27 – entgegen 8,22f. ein herrschaftlicher Akt). Seine Identifikation innerhalb des Territoriums des (seit dem 10./9.Jh. v.Chr. manassitischen) Klans Abiezer (durch die Samaria-Ostraka [Samaria] gut umschrieben) hängt davon ab, wie man das Verhältnis des Klans zur Stadt Sichem bestimmt: möglichst nahe (Donner: Tell Ṣōfar) oder möglichst entfernt (Knauf: Ḡinṣāfūṭ Gan-[ha]S̄opeṭ). Ernst Axel Knauf Bibl…

[English Version] Weihrauchstraße, Karawanenweg vom Weihrauchgewinnungsgebiet in Südostarabien (Ḥadramaut, Oman) durch Westarabien nach Gaza (Plinius d. Ä., Naturalis historia, VII 64). Als Luxusgut, das geringes Volumen mit hohem Wert vereint, ist Weihrauch ein typisches Fernhandelsgut der Antike. Im Gegenzug führte der Zufluß von Kapital und Herrschaftswissen aus dem Fruchtbaren Halbmond nach Arabien zu sekundären Stammes- und Staatenbildungen (formative Phase Sabas [Sabäer] etwa 750–675 v.Chr.…

[English Version] I. Stand der Forschung, allgemeinP. ist die Wiss. von der Entwicklung der Schrift und untersucht als wesentlicher Bestandteil der Handschriftenkunde die alten Schriftformen, v.a. die der Antike und des MA. Dabei spielt keine Rolle, ob Tinte verwendet wurde oder ein »epigraphisches« Schriftwerk vorliegt. Die Schrift ist eine empirische Brücke zw. der Archäologie und der Geschichtswiss. (Geschichte) und liefert der P. zwei Ansätze: einen philol. und einen archäologischen. Philol. gese…

[English Version] (hebr. תִּמְנָע; Wādī ‘Araba), hebr. Name (nach der Mutter Amaleks, Gen 36,12.23.40) für das Kupferminengebiet von el-Meneʿiyye in der südöstlichen ‘Araba (äg. ʿAtika), in das Ägypten im 13./12. und in der 2. Hälfte des 10.Jh. v.Chr. Bergbauexpeditionen entsandte, die mit Hilfe nordwestarab. und südpaläst. Spezialisten Kupfererz abbauten und an Ort und Stelle verhütteten, wohl auch Kupfer aus dem nordöstlich gelegenen, weit reicheren Vorkommen von Punon/Fēnān einhandelten. Ein äg. …

[English Version] I. Biblisch 1.  In Israel und Juda. Vom 10. bis ins 8.Jh. v.Chr. ist im Vergleich zu Ägypten und Mesopotamien nur mit einer rudimentären V. zu rechnen. Die Staatseinnahmen wurden im wesentlichen vom königlichen Krongut erwirtschaftet, das noch z.Z. Hiskias die Festungen verproviantierte (Königsstempel). Das Krongut unterstand dem Majordomo ('šr ‘l hbjt; 1Kön 4,6 u. ö.; epigraphisch: ReRö II, 113f.; in einem Privathaushalt: Gen 43,16 u. ö.). Die Beamtenbez. »Knecht« (‘bd, »Sklave«) des …

[English Version] I. Religionsgeschichtlich Der Brauch, den Göttern als Himmelswesen olfaktorische Opfer darzubringen, geht mindestens bis ins 4.Jt. v.Chr. zurück (äg. śnčr=»räuchern«, wörtl. »vergöttlichen«), doch muß man von allem möglichen Räucherwerk (engl. incense) den W. unterscheiden (engl. frankincense), der im Mittelmeerraum nicht vor dem 8.Jh. v.Chr. nachzuweisen ist. Die Nachfrage stieg bis zum 1.Jh. n.Chr. stark an, um danach zurückzugehen und im 4.Jh. n.Chr. fast ganz zusammenzubrechen…

[English Version] I. Allgemeiner Überblick 1.  Ursprung und Einteilung. Die sem. S. gehören zus. mit den indogerm. und hamitischen zu den flektierenden Sprachen, die im Gegensatz zu isolierenden und agglutinierenden Sprachen ihre Wortwurzeln abwandeln können, z.B. arab. Sg. rūḥ, »Geist, Odem«, Pl. ʾarwāḥ. Die Verwandtschaft von sem. und hamitischen Sprachen hat ihre Ursache offenbar in vorgesch. Wanderungen protohamitisch-sem. sprechender Gruppen aus Nordafrika – auch aus einer im 7. – 4.Jt. noch »grü…

[English Version] (in Phönizien). Hebr. צוֹר/Ṣôr, phön./akkad. Ṣurru, »Felsen«, heute Ṣūr; Insel-Stadt vor der Küste Libanons, maximale Ausdehnung 50–60 ha (12–15 000 Einwohner, 332 v.Chr. durch Flüchtlinge ca.50 000) mit einer Ufersiedlung, Usu/Palaityros. Seit der 2. Hälfte des 3.Jt. v.Chr. (also dem kolonialen Ausgreifen Ägyptens in den Libanon; vgl. Hdt. II 44) besiedelt, im ganzen 2.Jt. v.Chr. als äg. Interessengebiet und Untertanenland erwähnt. Damals im Schatten Gubals (Byblos), teilte T. s…

[English Version] (in Benjamin), עָפְרָה (vgl. zur Namensdeutung ‘āpār, »Staub«, oder eher ‘oper, »Junghirsch, Gazellenkitz«), in der Ortsliste Benjamins Jos 18,23 aufgeführt. Doch liegt O. jenseits der benjaminitischen Nordgrenze (Jos 18,12f.) und ist in die Ortsliste wahrscheinlich aus 2Chr 13,19 (‘eprōn) eingedrungen, dessen Identifikation mit eṭ-Ṭayyibe plausibel ist (Eudämonismus wegen des Anklangs des kanaan. Ephron an arab. ʿifrı̄t, »Kobold«) und den Angaben des Hieronymus entspricht (5 …

[English Version] . Das bibl. Israel (: II.,1.) gliedert sich theoretisch in zwölf S. (vgl. auch Apk 7,4–8). Älteste Aufzählungen nennen weniger S. (2Sam 2,9 vier, Ri 5 zehn), enthalten dafür »unkanonische« Stämmenamen (Machir, Gilead). I.  Stamm und Staat. S. sind polit. Zusammenschlüsse von Sippen, die ihrerseits territorial definierte Endogamiegemeinschaften einer ganz oder überwiegend bäuerlichen Bevölkerung darstellen (und siedlungsarchäologisch nachweisbar sind; Lehmann). Herrschaftsform im S. ist das »Häuptlingstum« (hebr.…

[English Version] Siloah-Inschrift, eine i.J. 1880 im Siloah-Tunnel (auch Hiskiatunnel genannt) entdeckte judäische Inschrift, die dessen Bau beschreibt, der die Gihon-Quelle (östlich des Sporns der sog. Davidstadt; Jerusalem [: VIII., 2.]; s. dort Karten zum Verlauf) mit dem Siloah-Teich südwestlich desselben verbindet (jetzt im Antikenmuseum Istanbul). Gegen die übliche Verbindung mit den Verteidigungsmaßnahmen Hiskias 701 v.Chr. (vgl.2Kön 20,20) erheben sich wasserbautechnische, stadtplanerisch…

[English Version] , hebr. פְּנוּאֵל, »Antlitz Els« (wohl nach einer Geländeformation); Ort im nördlichen Ostjordanland, nach Gen 32,22–32 an einer Jabbok-Furt, nach Ri 8,5–11 zw. Sukkot (Tell Dēr ʿAllā) und Jogbeha (Gˇubēḥa) und nach Ri 8,16 von Gideon teilweise zerstört (sekundärer Nachtrag zur Sukkot-Episode), im letzten Drittel des 10.Jh. v.Chr. von Schoschenk (Schischak) erobert (oder tributpflichtig gemacht) unter dem Namen »Neu-Pnuel« (pnwʾl ḥdsˇt; Karnak-Liste [Hughes, Pl. 2–9] Nr. 53f., u…