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[German version] The Hebrew (Sam. 1 6; Kgs 2 14,11) term (‘house of the sun’) probably refers to veneration of the sun god (Jos. 19,41). The name is preserved in the Arab village Ain Šams (‘source of the sun’) that earlier lay east of Tall ar-Rumaila (‘the sandy ground’), with which the ancient Beth Shemesh (BS) is to be identified. 20 km west of Jerusalem, BS had a geographically advantageous and trade-oriented location. After settlement in the middle of the Bronze Age, the place enjoyed an initial intercultural upsurge in the late Bronz…

[German version] (Hebrew plištīm; LXX Φιλιστιείμ/ Philistieím, Gn 10:14 et alibi; Ἀλλόφυλοι/ Allóphyloi, 1 Chr 14:10 et alibi; Vulgate Philistim). In the Old Testament the inhabitants of a pentapolis with the cities of Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath in the southern coastal plain east of the Mediterranean Sea (Palaestina). They are attested for the first time as prst/ pw-r-s­-ṯ in the context of a sea and land battle in 1177 BC in inscriptions and reliefs from the mortuary temple of Ramesses III in Madinat Hābū (western Thebes) along with other…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Syria | Theatre | Zenobia | Hasmonaeans (Besan). 25 km south of Lake Galilee (Lake Tiberias) on the Tall al-Ḥiṣn; the ancient city was settled from Chalcolithic time to the Crusades. The Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew bēt-šean (Egyptian btsr, Cuneiform script Bı̄tšāni). Owing to its strategic and economic significance, B. became a military and administrative centre for Egyptian Asian policy from the 15th cent. to the middle of the 12th cent. BC. It was the only city in Israel to…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Writing | Syria | Christianity | Zenobia | Coloniae | Diadochi and Epigoni | Alexander | Commerce | Hasmonaeans | Hellenistic states | Colonization | Mesopotamia | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pilgrimage | Pompeius | Rome | Aegean Koine (Tyre. Phoenician, Ugaritic ṣr; Egyptian Ḏwr, Dr; Akkadian Ṣurru; Hebrew Ṣor; Greek ἡ Τύρος/ hē Týros; Latin Tyrus, feminine; Arabic Ṣūr) was a Phoenician island city that was connected to the mainland when Alexander [4] the Great had a causeway built for its conques…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Phoenicians, Poeni | Aegean Koine (Tall al-Mutasallim in the Plain of Jesreel) was settled from the Neolithic until the Persian period (6th-4th millennia BC). Archaeological finds include temples, palaces and installations for water supply, as well as worked ivory and a clay tablet fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh (14th century BC). M. (Egyptian m-k-t) is first mentioned by name in the time of Thutmosis III (15th century BC) and in letters sent by Biridiya, the ruler of the city of M. (Akkadian URU Ma-gi-id-da KI), to the Phar…

[German version] (Ζεβέκη/ Zebékē). Josephus [4] Flavius mentions Z. as the place of a battle mentioned in Judges 1:1-7 between the tribes of Judah and Simeon on the one hand and the Canaanites, led by Adoni-Zebek (Jos. Ant. Iud. 5,121: Ἀδωνιζέβεκος/ Adōnizébekos), on the other. The Hebrew form of the name in Judges 1:4f. is Bȧzȧq or Adonī-Bȧzȧq (in manuscripts of the Josephus tradition, 'Zebeke' is sometimes corrected to Βεζέκη/ Bezékē). The text of Judges 1 derives the place name from the personal name Adonī-Bȧzȧq and places it near Jerusalem (cf. Judges 1:7). …

[German version] (Ζιφηνή/ Ziphēnḗ). Z. is the term used by Iosephus [4] Flavius (Jos. Ant. Iud. 6,275; 277) for the wilderness of Zīph (1 Sam 23:14 f.; 26,2). In that area situated near the OT city of Zīph (Jos 15,55, modern Tall Zīf, 6 km to the south of Hebron), David [1] hid while fleeing from Saul (1 Sam 23:24-28, cf. Ps 54:2) whose life he left unassailed in a nocturnal action, according to a legendary story (1 Sam 26:1-25) out of respect for his kingship ('The Anointed One'). Liwak, Rüdiger (Berlin)

[German version] Place in the eastern Negev (Nm 21,1; 33,40; Jos 12,14; Judges 1,16), mentioned in a source other than the Bible, by the Pharaoh Shoshenk ( c. 920 BC) in a list of towns; first settled around 3000-2650 BC. In the 9th cent. BC, a fortress with a sanctuary was built on the tell and repeatedly destroyed. In the 1st cent. BC, a Roman fort belonged to the Herodianic Limes Palaestinae. A. is a site of significant finds for ostraka with inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic. Liwak, Rüdiger (Berlin) Bibliography Y. Aharoni, Arad Inscriptions, 1981 Z. Herzog, M. Aharoni, A. F. Rainey,…

[German version] Arabic, ‘steep track’, situated at the north-eastern end of the gulf of the same name, first mentioned by medieval geographers as aqabat ayla (steep track of Aila). Aila, 1 km north of the place today known as Aqaba, was, in the Nabataean-Roman-Byzantine era, the name of the settlement replacing the OT Elat. In 1 Kg 9,26-28 the Edomite city of Elat/A. serves as the topographical approximation for the site of the port Ezjon-Geber, from where King Solomon is supposed to have condu…

[German version] (Ῥαφία/ Rhaphía, Egyptian Rpḥ, Akkadian Rapiḫu). First mentioned in Egyptian city lists of the 2nd millennium BC, to be found southeast of Gaza in Ḫirbat Bir Rafaḥ. The first dispute between the Assyrians and Egyptians took place here when Ḫanūnu of Gaza with Egyptian support unsuccessfully fought against Sargon [3] II in 720 BC. In 217 BC in R., Ptolemy [7] IV Philopator was victorious over Antiochus [5] III (Pol. 5,82-86; 3 Macc 1:4). The latter established Seleucid rule in 200 BC and in 193 BC through …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity | Diadochi and Epigoni | Commerce | Hasmonaeans | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pompeius (Egyptian ypw, Assyrian yāpu, yappû, Hebrew yāpô ‘be beautiful’), Greek or Latin name for the modern Jaffa south of Tel Aviv. A place of settlement from the 2nd millennium BC to the Hellenistic-Roman period, I. is the only location in Palestine ( Palaestina) of a Greek myth. It is in I. that Perseus rescued  Andromeda who had been left at the mercy of a sea-monster (Ov. Me…

[German version] The village of Dhiban, 4 km north of the Arnon, has retained the name of the nearby Dibon of antiquity, one claimed by two of the Israelite tribes: Gad (Num. 32,34) and Ruben (Josh. 13,17). A stele, the Moabite Stone, with an inscription of Mesha king of Moab (TUAT 1, 646-650; cf. 2 Kg. 3,4), was found here in 1868, confirming it as Moabite from the 9th cent. BC (Num. 21,30; Isa. 15,2; Jer. 48,18; 22). Apart from some remains of the Early Bronze Age, excavations revealed an Iron …

[German version] I. Samaria (Hebrew Šomron, LXX Σαμάρεια/ Samáreia), seat of government of the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the reign of Omri (882-871 BC; Judah and Israel). The newly-founded city, whose name (root šmr, 'to guard, protect; watch-tower') refers to its strategic location, was not, as is often assumed, a Canaanite city-state alongside Jezreel as the Israelite centre. S. was the Israelite royal seat, and Jezreel a royal demesne. As is evident from Assyrian and OT texts, the rulers of S. were compelled to deliver tribute to the Assyrians b…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. Definition Juda (= J.) and Israel (= I.) are names that, in the course of history, have displayed geographical, political, ethnic and theological components. J. was initially the name of a region in southern  Palaestina; later, it referred to the fictitious founding hero of a tribe and thus became the name of the tribe itself. J. became a political construct with David's kingdom (10th cent. BC). The name J. (in OT yhwdh, in Ancient Hebrew texts outside the OT yhd/yhwd, Assyrian ia-u/ ʾu-da-a-a, Babylonian ia-a-ḫu-du) possibly means ‘ Yahweh is v…

(Νεεμιας/ Neemias, hebräisch Nehæmjāh). [German version] I. Old Testament According to the book of the same name, of which the so-called ‘Nehemiah-Memoir’ in Neh 1-7 and 11-13 forms the historical basis, Nehemiah is the cupbearer of the great king of Persia (Neh 1:11). In 445 BC (Neh 1:1; 2:1ff.), he came to Jerusalem on the instructions of Artaxerxes' [1] I. Amidst opposition (e.g. Ezr 4:8ff.), he supervised the rebuilding of the walls, which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II,  in only 52 days (Neh 6:15). He administered the settlement in Jerusalem in accordance with a type of syn…

This item can be found on the following maps: Syria | Christianity | Coloniae | Diadochi and Epigoni | Hasmonaeans | Hellenistic states | Colonization | Mesopotamia | Natural catastrophes | Phoenicians, Poeni | Pompeius | Aegean Koine (Σιδών/ Sidṓn; Hebrew Ṣîdôn, Arabic Ṣaidā). [German version] I. To Alexander the Great In Homer (Hom. Il. 6,290 f.; 23,743 f.; Hom. Od. 4,83 f., 618 et passim; cf. Jos 13:6; 1 Kg 5:20), S., 35 km north east of Tyrus on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, is synonymous with Phoenicia in general. In the 1st millennium BC, i…

[German version] [1] Priest A priest (Ezra 7,1-5; 7,12), who, on behalf of the Persian high king  Cyrus II, promulgated a legal code that was binding for the members of the Jerusalem cult (Ezra 7). According to theological history, E. came to Jerusalem in 458 or 398 BC with authority for the temple (Ezra 7:7), solved the problem of mixed marriages there (Ezra 9f.) and later gave a definitive reading of the Torah (Neh 8-10). The description ‘E. the scribe’ (Ezra 7:11; Neh 8:1 et passim) resulted in E…

[1] Son of King David [German version] I. Old Testament S. (Hebrew Šelomō, literally 'his peace' or 'his restitution'). Successor to David [1] (2 Sam 9-1 Kg 2) in the second third of the 10th cent. BC. His 40-year reign (1 Kg 11:42, cf. 1 Kg 2:11) is of ideal duration, resulting from his esteem as a wise man and temple-builder (1 Kg 3:6-8, cf. Sir 47:12-18). He is criticized for building altars to foreign deities (1 Kg 11:1-13) and his introduction of forced labour (1 Kg 5:27-32). Stories about S. (1 Kg 3-1…

(Hebrew Menašše; Greek Μανασσῆ(ς)/ Manassê(s)). [German version] [1] Israelite tribe Israelite tribe in Middle Palestine, east of the Jordan ( Judah and Israel). Liwak, Rüdiger (Berlin) [German version] [2] King of Judah King of Judah. During his unusually long reign ( c. 696-642 BC), Judah was restricted to Jerusalem and its environs after the Assyrian conquests of 701 BC ( Judah and Israel), but progressively regenerated politically and economically [2. 169-181]. M. (in cuneiform script Me-na-se-e/si-i or Mi-in-se-e) as a loyal vassal of the Assyrians was obliged to pr…