Tirzah () was a town in the
Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...
n highlands northeast of
Shechem
Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first c ...
; it is generally identified with the site of Tell el-Far'ah (North), northeast of modern city of
Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
,
in the immediate vicinity of the
Palestinian village of
Wadi al-Far'a and the
Far'a refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
, although
Conder and
Kitchener suggested that the ancient city may have actually been where
Tayasir is now located, based on its phonemes. Conversely, biblical researchers,
Robinson and
Guérin, suggested identifying the town with
Talluza.
History
The size of the archaeological site is and is located in the hills of Samaria, northeast of Nablus, in what is currently known as the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. The archaeological site is called Tell el-Far'ah (North) in order to distinguish it from
Tell el-Far'ah (South)
Tell el-Far'ah (South) (also Tell el-Fārʿa) is an archaeological site on the bank of HaBesor Stream in the northern Negev region, Israel. Not to be confused with the site Tell el-Far'ah (North). It is located between the modern settlements of ...
, an archaeological site south of
Gaza.
Excavations were undertaken at Tell el-Far'ah between 1946 and 1960 for nine seasons by
École Biblique under the direction of
Roland de Vaux.
Prehistoric period
The site was occupied in the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
and
Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "Rock (geology), stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin ''wikt:aeneus, aeneus'' "of copper"), is an list of archaeologi ...
eras, and became progressively more populated.
Finds from the earliest levels of settlement excavated by
Dorothy Garrod in 1928 were suggested to date to the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon durin ...
(PPNB) period.
Bronze Age
During the
Early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
, Tell el-Far'ah had ramparts and domestic housing units. The earliest pottery oven of its kind was excavated here; it had two chambers that allowed separation between the vessels being fired and the open flame. This type of pottery oven continued to be used in the region until the
Roman period
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
. A temple and
an olive press were also uncovered.
Town planning is clearly evident at the site. The western gate in the town wall was rebuilt several times during this period. The excavations indicate developing urbanization and the presence of new populations. However, the town was abandoned in the middle of the third millennium
BCE, and remained so for approximately 600 years.
In the
Middle Bronze Age II, there was a small settlement on the site that used the remnants of the older town walls for protection. In the 1700s the population expanded and a new wall was built, but it enclosed a smaller area than the older city. The Late Bronze Age remains indicate that there was no major urban development during this period.
Iron Age
Tell el-Far'ah was an important town in the early
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
, the center of a network of villages, one of five such networks that make up the Israelite settlement, starting around 1200 BCE, in the highlands between Jerusalem and the
Jezreel Valley
The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...
. Excavations from the Iron Age levels have produced numerous artifacts, including various figurines, arrowheads, spindle whorls, a model sanctuary, and
Four room houses. The figurines include cow heads, cows nursing calves, horses, tambourine players, and figurines representing
Asherah
Asherah (; he, אֲשֵׁרָה, translit=Ăšērā; uga, 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚, translit=ʾAṯiratu; akk, 𒀀𒅆𒋥, translit=Aširat; Qatabanian: ') in ancient Semitic religion, is a fertility goddess who appears in a number of ancient ...
.
In the Bible
The town of Tirzah is first mentioned in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
in the
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...
, as having had a king whom the
Israelite
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stel ...
s defeated. it is not mentioned again until after the period of the
United Monarchy.
During the time of King
Jeroboam
Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ, Hieroboám) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern ...
, Tirzah is mentioned as the place where
Abijah, son of Jeroboam, died as a result of illness. Later Tirzah is described as a capital of the northern kingdom of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
during the reigns of
Baasha,
Elah,
Zimri and
Omri. The royal palace at Tirzah was set on fire by Zimri when he was faced with having to surrender to Omri. Omri reigned from Tirzah for six years after which he moved Israel's capital to
Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...
.
Tirzah is mentioned in when
Menahem
Menahem or Menachem (, from a Hebrew word meaning "the consoler" or "comforter"; akk, 𒈪𒉌𒄭𒅎𒈨 ''Meniḫîmme'' 'me-ni-ḫi-im-me'' Greek: ''Manaem'' in the Septuagint, ''Manaen'' in Aquila; la, Manahem; full name: he, מְנַ ...
left it to Samaria, assassinated King
Shallum and became King of Israel.
Tirzah is mentioned in
Song of Songs, where the lover compares his beloved's beauty to that of Tirzah. If the authorship of Song of Songs can be attributed to
Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
, then this is a reference to the city during the United Monarchy. However, Song of Songs provides no definite historical context to allow it to be dated on that basis.
Modern location
Robinson suggested that
Talluza might be ancient Tirzah (Latin form: ''Thersa''), one of 31 Canaanite cities the Bible lists as having been conquered by
Joshua
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
; the modern Arabic name being a derivation of the ancient name by way of its Hebrew form, or possibly its original Canaanite form, whereby the ''r'' sound was replaced with a ''l''.
[Robinson and Smith, 1856, pp]
302
-303 French explorer
Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...
also argued that Talluza was the site of ancient ''Thirza''.
[Guerin, 1874, pp]
365-368
ff
Later,
Conder &
Kitchener suggested that
Tayasir was a more likely candidate,
[Conder and Kitchener, SWP II, 1882, pp]
216
228
/ref> however, today Tell el-Farah (North), northeast of modern Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
is generally accepted as the site of Tirzah.
References
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Canaanite cities
Archaeological sites in the West Bank
Archaeological sites in Samaria
Torah cities
Bronze Age Asia
Iron Age Asia
Bronze Age sites in the State of Palestine
Iron Age sites in Asia
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
Zimri (king)