Ataroth ( ''‘Ǎṭārōṯ'') is the name of two or three Iron Age cities mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Mesha Stele The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan). Mesha tel ...

Etymology

Atarot(h) may mean "crowns" or "cattle pens" in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Mesha Stele

The Mesha Stele from about 840 BC was erected commemorating

Mesha King Mesha (Moabite language, Moabite: , vocalized as: ; Hebrew: מֵישַׁע ''Mēšaʿ'') was a king of Moab in the 9th century BC, known most famously for having the Mesha Stele inscribed and erected at Dhiban, Dibon, Jordan. In this inscrip ...

's victory over the "son" of

Omri The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

, but he fails to say which one. He states that he massacred all the Israelites at Ataroth as satisfaction for the blood lust of Chemosh and

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

. He adds that he captured Nebo (Ataroth) and killed everybody, 7,000 men, boys, women, girls, and maidens, because he had dedicated it to the goddess Ashtar-Chemosh.

Hebrew Bible and identification

In the Hebrew Bible, the name Ataroth refers to two or perhaps three towns: # A town east of the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

in Gilead, mentioned in

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

, & , in the territory of the Tribe of Gad. Ataroth lay within the tribal allotment of

Reuben Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. Variants include Reuvein in Yiddish or as an English variant spelling on th ...

, but was built up by the Gadites during the period of Israelite conquest. This is very probably Khirbat Ataruz, north of Wadi Heidan. The

Mesha Stele The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan). Mesha tel ...

(Moabite Stone) is likely referring to this town. # A town west of the Jordan, mentioned in

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

, , which describes the southern border of the children of Joseph (the tribes of

Ephraim Ephraim (; , in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephrai ...

and

Manasseh Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier * Jacob Manasseh ( ...

). This southern border of Joseph would also be the southern border of Ephraim within Joseph, and also be the northern border of

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

. This Ataroth may be the same as Ataroth-Addar, mentioned in Joshua, , in a description of the border of Benjamin. A possible location is 'Atara, south of al-Bireh in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. Another is Khirbet ed-Darieh near Lower Bethoron. Charles L. Souvay
"Biblical Geography: Geographical Names in Holy Scripture: Atarotj"

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

(1907-1912) via ''Catholic Answers''. Accessed 2 April 2024. # A town west of the Jordan, possibly the same as above, mentioned in Joshua, {{bibleverse-nb, , Joshua, 16:7, HE, which gives the borders of Ephraim within Joseph.

Notes

Hebrew Bible cities Tribe of Reuben Omrides Gilead