Beth-Anath was mentioned in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

as "one of the fenced cities that fell to the lot of

Naphtali According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; ) was the sixth son of Jacob, the second of his two sons with Bilhah. He was the founder of the Israelite tribe of Naphtali. Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name ''Naphtali'' ma ...

(), and from which the

Canaanites {{Cat main, Canaan See also: * :Ancient Israel and Judah Ancient Levant Hebrew Bible nations Ancient Lebanon 0050 Ancient Syria Wikipedia categories named after regions 0050 0050 Phoenicia Amarna Age civilizations ...

were not driven out ()." W.L.A., in Kitto, 1862, p
344
/ref>

Early history

Among the place names found in a list of

Ramses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

, ''Beth-anath'' remains the only name that clearly refers to the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

according to Judge
1:33
Beth-Anath has been translated to mean ''"temple of

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; ''ʿnt''; ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:ꜥntjt, ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume tha ...

"'', a Canaanite goddess linked to a

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian predecessor called

Ninhursag Ninḫursaĝ ( ''Ninḫarsang''; ), sometimes transcribed Ninursag, Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She ...

.Naʼaman, 2005, p
248
ff Beth-Anath continued to be settled by the native

, even after Israel's conquest of the land during the

early Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progr ...

. The Zenon Papyri (mid 3rd-century BCE) mentions a certain estate belonging to Apollonius in Βαιτανατα (''Beth-anath''), a way-stop along the route traveled by the Zenon party as it passed through ancient Palestine. In the 2nd-century CE, Beth-Anath was considered a borderline village, inhabited by both Jews and Gentiles.

Identification

Several places have been identified with Beth-Anath.

'Anin

It has been suggested than 'Anin is the site of ancient ''Beth Anath'', or

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: ''Batanaia'', mentioned in

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

' ''

Onomasticon Onomasticon may refer to: *Onomasticon (Eusebius) *Onomasticon of Amenope *Onomasticon of Joan Coromines *Onomasticon of Julius Pollux Julius Pollux (, ''Ioulios Polydeukes''; fl. 2nd century) was a Greeks, Greek scholar and rhetorician from Naucr ...

'' and in the

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

Aynata

Aynata in Lebanon was suggested by van de Velde in 1854, by W.M. Thomson in 1859,Thomson, 1859, p
315
/ref> and later

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

to be the ancient site of Beth-Anath. The same view was held by historical geographer Georg Kampffmeyer (1892).

Bi'ina

Bi'ina Bi'ina or al-Bi'na (also el-Baneh) () is an Arab citizens of Israel, Arab local council (Israel), town in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is located east of Acre, Israel, Akko. In 2003, Bi'ina merged with Majd al-K ...

in the

Beit HaKerem Valley Beit HaKerem Valley (), also known as al-Shaghur (), is a valley in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The valley is the dividing feature between the Upper Galilee featuring relatively high mountains and the Lower Galilee to the south, with ...

which divides

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee (, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; , ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Part of the larger Galilee region, it is characterized by its higher elevations and mountainous terra ...

from the

Lower Galilee The Lower Galilee (; ) is a region within the Northern District of Israel. The Lower Galilee is bordered by the Jezreel Valley to the south; the Upper Galilee to the north, from which it is separated by the Beit HaKerem Valley; the Jordan Rift ...

was suggested by

Ze'ev Safrai Ze'ev Safrai (; born 1948, Jerusalem) is an Israeli Professor in the Department for Israel Studies in Bar Ilan University, as well as an author, lecturer and researcher of Israel in the Second Temple period, Second Temple era. His main project is ...

as being the biblical Beth-Anath, a view that had been established long before him, by a host of archaeologists and historical geographers:

W.F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891 – September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars," h ...

, (1921/1922
19–20
;

Neubauer Neubauer or Neubaur is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Neubauer (1831–1907), Rabbinical scholar *Alfred Neubauer, Mercedes Grand Prix racing manager * Chuck Neubauer, American journalist * Dagmar Neubauer, German athlet ...

(186
235
��ff.);

Abel Abel ( ''Hébel'', in pausa ''Hā́ḇel''; ''Hábel''; , ''Hābēl'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within the Abrahamic religions. Born as the second son of Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God in Judaism, God, he ...

(1928, pp. 409–415; 1938: 266);

Alt Alt or ALT may refer to: Abbreviations for words * Alt account, an alternative online identity also known as a sock puppet account * Alternate character, in online gaming * Alternate route, type of highway designation * Alternating group, mathem ...

(''PJB'' 22, 1926, pp. 55–ff.; 24, 1928, p. 87); Saarisalo ("Boundary", p. 189); Rafael Frankel, ''et al.'' (2001:136); Aviam (2004:53); Reeg (1989:72–73). The site dates back to the Iron Age. Initially, Albright thought that Beth-Anath might be '' Tell Belat'', but later changed his mind for the site at Bi'ina (''Dayr al Ba'ana''), based on the name given for the village in the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

(''

Orlah The prohibition on ''orlah'' fruit (lit. "uncircumcised" fruit) is a command found in the Bible not to eat fruit produced by a tree during the first three years after planting. In rabbinical writings, the ''orlah'' prohibition () is counted a ...

'' 3:7), and which more closely resembles the site's present name. Albright conjectured that the ancient site of Beth-Anath was probably situated at the mound of ''Jelamet el-Bi'ina'', less than a mile southeast of the present site of Bi'ina, a place surrounded by fertile fields. The word ''jelameh'', meaning "hill" or "mound," is sometimes employed instead of '' tell''. Israeli archaeologist

Yoram Tsafrir Yoram Tsafrir (; 30 January 1938 – 23 November 2015) was an Israeli archaeologist. His research has included the Byzantine influence on ancient synagogues, demography of Palestine in the Byzantine period, mosaics at Horvat Berachot, excavatio ...

remained undecided where to place Beth-anath, saying that it could have either been where is now Bi'ina, or where is now Bu'eine. Tsafrir, ''et al.'' (1994), p. 80

Bu'eine Nujeidat

Tsafrir et al. suggested that Beth-Anath could be at Bu'eine Nujeidat, or Bi'ina.

Hinah

Historical geographer Samuel Klein (1934:18–34 ) placed Beth-Anath in

Hinah Hinah (Arabic: حينة) is a Syrian village in the Qatana District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Hinah had a population of 1,524 in the 2004 census.

, a town on the southeast side of

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...

. His view is supported by Grintz (1964:67), who cites

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

(''Antiquities'' 5.1.22) as corroborating Klein's view, insofar that Naphtali's territory is said to have extended as far as

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

in the east.

Safad el-Battikh

Aharoni (1957:70-74) held the view that Beth-Anath was to be identified with '' Safed el-Battikh'', in the

Bint Jbeil District The Bint Jbeil District (, ') is a district in the Nabatiyeh Governorate of Lebanon. The capital of the district is Bint Jbeil. Municipalities The following 36 municipalities are all located in the Bint Jbeil District: * Ain Ebel * Aitaroun * A ...

. Aharoni cites

' ''

'' and his mention of ''Batanaia'' being distant 15 miles from Caesarea, a place thought by Aharoni to refer to Cesarea Philippi (1957:73). According to him, this would put ''Batanaia'' (=Beth-Anath) in the vicinity of ''Safed el-Battikh''.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
Beth-Anath {{DEFAULTSORT:Beth-Anath Former populated places in Israel Canaanite cities Biblical geography Hebrew Bible cities Former populated places in Lebanon Anat