Chalaaboun (Arabic: شلعبون) is an

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

in the outskirts of

Ain Ebel ʿAin Ebel ( ar, عين إبل; Syriac: ), the ancient 'En Bol, is a village located in the Lebanese Upper Galilee in the Caza of Bint Jbeil in the Nabatiye Governorate in Lebanon. Etymology Historian Taissier Khalaf writes that the name of t ...

South Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distr ...

History

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote infl ...

visited Chalaaboun during his mission to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

and described what he found in his book

Mission de Phénicie (1865-1874) The ''Mission de Phénicie'' was the first major archaeological mission to Lebanon and Syria. It took place in 1860-61 by a French team led by Ernest Renan. Renan was entrusted with the mission in October 1860, after French interest had been spar ...

. Renan believed that Chalaaboun was the Biblical town of

Shaalabbin Salbit ( ar, سلبيت, also spelled Selbît) was a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of al-Ramla. Salbit was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War after a military assault by Israeli forces. The Israeli locality of Shaalvim w ...

of the

Tribe of Dan The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. They were allocated a coastal portion of land when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, later moving northwards. Biblical narrative In ...

. He found a tomb similar to that of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. In 1875,

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 ...

called for the "attention to the

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

alluded to by Lieutenant Kitchener. He says there are two which have sculptured on the sides a winged figure holding up a garland to right and left, the curve of which is surmounted on one side by a disc, and on the other by a cross. Beside one lies the cross, furnished with a ridge and

acroteria An acroterion, acroterium, or akroteria is an architectural ornament placed on a flat pedestal called the ''acroter'' or plinth, and mounted at the apex or corner of the pediment of a building in the classical style. An acroterion placed at th ...

. To the west of this hill rises a second, the slopes of which are terraced, the highest platform being sustained by a strong wall. Here are the vestiges of a small town, in the shape of

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by ...

s and foundations of cut stones.Guérin, 1880, pp
110
111; as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
245
/ref> In 1881, the

PEF PEF, PeF, or Pef may stand for the following abbreviations: * Palestine Exploration Fund * Peak expiratory flow * PEF Private University of Management Vienna * Pentax raw file (see Raw image format) * Perpetual Education Fund * Perpetual Emigratio ...

's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it: "Heaps of well-cut stones, some of large size ; four or five sarcophagi, very large and well-preserved, decorated with figures holding up a wreath, similar to those at

Kades Kedesh (alternate spellings: Cadesh, Cydessa) was an ancient Canaanite and later Israelite settlement in Upper Galilee, mentioned few times in the Hebrew Bible. Its remains are located in Tel Kedesh, 3 km northeast of the modern Kibbutz M ...

, but better preserved. There are also two caves and many cisterns, and a large birkeh on the south side. This was an ancient and important place.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
245
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4
IAAWikimedia commons
{{coord, 33.1242, N, 35.4172, E, source:wikidata, display=title Bint Jbeil District Tribe of Dan