Dan (), and older name Laish, is an ancient city mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Kingdom of Israel, and belonging to the

tribe of Dan The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe initially settled in the hill lands bordering Tribe of Ephraim, Ephraim and Tribe of Benjamin, Benjamin on the ...

, its namesake. It was later the site of a royal sanctuary built by

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇʿām''; ), frequently cited Jeroboam son of Nebat, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel following a Jeroboam's Revol ...

. The city is identified with a tell located in

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 ...

, northern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, known as Tel Dan (; "Mound of Dan") 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 ...

and Tell el-Qadi ("Mound of the Judge") in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, a popular translation of the ancient Hebrew name. The site was occupied continuously from the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

through the Iron Age II, the time of the Kingdom of Israel. While evidence suggests a period of abandonment during the Persian era, it was later rebuilt as a

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

city with a notable shrine.

Identification and names

The

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' tribe of Dan The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe initially settled in the hill lands bordering Tribe of Ephraim, Ephraim and Tribe of Benjamin, Benjamin on the ...

the site was known as Laish with variant spellings within the Books of

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 ...

, Judges and

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

. In it is called Leshem, which means "jewel". has the alternative name ''Laishah'' "Lioness" in a number of

translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. Rabbinic works, and writers like

Philostorgius Philostorgius (; 368 – c. 439 AD) was an Anomoean Church historian of the 4th and 5th centuries. Very little information about his life is available. He was born in Borissus, Cappadocia to Eulampia and Carterius, and lived in Constantinopl ...

Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus (; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pivotal role in several 5th-century Byzantine ...

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela (), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah, was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his ...

and Samuel ben Samson, all incorrectly identified Dan or Laish, with Banias (Paneas).Saulcy, 1854, pp
537
538

Eusebius of Caesarea 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. ...

more accurately places Dan/Laish in the vicinity of Paneas at the fourth mile on the route to Tyre. The Arab name of the archaeological site, Tell el-Qadi, meaning "the tell of the judge," plays on the distinction between Arabic "din" and Hebrew "dan," offering a popular translation of the ancient Hebrew name. 19th century Swiss traveler

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...

identified the source of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

having the name "Dhan" () in his travelogue published posthumously in 1822. The American naval officer William F. Lynch was the first to identify ''Tell el-Qadi'' as the site of the ancient city of Dan in 1849. Three years later, Edward Robinson made the same identification,, p
392
/ref> and this identification is now securely accepted. ''Tel Dan'' is the modern Israeli name for the site, based on the original Biblical name.

Geography

Dan is situated in the area known as the Galilee Panhandle, which is a part of Upper Galilee. To the west is the southern part of

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round. Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...

; to the east and north are the Hermon mountains. Melting snow from the Hermon mountains provides the majority of the water of the

, and passes through Dan, making the immediate area highly fertile. The lush vegetation that results makes the area around Dan seem somewhat out of place in the otherwise

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

region around it. Due to its location close to the border with

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

at the far north of the territory which fell under the British Mandate of Palestine, the site has a long and often bitterly contested modern history, most recently during the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

Biblical narrative

Laish/Leshem

According to the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...

, prior to the Tribe of Dan occupying the land, the town was known as Laish (), meaning lion, or rather lioness.abarim-publications
Laish "Laish"
an

at Abarim Publications. Re-accessed 20 July 2022. , although telling the same story as Judges 18, names the city as Leshem, which makes the researchers consider it as being the same place. Laish was allied with the

Sidonians Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

from the city of

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

. This might indicate they were also Phoenicians, who may or may not have been

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite. The alliance offered little practical benefit due to the remoteness of Laish from Sidon, and the intervening Lebanon mountains. The town was also isolated from the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

ns and Aram by the Hermon mountains; the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

mentions that the town was unable to have an alliance with the Aramaeans. The

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

does not mention the Aramaeans, but instead states that the town had no relationship with ''any man'' – textual scholars believe that this is a scribal error, with ''adham'' (''man'') being a mistake for ''Aram''.

Israelite city of Dan

According to the Book of Judges story of Micah's Idol, the Tribe of Dan did not at that point have any territory to their name (), and so, after scouting out the land, eventually decided to attack Laish, as the land around it was fertile, and the town was demilitarised. The Bible describes the Tribe of Dan with 600 men brutally defeating the people of Laish and burning it to the ground, and then building their city in the same spot. The narrative states that Laish became known as Dan after the tribe. They then erected a sanctuary that housed the idol stolen from Micah, which was served by a priest who was Moses' grandson. The sanctuary later received one of the two golden calves of

, and remained in use until the "time of captivity of the land" and the time that the "house of God" ceased to be in Shiloh. Scholars think that the former refers to the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/732, and that the latter refers to the time of

Hezekiah Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Kingdom of Judah, Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.Stephen L Harris, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "G ...

's religious reform; an alternative possibility, however, supported by a minority of scholars, is that "time of captivity of the land" is a scribal error and should read "time of captivity of the Ark", referring to the battle of

Eben-Ezer Eben-Ezer () is a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by foot from Shiloh (biblical city), Shiloh, near Aphek ...

, and the Philistine capture of the Ark, and that the ceasing of the "house of God" being in Shiloh refers to this also.

Golden calf worship

According to and ,

erected two golden calves as gods in

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

and Dan. Textual scholars believe that this is where the

Elohist According to the documentary hypothesis, the Elohist (or simply E) is one of four source documents underlying the Torah, together with the Jahwist (or Yahwist), the Deuteronomist and the Priestly source. The Elohist is so named because of its ...

story of

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

's golden calf originates due to opposition in some sections of Israelite society, including the Elohists, to the seeming idol-worship of Jeroboam. However, some Biblical scholars believe that

was trying to outdo the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

, by creating a seat for God that spanned the entire Kingdom of Israel rather than just the small space above the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

in Jerusalem. The

Holy of Holies The Holy of Holies ( or ''Kodesh HaKodashim''; also ''hadDəḇīr'', 'the Sanctuary') is a term in the Hebrew Bible that refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, where the Shekhinah (God in Judaism, God's presence) appeared. According ...

in the Jerusalem Temple of Judah was represented by a

cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

on either side, so Jeroboam might have been using the calves to represent the sides of his sanctuary, implying his whole kingdom was equal in holiness to the Ark.

Archaeology

According to the archaeological excavations at the site, the town was originally occupied in the

Late Neolithic In the Near Eastern archaeology, archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding th ...

period (c. 4500 BCE), and at some time in the fourth millennium BCE it was abandoned for almost 1,000 years.

Early Bronze

Laish was a fortified settlement during the

Middle Bronze

The Egyptians cursed Laish in

execration texts Execration texts, also referred to as proscription lists, are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, listing enemies of the pharaoh, most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. The texts were most often written upon stat ...

written during the Middle Kingdom. It has been speculated that the repetition in such texts of formulas from older ones dating to the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

(27th–22nd century BCE) seem to indicate that they reflected the historical reality of the Early Bronze Age, rather than that of the

Middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The excavators of Tel Dan uncovered a city gate made of mud bricks on top of megalithic basalt blocks called orthostats, estimated to have been built during the Middle Bronze Age around 1750 BCE.Frances, Rosa
The three-arched middle Bronze Age gate at Tel Dan - A structural investigation of an extraordinary archaeological site
retrieved 9 April 2020. As of 2009, its three constituent 'true' arches were the oldest complete and free-standing monumental arches made of mud-brick known in the world. Its popular name is Abraham's Gate, due to the biblical story that Abraham travelled to Dan to rescue his nephew Lot (:). The gate was restored in the late 2000s and has become a popular tourist attraction. Hazor was the regional power during the Middle Bronze II, subordinate to Qatna to the north and with trade routes to Mari in the Middle Euphrates.

Late Bronze

Egyptian period

In the 15th century BCE,

Tuthmosis III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and milita ...

conquered Dan (called ''Laysha'') along others (Egyptian hieroglyphs did not distinguish between L and R).

Iron Age I

During the Iron Age I, Egyptian withdrawal from Canaan led Laish (Dan) to become an independent entity allied with the Sidonians. It remained independent until the 10th century BCE, when it was annexed by the Northern Kingdom of Israel or one of the Aramean kingdoms. In Judges 18 it is told that there was no king in the land. The Tribe of Dan were seeking an inheritance for themselves, so they sent five of their clan leaders from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land of Laish. The Danites then conquered Laish with an army of 600 men burning the city to the ground and rebuilding it as Dan.

Iron Age II

In Iron II, the Northern Kingdom of Israel seem to have gained control over Dan. According to

William G. Dever William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, Biblical scholar, historian, semiticist, and theologian. He is an active Biblical scholar, scholar of the Old Testament, and historian, specialized ...

, the city's population was approximately 3,000 people during the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.

Israelite city wall and gate

The Israelite gate was built at a different location than the Canaanite gate. In 1992, in order to tidy up the site for presentation to visitors, a heap of debris was removed which dated from the time of the Assyrian destruction of the city by Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/2 BCE. A hitherto unknown earlier gateway to the city was uncovered. The entrance complex led to a courtyard paved with stone with a low stone platform. In the 9th century BCE, the podium was enlarged, and major fortifications were built, a city wall with buttresses and a complex gate. The podium was enlarged further in the 8th century BCE by Jeroboam II, then destroyed by Tiglath-Pileser III.

Seat of king or judge

At the Israelite gate there is a raised square platform reached by two steps. Decorated stone sockets in the corners may have been created to hold canopy poles. It may have been the base of the king's seat, where he would sit in judgment.

Tel Dan stele

Within the remains of the city wall, close to the entrance of the outer gate, parts of the stele were found. The basalt stone bears an

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

inscription referring to one of the kings of

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 ...

; the excavators of the site believe that the king it refers to is

Hazael Hazael (; ; Old Aramaic 𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋 ''Ḥzʔl'') was a king of Aram-Damascus mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of contemporary Syria and Israel-Samaria. While he was likely ...

(c 840 BCE), though a minority argue that it instead refers to Ben-Hadad (c 802 BCE). A small part of the inscription remains, with text containing the letters 'ביתדוד' (''BYTDWD''), which most archaeologists agree refers to "House of David" (''Beth David'' in

.) In the line directly above, the text reads 'MLK YSR'L', i.e. "King of Israel". Hebrew script from the era is

vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...

-less, which would make the inscription the first time that the name ''

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

'' has been found at an archaeological site dating before 500 BCE. Dan suffered in the era of expansion by the

Aramaeans The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered cent ...

, due to being the closest city to them in the kingdom of Israel. The several incursions indicated by the Book of Kings suggest that Dan changed hands at least four times between the Kingdom of Israel and Aramaeans, around the time that Israel was ruled by

Ahab Ahab (; ; ; ; ) was a king of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), the son and successor of King Omri, and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bible. He is depicted in the Bible as a Baal worshipper and is criticized for causi ...

and the Aramaeans by Ben Hadad I, and their successors. Around this time, the Tel Dan stele was created by the Aramaeans, during one of the periods of their control of Dan. When the Assyrian empire expanded to the south, the kingdom of Israel initially became a vassal state, but after rebelling, the Assyrians invaded and the town fell to Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/732 BCE.

Cultic area, altar

Excavations at the cultic area of Dan have revealed a religious compound with a large four-horned central altar and presenting a diverse amount of cult paraphernalia. These findings seem to be in line with the biblical account which portrays Dan as a major cultic center of the Kingdom of Israel from the reign of Jeroboam ().

Later periods

During the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods, remains indicate that cultic activities continued around the podium (also known as "the High Place").

Tel Dan Nature Reserve

The Tel Dan Nature Reserve was first declared on 39 hectares surrounding the Tel in 1974. Nine hectares were added to the reserve in 1989. The Dan River is one of the three water sources of the

which meet in the northern part of the Hula Valley. Notable points of interest include Paradise Springs, the Abraham or Canaanite Gate and the Israelite Gate.Israel Nature and Parks Authority
Tel Dan Nature Reserve
accessed 12 October 2020

References

Bibliography

* Re-accessed 20 July 2022. *

External links

Tel Dan Excavations
– official Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology website
Israel Nature & Natural Parks Protection Authority Site
* 1961 Israeli map of Tel Dan and surrounding area

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dan (Ancient City) Megalithic monuments in the Middle East Nature reserves in Israel Prehistoric sites in Israel Ancient sites in Israel Former populated places in West Asia Land of Israel Bronze Age sites in Israel Iron Age sites in Israel Canaanite cities Protected areas of Northern District (Israel) Buildings and structures in Northern District (Israel) Tells (archaeology) Historic Jewish communities Populated places established in the 5th millennium BC Populated places disestablished in the 4th millennium BC Populated places disestablished in the 8th century BC Hula Valley Tribe of Dan World Heritage Tentative List Golden calf Late Neolithic