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

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

and 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 ...

Etymology

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

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Mesha Stele

The Mesha Stele from about 840 BC was erected commemorating

Mesha King Mesha ( Moabite: 𐤌𐤔𐤏 *''Māšaʿ''; 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 Dibon. In this inscription he calls himself ...

's victory over the "son" of

Omri Omri ( ; he, , ''‘Omrī''; akk, 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿 ''Ḫûmrî'' 'ḫu-um-ri-i'' fl. 9th century BC) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the sixth king of Israel. He was a successful military campaigner who extended the northern kingdom of ...

, 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 Chemosh ( Moabite: 𐤊𐤌𐤔 ''Kamāš''; he, כְּמוֹשׁ ''Kəmōš'' ; Eblaite: 𒅗𒈪𒅖 ''Kamiš'', Akkadian: 𒅗𒄠𒈲 ''Kâmuš'') was the god of the Moabites. He is most notably attested in the Mesha Stele and the Hebrew ...

and

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...

. 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 Ashtar-Chemosh (; Moabite: 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤟𐤊𐤌𐤔 ''‘Aštār-Kamāš'') is a goddess worshipped by the ancient Moabites. She is mentioned on the Mesha Stele, possibly as a female counterpart to Chemosh.

Hebrew Bible and identification

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

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (; he, גִּלְעָד ''Gīləʿāḏ'', ar, جلعاد, Ǧalʻād, Jalaad) is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> Th ...

, mentioned in

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original 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 According to the Bible, the Tribe of Gad () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel who, after the Exodus from Egypt, settled on the eastern side of the Jordan River. It is one of the ten lost tribes.Tribe still originated from the original Hebre ...

. 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 Rúben in European Portuguese; Rubens in Brazilian Portugue ...

, but was built up by the Gadites during the period of Israelite conquest. This is very probably

Khirbat Ataruz Khirbat Ataruz () or Ataroth () is an archaeological site in Madaba Governorate, Jordan. The site was settled during the Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic periods, with most findings dating from the Iron Age. A Moabite temple dated to m ...

,
/ref> north of Wadi Heidan. The

(Moabite Stone) is likely referring to this town. # A town west of the Jordan, mentioned in Book of Joshua, Joshua, , which describes the southern border of the children of Joseph (the tribes of

Ephraim Ephraim (; he, ''ʾEp̄rayīm'', in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath. Asenath was an Ancient Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughte ...

and

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

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

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''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 last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

. 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 Atara ( ar, عطارة ''Atâra'') is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 15 kilometers north of Ramallah in the central West Bank. A village of nearly 2,300 inhabitants, it is situated along a mountain ridge l ...

, south of

al-Bireh Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It i ...

in 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 ...

. Another is Khirbet ed-Darieh. # 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