Timnath or Timnah was a
Philistine
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
city in
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
that is mentioned in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
in and in connection with
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
. Modern archaeologists identify the ancient site with a
tell lying on a flat, alluvial plain, located in the
Sorek Valley
Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...
ca. north-west of
Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
, near
moshav
A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
Tal Shahar in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, known 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 ...
as Tel Batash (תל בטש) or Teluliot Batashi (plural), and in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
as Tell Butashi or Teleilat Batashi (plural). The site is not to be confused with neither the as yet unidentified Timna from the
hill country of Judah (), nor with the southern copper-smelting site of
Timna
Timna ( Qatabānic: , romanized: , ; ar, تمنع, translit=Timnaʿ) is an ancient city in Yemen, the capital of the Qataban kingdom; it is distinct from a valley in southern Israel that shares the same name.
During ancient times, Timna was an i ...
in the
Arabah
The Arabah, Araba or Aravah ( he, הָעֲרָבָה, ''hāʿĂrāḇā''; ar, وادي عربة, ''Wādī ʿAraba''; lit. "desolate and dry area") is a loosely defined geographic area south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the borde ...
near
Eilat
Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan ...
.
The Tel Batash mound was discovered in the 19th century by
C. Clermont-Ganneau, who identified it as a Roman military camp. In subsequent years, the site was uncovered through 1977–1989, in 12 seasons of excavations, by
Amihai Mazar
Amihai "Ami" Mazar ( he, עמיחי מזר; born November 19, 1942) is an Israeli archaeologist. Born in Haifa, Israel (then the British Mandate of Palestine), he has been since 1994 a professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew Univ ...
and
George L. Kelm
George L. Kelm (1931–2019) was Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and Biblical Backgrounds at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. While serving there and at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, he and Amihai Mazar u ...
while Kelm was serving as professor of Biblical backgrounds and archaeology at
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and is one of the largest seminaries in the world. It i ...
, on a dig sponsored by the Seminary.
Geography
Tel Batash is strategically located in the
Sorek Valley
Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...
, an access point from the
Coastal Plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...
through the
Shephelah
The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands" ( hbo, הַשְּפֵלָה ''hašŠǝfēlā'', also Modern Hebrew: , ''Šǝfēlat Yəhūda'', the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel str ...
and into the Central
Judean Mountains
The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel wh ...
.
Hebrew Bible references
A place called Timnah (Timnath) is mentioned in in the context of the story of the Hebrew patriarch
Judah and
Tamar. Some think that Judah may have gone to this Timnah (Tibna) to shear his sheep, when he met his daughter-in-law in passing, while others suggest that this would have happened in the Timnath now known in Arabic as
Khirbet et-Tibbaneh
Khirbet et-Tibbâneh (''Hurvat Tibneh'' / ''Kh. Tibna'')( ar, خربة التبانة), sometimes referred to by historical geographers as the ''Timnah of Judah'' (), is a small ruin situated on a high ridge in the Judaean mountains, in the ''San ...
.
In , a place with this name is mentioned as a point on the border of the
Tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...
, and refers to Timnah's
vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...
s.
In ,
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
went down to Timnah in order to find a wife. On his way there, he tore apart a lion. Samson married a "girl of the
Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
" from Timnah and posed a riddle for the men of Timnah, which they were only able to resolve following the intervention of his wife.
History
Excavations under the leadership of Mazar and Kelm during the 1980s-1990s uncovered twelve strata of continuous settlement at the site through the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
period, with sparse settlement nearby during the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
period.
[
Not far from the tell, on the edge of ]Nahal Sorek
Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...
(Sorek Valley), are the remains of a Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
as well as settlement dating to the Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
and Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
ite periods.
Bronze Age
Tel Batash was first settled in the Middle Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
by creating an earthen rampart that enclosed the 10 acre (4 hectare) site.[
]
Bronze to Iron Age
Tel Batash during the Philistine
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...
era (Late Bronze Age to Iron Age) was a fortified city with dense mud-brick construction.[''The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land'' (ed. E. Stern), vol. 1, Jerusalem 1993, p. 156 ]
Iron Age
The archaeologists discovered fortifications and buildings from the Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Ce ...
period, dating to the 7th and 8th centuries BCE. In one of the buildings, a ceramic potsherd
In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well.
Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...
bearing a written LMLK seal
LMLK seals (with LMLK meaning 'of the king') are ancient Hebrew Stamp seal, seals stamped on the handles of large storage jars first issued in the reign of King Hezekiah (circa 700 BC) and discovered mostly in and around Jerusalem. Several comp ...
was found.[
]
Old identification (Khirbet Tibneh)
Khirbet Tibna, also spelled Kh. Tibneh, is a ruin situated ca. south-west of Bet Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
, Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. In the Survey of Palestine Map of 1928–1947 (Pal 1157), preserved at the National Library of Israel
The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא ...
, it is listed in map section 14-12, at Grid reference 144.1 / 127.9 PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
], under coordinates 31o44'36.587" N / 34o56'12.72"E. The ruin lies ca. 2 kilometers north-east of Moshav Sdot Micha and about south-west of Bîr el-Leimûn. Access to the site is now restricted, as it sits in a military area, at an elevation of 225 metres (740 ft) above sea-level. Early explorers and historical geographers identified the ruin Kh. Tibna with the biblical town of Timnah, thought to be associated with stories of the biblical Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
(Judges 14:1-5).[ French orientalist ]Clermont-Ganneau
Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (19 February 1846 – 15 February 1923) was a noted French Orientalist and archaeologist.
Biography
Clermont-Ganneau was born in Paris, the son of Simon Ganneau, a sculptor and mystic who died in 1851 when Cler ...
also thought Tibna to be a corruption of the Hebrew word Timnah.
Edward Robinson visited the immediate area in 1838, and Tibna was already a deserted village. Archaeologist 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." ...
visited the site in the winter of 1924–25, which he described as "Khirbet Tibneh, the Timnath of the Samson story." He wrote that the site was covered with "masses of Græco-Roman and Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
débris," although he was unable to come-up with Jewish potsherds. In the 1940s, archaeologist Benjamin Mazar
Benjamin Mazar ( he, בנימין מזר; born Binyamin Zeev Maisler, June 28, 1906 – September 9, 1995) was a pioneering Israeli historian, recognized as the "dean" of biblical archaeologists. He shared the national passion for the archaeology ...
conducted a surface survey in the region - including Tell Butashi, without digging.[ G. Kelm & A. Mazar, "Timnah: A Biblical City in the Sorek Valley", in: ''Archaeology'', Vol. 37, No. 3 (May/June 1984), ]Archaeological Institute of America
The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...
, p. 58
Modern identification (Tell Butashi)
Today, modern archaeologists think the biblical Timnath (Timnah) associated with the saga of Samson to have been situated where Tell Butashi is now located, a few kilometers to its north, along the Sorek Valley, where extensive archaeological excavations have been conducted during the 1980s–1990s and where they have uncovered Middle Bronze Age artifacts. With the town's demise, the name "Timnah" is thought to have migrated to the site now known as Khirbet Tibna.
References
Other References
*
*
*
*
* {{cite book, author=Jonathan Michael Golden, title=Ancient Canaan and Israel: new perspectives, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTMzJAKowyEC&pg=PA70, accessdate=27 October 2010, date=November 2004, publisher=ABC-CLIO, isbn=978-1-57607-897-6, pages=70–71
External links
* Survey of Western Palestine, 1880 Map, Map 16
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...
''Tell Butashi'' and the region of Timnah, near the Sorek Valley
Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...
(''Wady es Surar'')
Hebrew Bible cities
Former populated places in Southwest Asia
Archaeological sites in Israel
Ancient Israel and Judah
Former populated places in Israel
Ancient sites in Israel
Bronze Age sites in Israel
Iron Age sites in Israel
Canaanite cities
Philistine cities
Biblical geography
Kingdom of Judah