Jattir (Hebrew יַתִּר, pronounced Yattir) is a town in

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

mentioned several times in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' 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 an ...

in the southern

Hebron Hills The Hebron Hills, also known as Mount Hebron ( ar, جبل الخليل, translit=Jabal al-Khalīl, he, הר חברון, translit=Har Hevron), are a mountain ridge, geographic region, and geologic formation, comprising the southern part of the J ...

, located in modern day

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 ...

Ancient sources

Hebrew Bible

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

15:48 says that Jattir was in the mountains of Judah. The village was allocated by

and

Elazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, fro ...

to the

kohanim Kohen ( he, , ''kōhēn'', , "priest", pl. , ''kōhănīm'', , "priests") is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. Levitical priests or ''kohanim'' are traditionally be ...

of the Aaronic priesthood, according to (Joshua 21:14); Yatir, as written in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament): "And unto the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and

Libnah Libnah or Lobana ( he, לִבְנָה, ''whiteness''; la, Lobana) was an independent city, probably near the western seaboard of Israel, with its own king at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan.Gina Hens-Piazza Abingdon Old Testament Comm ...

with its suburbs, and Yattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs" ( Book of Joshua ). Some 400 years later, the Book of Kings mentions that King David shared a portion of the

war booty Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

from his battle with the

Amalekites Amalek (; he, עֲמָלֵק, , ar, عماليق ) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or th ...

with the elders of Yattir ( 1 Samuel 30:27).

Onomasticon

In the early-4th century CE, Greek scholar

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

mentioned the town twice in his '' Onomasticon'': “Ietheira is now a very large village in the interior of Daroma, situated near Malaatha", and later, "It is now the very large village of Ietheira, about twenty miles from

Eleutheropolis Eleutheropolis (Greek, Ἐλευθερόπολις, "Free City"; ar, إليوثيروبوليس; in Hebrew, בית גוברין, Beit Gubrin) was a Roman and Byzantine city in Syria Palaestina, some 53 km southwest of Jerusalem. After the Mu ...

, wholly Christian, in the inner Daroma, near Malatha.”

Madaba Map

The town is depicted on the seventh-century Madaba Map.

Archeological site

Jattir was identified by Edward Robinson with Khirbet Attir (Horvat Yattir), southwest of

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

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 ...

.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
116
/ref>

Félix-Marie Abel Félix-Marie Abel (29 December 1878 – 24 March 1953) was a French archaeologist, a geographer, and a professor at the École Biblique in Jerusalem. A Dominican priest, he was one of the most prominent bible scholars in the end of Ottoman era ...

noted that there are visible

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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 ...

remnants at the site, including a church; moreover, he wrote that the site dominates its surroundings. A series of excavations was conducted at the site between 1995 and 1999. It appears that the site have been occupied during the

Chalcolithic period 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 ...

, the

Early 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 prin ...

, the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

(starting from the 7 century BCE), the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

period,

Hellenistic period 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 ...

, and up until the Mamluk period. Two Byzantine churches were excavated on the site. The settlement appears to have been destroyed at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Other identifications

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 ...

thought that Jattir was identical with the village of

Yater Yater (Arabic: ياطر) is a Lebanese municipality located in Bint Jbeil District. It is 112 kilometers away from Beirut. E. H. Palmer wrote that the name Yater came from a personal name. History The village once marked the northernmost extent ...

in Lebanon.Guerin, 1880, pp
413
4; in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
260
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * * 13 Kohanic cities Cities of refuge {{Hebrew-Bible-stub Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea Archaeological sites in Israel