Adullam () is an ancient ruin, formerly known by the Arabic appellation ''ʿAīd el Mâ'' (or ''`Eîd el Mieh''), built upon a hilltop overlooking the

Elah Valley The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; from the he, עמק האלה ''Emek HaElah''), called in ar, وادي السنط, Wadi es-Sunt, is a long, shallow valley in Israel and the West Bank best known as the place de ...

, straddling the Green Line between

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 ...

and 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 ...

. In the late 19th century, the town was still in ruins. The hilltop ruin is also known by the name ''Khurbet esh-Sheikh Madkour'', named after Madkour, one of the sons of the Sultan Beder, for whom is built a shrine (''wely'') and formerly called by its inhabitants ''Wely Madkour''. The hilltop is mostly flat, with cisterns carved into the rock. The remains of stone structures which once stood there can still be seen. Sedimentary layers of ruins from the old Canaanite and Israelite eras, mostly potsherds, are noticeable everywhere, although olive groves now grow atop of this hill, enclosed within stone hedges. The villages of Aderet, Aviezer and

Khirbet al-Deir Khirbet al-Deir ( ar, خربة الدير), or Khirbet ed-Deir, is a Palestinian village located southwest of Bethlehem, and northwest of Hebron. The town is in the Hebron Governorate of central West Bank. According to the 2007 Palestinian Centr ...

are located nearby. The ruin lies about south of

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 ...

Neve Michael. The area around ancient Adullam between

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 ...

and Bet Guvrin was established in 1957 as
Adullam Region
() and settled since then.

Main archaeological sites; identification

* ''Kh. esh-Sheikh Madkur'' (grid: 1503/1175), sitting at an elevation of above sea-level, is thought by modern historical geographers to be the "upper Adullam", based on its proximity to ''Kh. ‘Id el Minya'', a site whose name is believed to be a corruption of "Adullam." Aharoni (1979), p. 429 The identification of the upper site with the biblical Adullam is still inconclusive, as archaeological evidence attesting to its Old Canaanite name has yet to be found. While

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 ...

does not specifically say that the site in question was the ancient Adullam, he holds that ''Kh. esh-Sheikh Madkur'' and ''Kh. ‘Id el Minya'' are to be recognised as the same city; the Upper and the Lower. Site maintained by the JNF (KKL) in Israel, and where archaeological surveys and partial excavations have been conducted. The site features ancient caverns, cisterns carved into the rock, and a Muslim shrine known as ''Wely Sheikh Madkur''. * ''Kh. ‘Id el Minya'', also known as ''‘Eid al-Miah'' (grid: 1504/1181), is the site recognised by M. Clermont Ganneau as Adullam proper, being now a tell at the southern end of ''Wadi es-Sûr'', an extension of the

Elah valley The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; from the he, עמק האלה ''Emek HaElah''), called in ar, وادي السنط, Wadi es-Sunt, is a long, shallow valley in Israel and the West Bank best known as the place de ...

. The ruin sits at an elevation of above sea-level. The ruin is overgrown with vegetation and trees at the bottom of the mountain whereon lies ''Kh. esh-Sheikh Madkur'', towards its north. Razed stone structures, a stone water trough, and the shaft of a stone column can still be seen there.

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 ...

surveyor C.R. Conder mentions having seen in ''ʻAid el-Miyeh'' an ancient well having stone water-troughs round it.

Previous attempts of identification

Early drawings depicting the so-called " Adullam cave" have tentatively been identified with the cavern of ''Umm el Tuweimin'', and the cave at ''Khureitun'' (named after Chariton the ascetic), because of their immense size. Modern-day archaeologists have rejected these early hypotheses, and have accepted that ''ʻAid el-Miyeh'' is the Adullam of old.

History

Iron Age and Hebrew Bible

The "Adullam" mentioned in the

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

is usually thought to be identical with ''Tell Sheikh Madkhur'', that is, the archaeological ruin referred to in this article as "Adullam."Shaw (1993), p
45
/ref>Amit, David (n.d.), pp. 332–333 Adullam is referred to in the

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

as being one of the royal cities of the

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 ...

ites (), and is listed along with the cities Jarmuth and Socho as occupying a place in the region geographically known as the

Shefelah 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 s ...

(), or what is a place of transition between the mountainous region and the coastal plains. It was one of many city-states with independent and sovereign kings. According to the same biblical source, the king of Adullam was slain by

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 ...

and the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

during their conquest of the land of Canaan (). It was here that Judah, the son of

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ...

(Israel), came when he left his father and brothers in Migdal Eder. Judah befriended a certain Hirah, an Adullamite. In Adullam, Judah met his first wife (unnamed in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

), the daughter of

Shuah Shuah is the name of one of four minor Biblical figures. It is sometimes used as the name of a fifth. Their names are different in Hebrew, but they were all transliterated as "Shuah" in the King James Version. Genesis 25 Shuah (Hebrew: שׁוּ ...

. More than 700 years later, the scene of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

's victory over

Goliath Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's ...

in the

was within a short distance from Adullam, at that time frontier village. Adullam,_the_hilltop_ruin

David sought refuge in Adullam after being expelled from the city of Gath by King

Achish Achish ( he, אָכִישׁ ''ʾāḵīš'', Philistine: 𐤀𐤊𐤉𐤔 *''ʾāḵayūš'', Akkadian: 𒄿𒅗𒌑𒋢 ''i-ka-ú-su'') is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for two Philistine rulers of Gath. It is perhaps only a general title of r ...

. I Samuel refers to the

Cave of Adullam The Cave of Adullam was originally a stronghold referred to in the Old Testament, near the town of Adullam, where future King David sought refuge from King Saul. The word "cave" is usually used but "fortress", which has a similar appearance in ...

where he found protection while living as a refugee from King

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

. It was there that "every one that was in distress gathered together, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented." Certain caves, grottos and sepulchres are still to be seen on the hilltop, as well as on its northern and eastern slopes. King David's grandson,

Rehoboam Rehoboam (; , ; , ; la, Roboam, ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the last monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel and the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the former's split. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a ...

, fortified the town against Ancient Egypt. The

Book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet from ...

calls it "the glory of Israel."

Persian period

The only record of Adullam for this time-period (c. 539–331 BCE) is taken from the Hebrew canonical books, specifically the account of

Nehemiah Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC). The name is pronounced ...

who returned with the Jewish exiles from the

Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon, the capital city of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, following their def ...

, during the reign of

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. He may have been the "Artasyr ...

. According to

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe ('' sofer'') and priest ('' kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρ� ...

, the acclaimed author of the book, some of these returnees had settled in Adullam, as shown by . The political entity that was established in Judea at the time was that of a vassal state, as Judea became a province of the Persian Empire, governed by a

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with cons ...

Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods

Few records abound for the site during the classical period. It was in Adullam that

Judas Maccabaeus Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, also spelled Machabeus, or Maccabæus, Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, ''Yehudah HaMakabi'') was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleuci ...

retired with his fighting men, after returning from war against the

Idumaeans Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

. Adullam stood near the highway which later became the

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 R ...

in the

Valley of Elah The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; from the he, עמק האלה ''Emek HaElah''), called in ar, وادي السنط, Wadi es-Sunt, is a long, shallow valley in Israel and the West Bank best known as the place des ...

, which road led from

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

to Beit Gubrin. As late as the early 4th century CE, Adullam was described by

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 Christ ...

as being "a very large village about ten

oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

miles east of

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 ...

Ottoman period

Adullam was an inhabited village in the late 16th-century. An Ottoman tax ledger of 1596 lists ''`Ayn al-Mayyā'' ( ar, عين الميا) in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' '' Ḫalīl'' (Hebron subdistrict), and where it is noted that it had thirty-six Muslim heads of households. The copyist of the same tax ledger had erroneously mistaken the Arabic ''dal'' in the document for a ''nun'', and which name has since been corrected by historical geographers Yoel Elitzur and Toledano to read ''A'ïd el-Miah'' ( ar, عيد الميا), based on the entry's number of fiscal unit in the ''daftar'' and its corresponding place on Hütteroth's map. In the late 19th century, the hilltop ruin and its adjacent ruins were explored by French explorer,

, who wrote:

pon leaving the hilltop ruin, ''Khirbet el-Sheikh Madkour'' at 11:20 M we descend to the east in the valley. At 11:25 M I examine other ruins, called ''Khirbet A'id el-Miah''. Sixty toppled houses in the ''wadi'' formed a village that still existed in the Muslim period, as
roven by Roven is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Charles Roven (born 1949), American film producer *Glen Roven (1958–2018), American composer, lyricist, conductor, and producer See also *René Grillet de Roven, French instrument and ...
the remains of a mosque there observed. In antiquity, the ruins that cover the plateau of the hill of ''Sheikh Madkour'' and which extend in the valley were probably one and the same city, divided into two parts, the upper part and the lower part.

According to Conder, an ancient road, leading from Beit Sur to

Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterra ...

, once passed through ''ʿAīd el Mâ'' (Adullam). French orientalist and archaeologist,

Charles 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 Clerm ...

, visited the site in 1874 and wrote: "The place is absolutely uninhabited, except during the rainy season, when the herdsmen take shelter there for the night."

Nature reserve and park

The Adullam Grove Nature Reserve is a nature reserve managed by the

Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority The Israel Nature and Parks Authority ( he, רשות הטבע והגנים ''Rashut Hateva Vehaganim''; ar, سلطة الطبيعة والحدائق) is an Israeli government organization that manages nature reserves and national parks in Israel, ...

. It was established in 1994. The Adullam Caves park is a JNF park of 50,000 dunams () of mostly pine forests, which were planted by Jewish immigrants who settled in the

Lachish region Hevel Lakhish ( he, חבל לכיש, lit. ''Lakhish Region'') is an area of south-central Israel. Part of the southern Shephelah, it is located between the Judean Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea and is named after the Biblical city of Lachi ...

in the early years of the state. The park was prepared for public use by the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

and the Jewish National Fund. Today the park sits in an area that is threatened by shale oil extraction through the CCR ground-heating process, with the

Green Zionist Alliance Aytzim (meaning "trees" in Hebrew), formerly the Green Zionist Alliance (GZA), is a New York-based Jewish environmental organization that is a U.S.-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity. A grassroots all- volunteer organizatio ...

and the grassroots group Save Adullam, among others, working to stop shale oil extraction in the region.

Landmarks

*Archaeological sites; **Hurvat Adullam - a nearby ruin with caves. ** Hurvat Itri - remains of a Jewish village from the 1st-2nd centuries CE, containing

mikveh Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or ( Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purif ...

s, a synagogue, a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''col ...

, and burial caves. ** Hurvat Borgyn - remains of a 2nd-century CE settlement, including fortifications, wells, burial caves, a wine press, and other agriculture oriented finds. **Tel Sokho * Two marked trails for bicycle riders: ** "Sokho" track – a 13 km track heading towards Tel Sokho and then heads back. ** Track "Borgyn" – a 22 km track which passes through the ancient ruins of Itri and Borgyn, and then heads back.

Gallery

File:Old_stone_structure_at_Adullam.jpg, Old Muslim stone structure ('' wely'') at Adullam (''Sheikh Madhkour'', upper site) File:Adullam ruin, 29 Dec. 2014.JPG, Cavern and cistern at ancient ruin (''Sheikh Madhkour'', upper site) File:Eid el-Mia (Adullam) - 29 Dec. 2014.JPG, Cave entrance in Adullam (upper site) File:Adullam ruin in foreground.jpg, Biblical ruin of Adullam (in foreground) File:Stone water trough at Tel Adullam.jpg, Stone trough (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Miah'') File:Ruins of Tel Adullam.jpg, Stone trough (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Mieh'') File:Stone water trough beneath a fig tree.jpg, Stone trough near lower Adullam site File:Stone trough at Adullam (lower site).jpg, Stone trough at Adullam (lower site) File:Broken column at Tel Adullam.jpg, Broken stone column (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Mieh'') File:Razed structure at Adullam ruin.jpg, Heap of boulders (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Mieh'') File:Intermittent or ephemeral spring running adjacent to the lower site at Adullam.jpg,

Ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

spring (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Miah'') File:Shady branches of terebinth.jpg, Shady tree, Adullam ruins File:Tel Adullam in foreground.jpg, Tel Adullam (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Mieh'') in foreground File:Lower site of the Adullam ruin.jpg, Mound of ancient remains (lower site, ''ʻEid el-Miah'') File:Beulah - the Land of Israel.jpg, The road to Adullam File:Sign post Tel Adullam.jpg, JNF sign post of Tel Adullam

References

Bibliography

* (volume 2, 1938) * (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography',

Bialik Institute Bialik Institute ( he, מוסד ביאליק, ''Mosad Bialik'') is a research institution and publishing house, mostly dealing with the history and culture of the Hebrew language. It was established in 1935 by the World Zionist Executive and the E ...

, Jerusalem (1962)) * * * Clermont-Ganneau, C.
The Site of the City of Adullam
''Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement'' 7.3 (July 1875), pp. 168–177 * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Nature reserves of Israel Archaeological sites in Israel Nature reserves in Israel Canaanite cities Biblical geography Ancient Israel and Judah Former populated places in Israel Ancient sites in Israel Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Hebrew Bible cities Tells (archaeology) Kingdom of Judah Valley of Elah de:Liste geographischer und ethnographischer Bezeichnungen in der Bibel#A