Ben-Hadad I ( he, בן הדד, translit=bn hdd; arc, בר הדד, translit=br hdd), son of
Tabrimmon and grandson of
Hezion, was king of
Aram-Damascus
The Kingdom of Aram-Damascus () was an Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later y ...
between 885 BC and 865 BC. Ben-Hadad I was reportedly a contemporary of kings
Baasha of the
Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom of Israel may refer to any of the historical kingdoms of ancient Israel, including:
Fully independent (c. 564 years)
* Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) (1047–931 BCE), the legendary kingdom established by the Israelites and uniti ...
and
Asa of 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. ...
.
According to the biblical
book of Kings, Asa called on Ben-Hadad I to aid him in attacking northern Israel while Baasha restricted access to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
through border fortifications. Ben-Hadad took the towns of "Ijon,
Dan,
Abel-beth-maachah, and all
Chinneroth, with all the land of
Naphtali" (). This acquisition gave Aram-Damascus control of the trade route to southern
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...
. By the time of the reign of Ahab, the area was back in Israelite hands.
According to the archaeologist
William Foxwell Albright, the
Melqart stele should be attributed to Ben-Hadad I. However,
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (born 1932) is a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, ...
disagrees and states that there is no actual evidence that connects that stele to this particular king.
See also
*
Aramean kings
References
External links
{{s-end
9th-century BC Kings of Syria
9th-century BC deaths
Aramean kings
Ancient Damascus
Year of birth unknown