Sepharvaim () was a city mentioned in the Bible as being captured by the
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
ns. It was taken by a king of Assyria, probably
Sargon II
Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...
, cited in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" . '' 2 Kings 17:24, 31; 18:34; 19:13; and
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...
37:13). It was a double city, and received the common name Sepharvaim, i.e., "the two Sipparas", or "the two booktowns".
The
Sippar
Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...
on the east bank of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
is now called Abu-Habba; that on the other bank was Akkad, the old capital of Sargon I, where he established a great library. The recent discovery of cuneiform inscriptions at
Amarna
Amarna (; ) is an extensive ancient Egyptian archaeological site containing the ruins of Akhetaten, the capital city during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and a ...
in
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, consisting of official despatches to
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
Amenophis IV. and his predecessor from their agents in
Canaan
CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...
, leads some Egyptologists to conclude that an active literary intercourse was carried on between these nations, and that the medium of the correspondence was the
Akkadian language
Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested ...
and script. (See
Kirjath Sepher
Kirjath Sepher (; in LXX ) was a location in southern Canaan which became part of the land allocated to the tribe of Judah when the Israelites conquered Canaan, according to the Hebrew Bible (Book of Joshua, and Book of Judges, ):
''And Caleb ...
.)
Sepharvaim was the center of the worship of the god
Adrammelech
Adrammelech (; ''Adramélekh'') is an ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic god mentioned briefly by name in the Books of Kings, Book of Kings, where he is described as a god of "Sepharvaim". Sepharvaim (a word which is dual (grammatical nu ...
. They also worshipped the god
Anammelech
Anammelech ( ''ʿAnammelekh''), according to the Hebrew Bible,2 Kings 17:31 was a Syrian and Mesopotamian deity worshipped alongside Adrammelech. He is a lunar deity and is said to have been worshipped at Sepharvaim, an Assyrian town. Although so ...
. After the deportation of the
Israelites
Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age.
Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
to Assyria, at least some of the residents of this city were brought to
Samaria
Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...
to repopulate it with other
Gentile
''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...