Eglon (biblical place)

Eglon (Hebrew: עֶגְלוֹן) was a Canaanite city-state mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. According to the Book of Joshua, Debir, king of Eglon, joined a confederation against Gibeon when that city made peace with Israel. The five kings involved were slain and Eglon was later conquered and its inhabitants condemned to destruction. It was thereafter included in the territory of the Tribe of Judah, although it is not mentioned outside of the Book of Joshua.[1]

According to Avraham Faust, most scholars identify the location of Eglon with the site of Tel 'Eton.[2]

## Tel 'Eton

[edit]

Tel 'Eton (Hebrew: תל עיטון) is an archaeological site excavated by the Bar Ilan University, managed by Avraham Faust.[3] It is the probable site of ancient Eglon. The site of Tel Eton was transformed in the 10th century BCE, and some of the structures built in this site involved ashlar in construction. Prior to these findings, the lack of ashlar construction in this period in the region of Judah was an "oftquoted evidence against the historical plausibility of a kingdom centered in Judah".[4] The archaeologist William G. Dever estimates its population at around 1,200 during the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.[5]

At the end of the 8th century BCE, a governor's residence at the site appears to have been destroyed.[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ van Bekkum, Koert (2011). From Conquest to Coexistence: Ideology and Antiquarian Intent in the Historiography of Israel's Settlement in Canaan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. p. 158\. ISBN 978-90-04-19480-9..
2. ^ Faust, Avraham (2017). "Tel 'Eton Excavations and the History of the Shephelah during the Iron Age". In Greenspahn, Frederick E.; Rendsburg, Gary A. (eds.). Le-maʿan Ziony: Essays in Honor of Ziony Zevit. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 21\. ISBN 978-1-4982-0691-4.
3. ^ "Proof of King David? Not yet. But riveting site shores up roots of Israelite era". Times of Israel. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
4. ^ Faust, Avraham, and Yair Sapir. "The “Governor’s Residency” at Tel ‘Eton, the united monarchy, and the impact of the old-house effect on large-scale archaeological reconstructions." Radiocarbon 60.3 (2018): 801-820.
5. ^ a b Dever, William G. (2017). Beyond the Texts: an archaeological portrait of ancient Israel and Judah. Atlanta: SBL Press. pp. 393, 562. ISBN 978-0-88414-218-8.

* v
* t
* e

Sites of the Israelite settlement

Sites involved in the 13th–11th century BCE archaeological phenomenon of the Israelite Settlement

New settlements at previously unoccupied sites
in late 13th/early 12th centuries|

* Bull Site
* Tel Dor
* Izbet Sartah
* Tell el-Ful (Gibeah)
* Giloh
* Heshbon
* Khirbet ed-Dawwara
* Khirbet el-Mastarah
* Khirbet Ghuraba
* Khirbet Ibn Nasir
* Tel Arad
* Tel Be'er Sheva (Beersheba)
* Tel Esdar
* Tell es-Sa'idiyeh (Zaretan)
* Tell Radanna

New settlements at long deserted sites
in 12th/11th centuries|

* Bethzur
* Tel Dan
* Et-Tell (Ai)
* Gibeon
* Khirbet Marjameh
* Shiloh
* Tel Kinrot (Kinneret)
* Tel Masos
* Tell en-Nasbeh (Mizpah)
* Tel Rumeida (Hebron)

Destroyed in late 13th/early 12th centuries|

* Azekah
* Ashdod
* Beit Shemesh
* Bethel
* Deir Alla (Succoth)
* Lachish
* Rabud
* Tell Beit Mirsim
* Tel 'Eton
* Tel Hazor
* Tel Megiddo

Not destroyed in late 13th/early 12th centuries|

* Beth-shan
* Gezer
* Jerusalem
* Shechem
* Taanach

Authority control databases: National |

* Israel

|

This Bible-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template