GIBEON
(el-Jīb) Occupied Jordan.
Town 13
km N of Jerusalem, mentioned 45 times in the Bible. It
was prominent in the account of the conquest of Canaan
(Josh. 9:3-15; 10:9-14), the battle between Joab and
Abner at the pool of Gibeon (II Sam. 2:13-17), the sacrifice of the seven descendants of Saul (II Sam. 21:1-6,
8-10), and the holocausts of Solomon (I Kings 3:4-6,
9-13). Josephus mentions the encampment there of Cestius in his attempt to take Jerusalem in A.D. 66 (
BJ
2.545-46). The site was identified by the discovery of
24 jar handles inscribed with
gb'n in Hebrew.
Gibeon was occupied principally in the Early Bronze,
Middle Bronze, Iron I and II, Persian, and Roman periods. Within the Iron Age fortification was a rock-cut pool,
11.1 m in diameter and 10.5 m deep, equipped with a
spiral staircase of 79 steps that continued downward for
another 13.5 m to the fresh water table. A second access
to water was provided by a rock-cut tunnel with 93 steps
reaching from inside the ramparts to a spring at the base
of the hill. Evidence for a winery and dwellings belonging
to the Iron Age was found, as well as tombs of the Early
Bronze, Middle Bronze, Late Bronze, and Roman periods. Artifacts are divided between the National Museum
in Amman, Jordan, and the University Museum in Philadelphia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. B. Pritchard,
Hebrew Inscriptions and
Stamps from Gibeon (1959);
The Water System at
Gibeon (1961);
Gibeon, Where the Sun Stood Still
(1962);
The Bronze Age Cemetery at Gibeon (1963);
Winery, Defenses and Soundings at Gibeon (1964).
J. B. PRITCHARD
