Khirbet et-Tibbaneh

Khirbet et-Tibbâneh (Hurvat Tibneh / Kh. Tibna)(Arabic: خربة التبانة‎),[1] sometimes referred to by historical geographers as the Timnah of Judah (Hebrew: תמנה‎), is a small ruin situated on a high ridge in the Judaean mountains, in the Sansan Nature Reserve, 622 metres (2,041 ft) above sea level, about 3 kilometers east of Aviezer and ca. 7 kilometers southeast of Bayt Nattif. The site is thought to have formerly borne the name Timnath, distinct from the Tel Batash-Timnah site associated with the biblical story of Samson in the lower foothills of Judea along the Sorek valley. Kh. et-Tibbaneh (Timnah) is perched upon a high mountain ridge rising up from the Elah valley and is where the episode of Judah and Tamar is thought to have taken place.

For other uses, see Timnath.
Khirbet et-Tibbaneh
خربة التبانة
תמנה‎
View of stone structures in situ
Shown within Israel
Alternative nameTibna / Timnah
Location
RegionJudaean Mountains
Coordinates31°41′40″N 35°02′40″E
History
FoundedCanaanite period
Abandonedunknown
PeriodsLate Iron II, Hellenistic, Roman
CulturesCanaanite, Jewish, Greco-Roman
Site notes
Excavation datesnone
ConditionRuin

Etymology

Orientalists, Clermont-Ganneau and Edward Robinson, have made a point in showing the etymological Hebrew origins of certain Arabic place-names, saying that the Hebrew place-name Timnah was to be recognised in the Arabic corruption, Tibneh or Tibna.[2][3] John William McGarvey (1829–1911) who quotes Conder on the linguistic evidence of the name says that, in Arabic, "the substitution of B for M is so common (as in Tibneh for Timnah)..."[4][5] Both names have been preserved in the respective sites.

Site and identification

In ancient Jewish classical literature, two distinct sites in the land of Judah bore the name Timnath (Timnah).[6][7] The Book of Joshua records the names of two towns, both in the tribal inheritance of Judah and having the identical name of Timnath; the one Timnath (Josh. 15:10) being transcribed alongside the name of Beit Shemesh, while the other Timnath (Josh. 15:57) being transcribed alongside the name of Gibeah (of Judah), a town said to be Jab'a.[8] The Jerusalem Talmud (Sotah 1:8) relates the following tradition: "Rav has said: There were two Timnaths; one mentioned in connection with Judah, and the other mentioned in connection with Samson."[9] The Talmudic exegetes have explained that Samson, who lived in the hilltop town of Zorah near Beit Shemesh, is said to have 'gone down' to Timnath,[10] but Judah is said to have 'gone up' to Timnath.[11] Kh. et-Tibbâneh is thought to be the Timnath (Timnah) mentioned in connection with Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38: 13, 14),[12][13][14] although this view remains inconclusive.[7][15]

Khirbet et Tibbaneh (Tibna) was visited by Palestine Exploration Fund explorers, Conder and Kitchener, in the late 19th-century, where they described the ruin as follows: "Timnah - A town of Judah (Josh. XV. 57), mentioned with Gibeah. There is a ruin called Tibna near Jeb'a, in the higher hills of ʾArkûb, distinct from Tibneh (Sheet XVI), which represents the Timnah of Joshua XV.10."[16]

Others are unsure of its identification, since the site has yet to be fully excavated.[17][18]

Site's description

The ancient ruin sits on a high mountain ridge about 2 kilometers west of Khirbet Sanasin. On its site is found the remnant of a square Iron Age fortress which apparently offered security along the route from the valley of Elah to Betar and to Jerusalem.[19] The area of the fortress is 30 x 30 meters (98 x 98 feet), where two walls made of fieldstones and ashlar masonry still remain, whose hollowed spaces were filled-in with smaller stones.[19] Amihai Mazar suggests that the structure served as either a fortress or an administrative center, and most likely manned by a garrison to secure the roads between the major towns of the Shephelah and the string of settlements along the edge of the hill region.[20]

The mound is almost entirely strewn with razed boulders, and ancillary walls, partially standing, are to be seen on the ruin. On its eastern side is a steep declivity, descending down into the valley below, Wadi Tibbaneh (Wadi Tibna), where it joins Etzion Valley (Wady el Jindy) to its south at a drop of about 200 metres (660 ft). The valley seemed to have been used for horticulture in ages past. Sherds dot the landscape, with occasional carob trees, oaks and buckthorns. Near the site is a modern-day quarry and two ancient cisterns.[19] In close proximity to Khirbet et-Tibbaneh is the old military patrol road, leading from Tzur Hadassah to Aviezer.

History

Khirbet et-Tibbaneh (Tibna) is thought to be the "Tapuna" mentioned in the list of Thothmes III.[21]

Israeli archaeologist Avi-Yonah also thinks the site to have been the Timnah (Thamnatha) mentioned in the First Book of Maccabees[22] (and later mentioned by Josephus),[23] one of several places fortified by Bacchides in ca. 160 BCE after the death of Judas Maccabeus.[24] Others suggest that the account in Maccabees may refer to another Timna (Thamnatha), that called Kh. Tibne in south-western Samaria, in Mount Ephraim, about 14 kilometers (9 miles) northwest of Bethel.[25][26]

It is generally accepted that the Mishnaic scholar, Simeon of Timnah, was born and raised in one of the two Timnahs during the waning years of the Second Temple period, based on the vowels assigned to his name, (Hebrew: שמעון התִּימְנִי‎, romanized: Shimon HaTimni). He is noted for saying: "A bastard is anyone who is born from an [illegal] union for which his parents are liable to kareth." (Mishnah Yebamot 4:13; Babylonian Talmud, Yebamot 49a), and which teaching comes to exclude a single parent who gave birth to a child outside of wedlock, and whose child is often wrongly called "bastard" under common law.

Archaeological finds

As of 2018, the site at Kh. Tibbaneh has yet to be excavated.[27] A cursory review of the site has revealed late Iron II sherds.[28]

  • Khirbet et-Tibbâneh
  • Walls of Timnah
  • General ruins
  • Timnath of Judah
  • Khirbet et-Tibbâneh
  • Remains of thick wall at Khirbet et-Tibbâneh
  • Ruin of Timnath (Tibbaneh)
  • Site at Khirbet et-Tibbâneh
  • Stone at Khirbet et-Tibbâneh
  • Thick wall at Timnath ruin
  • Three foundation stones
  • View looking north from ruin
  • View looking south
  • Walled structure

References
  1. In the 1928–1947 Survey of Palestine map published by the National Library of Israel, Map no. 15-12 (at Grid number 154/122) is called Kh. et Tabbâna, but in the SWP Map number 17 published by the Palestine Exploration Fund, the same site is called Tibna.
  2. Clermont-Ganneau (1896), pp. 67–68, 214, where he wrote: (p. 214) "Tibneh, 'chopped straw', one would swear was Arabic, but it is beyond a doubt that it is the name of the town Timnah, brought into that shape by one of those popular etymologies which are as dear to the peasantry of Palestine as to those of our European countries." On pp. 67–68 he wrote: "One has to beware, however, of these appellations that appear to be of purely Arabic origin, they are often ancient Hebrew names converted by a process of popular etymology into words familiar to the Arabs. In many cases slight phonetic changes assist the process. These , by the bye, are not arbitrary, but are subject to real laws. Thus, for instance, the name of the Bible town of Thimnah has become in fellâh speech Tibneh, 'chopped straw'."
  3. Robinson, E. (1860), p. 17
  4. McGarvey, 2002, pp. 246-247
  5. Palmer, E.H. (1881), p. 330, s.v. Tibna
  6. Neubauer, A. (1868), pp. 102–103; Press, I. (1955), p. 974 (s.v. תמנה א)
  7. Encyclopaedia Judaica (vol. 15), Jerusalem 1971, p. 1147 (s.v. Timnah)
  8. An opinion expressed by historical geographer Klein, S. (1939), p. 198, and by PEF explorers Conder and Kitchener (SWP, III, 53). Jab'a, southeast of Bayt Nattif, is not far situated from Khirbet et-Tibbaneh.
  9. Same quote cited in Midrash Rabba (Genesis Rabba § 85 and Numbers Rabba 9:24) and in the Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 10a). The 14th-century Midrash Hagadol brings down this tradition under a variant name: "Rebbe has said," etc., instead of "Rav has said."
  10. Judges 14:1
  11. Genesis 38:13
  12. Kelm & Mazar (1984), p. 58
  13. Abel, F.M. (1938), p. 481, s.v. Thimna (1), citing Conder & Kitchener's SWP, III, p. 53.
  14. Klein, S. (1922), p. 42
  15. Tristram, H.B. (1897), p. 66, who thought that it was one and the same place, where Samson had gone to take his wife, near the Sorek Valley.
  16. Conder & Kitchener (1883), p. 53
  17. Gibson & Negev (2001), p. 509 [s.v. Timnah (c)]
  18. Schürer, 1891, p. 158–159, note 438.
  19. Meltzer, M. (2000), p. 213
  20. Mazar, A. (1993), p. 16
  21. Tristram, H.B. (1897), p. 83
  22. I Macc. 9, 50–52
  23. Josephus, Antiquities (13.1.3)
  24. Avi-Yonah, M. (1963), p. 37 (note 7); Avi-Yonah, M. (1977), p. 53. (I. Roll agrees to this view. See: I Roll, "Bacchides' Fortifications and the Arteries of Traffic to Jerusalem in the Hellenistic Period", Eretz-Israel 25 (1996, pp. 509–514 [Hebrew]); Avi-Yonah, M. (1976), p. 100.
  25. Kallai, Z. (1960), p. 96
  26. Freedman, D.N. et al. (2000), p. 1312
  27. Israeli archaeologist, Ze'ev Safrai, Correspondence
  28. Mazar, A. (1981), p. 246

Bibliography
  • Survey of Western Palestine, 1880 Map, Map 17: IAA, Wikimedia commons
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