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Jericho

Jericho

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

Jericho [Heb.,=fragrant, or city of the moon god], Arab. Ariha, town (2003 est. pop. 19,000), West Bank, in the Jordan valley N of the Dead Sea; nearby is the site of the ancient city of Jericho. Jericho is an oasis watered by a number of springs, and the town is surrounded by orchards and intensive market gardening; a large part of the population is engaged in agriculture. Jericho was the first Arab town in the West Bank to become (1994) autonomous under the agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The town saw increasing development after the agreement; a casino opened in 1998, and the nearby Mount of Temptation (the traditional site of Jesus' temptation by Satan) is now accessible by cable car. The economy suffered, however, when Palestinian-Israeli violence again flared beginning in 2000.

According to the biblical book of Joshua , Jericho was captured from the Canaanites by Joshua and was destroyed, an event several times repeated in its history. One of its conquerors was Herod the Great, who sacked and rebuilt it. Later it was taken by the Muslims. Jericho figures prominently in the Bible. Excavations of the mound of Tell es Sultan, the original site, were begun early in the 20th cent. and have revealed the oldest known settlement in the world, dating perhaps from c.8000 BC Archaeologists have not found evidence of the town of Joshua; ruins identified as such in the 1930s were latter identified as older. At the nearby site of Herodian Jericho, 2 mi (3.2 km) S of Tell es Sultan, a Hellenistic fortress and the palace of Herod have been excavated.

Bibliography: See J. Garstang and J. B. E. Garstang, The Story of Jericho (1948); K. M. Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho (1958) and Excavations at Jericho, Vol. 1 (1960).

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Jericho

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa | 2004 | | Copyright

JERICHO

Modern Palestinian oasis town, resting on the ruins of the ancient city.

Jericho dates archaeologically to about 9000 b.c.e. It is best known from the Bible as the city conquered by Joshua (c. 1400 b.c.e.) leading the Hebrew tribes and as the site where Zacchaeus spoke with Jesus from a tree.

Jericho is about 15 miles (22.5 km) northeast of Jerusalem, and some 825 feet (250 m) below sea level. The 2003 population estimate was 19,140 (not counting the Palestinian refugee camps). After the Ottoman Empire was defeated and dismembered in World War I, Jericho became part of the British mandate over Palestine, which began in 1922. The town became a winter resort. When Israel became a state in 1948, Jericho fell under Jordanian rule after the first Arab–Israel War. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency built three large Palestinian refugee camps near it and, shortly before the Arab–Israel War of 1967, the population of the city and the camps was estimated at 80,000. Almost all the inhabitants of those refugee camps became refugees yet again in 1967, crossing the Jordan River into Jordan. On 13 September 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed an agreement under which Jericho, along with the Gaza Strip, became an area of Palestinian autonomy beginning in 1994.

see also arab–israel war (1948); arab–israel war (1967); palestine; palestine liberation organization (plo).

benjamin joseph
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Joseph, Benjamin. "Jericho." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Joseph, Benjamin. "Jericho." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424601424.html

Joseph, Benjamin. "Jericho." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424601424.html

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Jericho

A Dictionary of World History | 2000 | Copyright

Jericho An ancient city, now in the Palestinian-administered West Bank of the River Jordan. A well-watered oasis near the Jordan river-crossing at the head of the Dead Sea, it was of strategic importance, located at the junction of the trade routes of antiquity. It was occupied from c.9000 BC and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Traces of a hunting society that developed into a settled agricultural community have been found. The principal mound, one of the best known of all Near Eastern tells (mounds of rubbish), accumulated over 15 m (50 feet) of deposit, even though the later occupation levels, from 2000 to 500 BC, have been swept off the summit by erosion. The most interesting layers are of the pre-pottery NEOLITHIC period c.7000 BC, when Jericho was already a walled settlement of some 4 ha (10 acres). Little remains of the late Bronze Age period, the probable date of its destruction by Joshua recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible. Modern Jericho was granted Palestinian self-rule in 1994, as part of the 1993 peace agreement between Israel and the PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION.
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Jericho

Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names | 2005 | | Copyright

Jericho (Arabic: Arīḥā), West Bank, USA West Bank: one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is said to be derived from the Hebrew equivalent of yaréakh ‘moon’ or ‘month’, indicating perhaps some lunar cult. To the Canaanites it was Riha ‘the moon’ and to the Arabs later on as Arīḥā. Biblical Jericho is known as Tel es‐Sultan ‘Hill of the Sultan’ at the perennial spring of Ain es‐Sultan ‘Spring of the Sultan’ or Ain Alisha ‘Spring of Alisha’. The Book of Joshua 6 tells how Jericho was the first town captured by the Israelites c.1250 bc after they had spent years in the wilderness; the walls fell to the sound of their priests' trumpets. The Romans called it Hierichous.
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JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Jericho." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Jericho." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Jericho.html

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Jericho

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

Jericho Ancient city of Palestine, on the West Bank of the River Jordan, n of the Dead Sea. It is one of the earliest known sites of continuous settlement, dating from c.9000 bc. According to the Old Testament, Joshua captured Jericho from the Canaanites (c.300 bc). The city was destroyed and Herod the Great built a new city to the south. In 1993, following the Israel-PLO peace agreement, Jericho was selected as the centre for Palestinian self-rule. It lies in an agricultural area, producing citrus fruit and dates. Pop. (1997) 32,713.
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Jericho

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

Jericho a town in Palestine, in the West Bank north of the Dead Sea, which has been occupied from at least 9000 bc. According to the Bible, Jericho was a Canaanite city destroyed by the Israelites after they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land; its walls were flattened by the shout of the army and the blast of the trumpets.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Jericho." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Jericho

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Jericho (modern Tell esSultan). Ancient city which (according to the account in Joshua 6) succumbed to the conquest of Joshua and the Israelites with a dramatic fall of the walls at the sound of the trumpets, and with a complete destruction.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Jericho." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Jericho." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Jericho.html

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Jericho

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

Jericho uninc. town (1990 pop. 13,141), Nassau co., SE N.Y., on Long Island. Chiefly residential, Jericho has some light industries.

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Jericho

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | 2000 | | Copyright

Jericho. A town in Palestine, north-east of Jerusalem.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Jericho." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Jericho." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Jericho.html

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Jericho

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

Jericho •tacho, taco, tobacco, wacko •blanco, Franco •churrasco, fiasco, Tabasco •Arco, Gran Chaco, mako •art deco, dekko, echo, Eco, El Greco, gecko, secco •flamenco, Lysenko, Yevtushenko •alfresco, fresco, Ionesco •Draco, shako •Biko, Gromyko, pekoe, picot, Puerto Rico, Tampico •sicko, thicko, tricot, Vico •ginkgo, pinko, stinko •cisco, disco, Disko, Morisco, pisco, San Francisco •zydeco • magnifico • calico • Jellicoe •haricot • Jericho • Mexico • simpatico •politico • portico •psycho, Tycho •Morocco, Rocco, sirocco, socko •bronco •Moscow, roscoe •Rothko •coco, cocoa, loco, moko, Orinoco, poco, rococo •osso buco • Acapulco •Cuzco, Lambrusco •bucko, stucco •bunco, junco, unco •guanaco • Monaco • turaco • Turco

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