Gittaim

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GITTAIM

GITTAIM (Heb. גִּתָּיִם), biblical city in the northern Shephelah. Its name is derived from Gath, and some of the biblical verses mentioning Gath may, in fact, refer to Gittaim (e.g., i Sam. 7:14; i Kings 2:39; ii Kings 12:18; i Chron. 7:21; 8:13; ii Chron. 26:6). Since, according to the Bible, the Beerothites of the tribe of Benjamin fled to Gittaim (ii Sam. 4:3), the city must have been situated in the vicinity of this tribe. It is mentioned together with Hadid, Neballat, Lydda, and Ono in Nehemiah 11:33. Some scholars identify Gi-im-tu, the city captured by Sargon ii in 712 b.c.e., with Gittaim, and not Gath. Eusebius locates it between Antipatris and Jabneh (Onom. 72:2–3); it appears as Gitta on the Madaba Map. Recent studies have shown that it was probably located at Tel Raʾs Abu Ḥumayd near Ramleh, a large site of some 100 dunams containing surface pottery dating from the Early Iron Age to the Arab period.

bibliography:

Mazar, in: iej, 4 (1954), 227–35.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]