Ham

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HAM

HAM (Heb. ???), biblical city in Transjordan where Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and his allies defeated the Zuzim in their campaign against the rebellious Canaanite kings (Gen. 14:5). In this biblical reference, Ham appears between Ashteroth-Karnaim and Kiriathaim, both of which are located in Transjordan, and it has therefore been identified with Tel Ham, 4½ mi. (7 km.) south of Arbel (Irbid) in Gilead. The identification of Ham with a place of the same name in the list of Thutmose iii (no. 118) is doubtful. At Tel Ham three megalithic walls and pottery from the Early Canaanite period have been found but no remains from the Patriarchal (Middle Bronze) Age have been uncovered there so far.

bibliography:

Maisler (Mazar), in: Kove? ha-?evrah la-?akirat Ere? Yisrael va-Attikoteha, 4 (1945), 68; Bergman, in: jpos, 16 (1936), 237ff.; Glueck, Explorations, 1 (1951), 165f.; Aharoni, Land, index.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]

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