Heshbon

31.81861111111135.798888888889Koordinaten: 31 ° 49 '7 "N, 35 ° 47' 56" E

Heshbon (also Heshbon, (H ) Esebon, Esbous, It ( e) bus; Arab حشبون, DMG Hasbun ) was an ancient city that was located east of the river Jordan, that on the territory of present-day Jordan, near of Mount Nebo.

Biblical tradition

The books of Numbers ( 4 Mos 21.21 to 35 EU) and Joshua (Joshua 23,10 EU ) report from Israel's victory over the Amorites, Sihon king of Heshbon, and the division of his land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. According to the Book of Judges (Judges 11:26 EU) 've owned Israel Heshbon three hundred years. At the time of the prophet Isaiah Heshbon belonged but to Moab (Isa. 15.4 EU; 16.8 EU). Even Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Heshbon (Jer. 49.3 EU). In the Song of Songs are the eyes of the girl with the " Pools of Heshbon " compared (Song of Songs 7.5 EU); apparently the local cisterns were famous.

Hellenistic - Roman period

( Bell Jud, II, xviii, 1 Antq., XIII, xv, 4, XII, iv, 11. . ) When Josephus Heshbon appears as Esbonitis or Sebonitis. According to him, Alexander Jannaeus conquered the city; Herod the Great had built a fort there ( Antq., XV, viii, 5).

After the Jewish revolt ( 68-70 ) the area of Heshbon was occupied by tribes, ' esebon Arabs of (H) ' Pliny Arabes Esbonitae, call ( Hist. Nat., V, xii, 1). Claudius Ptolemy mentions the town under the name Esboús or Esboúta among the cities of the province of Arabia Petraea ( Geogr V, xvi).

After the Christianization Esboús / Heshbon was an important bishopric; formally still exists the corresponding Catholic titular Esbus.

The church father Eusebius and the Byzantine geographer Georgius Cuprios mention the city; several centuries after the conquest by the Arabs it was abandoned.

Archaeological findings

Since 1968 the mound Tell Hisban, 20 km south-west of Amman is located primarily explored archaeologically from Andrews University. They found the ruins of the Roman city, including two Byzantine churches and the remains of cisterns, but also a bath of the Ottoman period. Significantly remain the Heshbon - ostraca inscribed in a local Canaanite dialect potsherds dating from the 7th and 6th centuries BC On the other hand, there seems to have been only a relatively small settlement before BC 700; before 1200 BC, the site was definitely uninhabited. This is in contradiction to the biblical tradition of the seat of a major retail king. It is discussed whether the biblical Heshbon was located at a different location, such as the few kilometers away Tell Dschalul, which has not yet been explored; the city would have then moved to its destruction by the Israelites, and not rebuilt in its original location.