Hebrew Bible cities

Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, while Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognised internationally.

Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East, unti

ancient Levantine metropolis and modern city in Gaza Strip

Palmyra (, ; ; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second millennium BCE. Palmyra changed hands on a number of occasions between different empires before becoming a subject of the Roman Empire in the first century CE.

city in the South Governorate of Lebanon, also an ancient Phoenician city and the legendary birthplace of Europa and Elissa (Dido)

Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The city is considered a tourist destination for domestic and international tourists heading to Israel.

city in Israel

Jericho ( ; , ; Hebrew: יריחו) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. The city is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west.

Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine: , romanized: *ʾašdūd) is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean coast south of Tel Aviv and north of Ashkelon. Ashdod's port is the largest in Israel, handling 60% of the country's imported goods.

Beersheba ( ), officially '''Be'er-Sheva''' ( ), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most populous Israeli city with a population of , and the second-largest city in the area (after Jerusalem), with a total area of .

Sidon ( ), or Saida ( ; ), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, to the south, and the Lebanese capital of Beirut, to the north, are each about away. Sidon has a population of about 80,000 within the city limits, while its metropolitan area has more than a quarter-million inhabitants.

Nineveh was an ancient Near Eastern city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River and was the capital and largest city of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and potentially the wealthiest city in the ancient world. Today, it is a common name for the half of Mosul that lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and the country's Nineveh Governorate takes its name from it.

Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers in Iran. It represents the current city of Shush, located on the site of ancient Susa. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital of Elam and the winter capital of the Achaemenid Empire, and remained a strategic centre during the Parthian and Sasanian periods.

city of ancient Egypt

Lod (, ), also known as Lydda () and Lidd (, or ), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephelah on the east and the coastal plain on the west. The city had a population of in .

Nimrud (; ) is an ancient Assyrian city (original Assyrian name Kalḫu, biblical name Calah) located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah (), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1350 BC and 610 BC. The city is located in a strategic position north of where the river Tigris meets its tributary the Great Zab. The city covered an area of . The ruins of the city were found within of the modern-day Assyrian village of Noomanea in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq.

archaeological site in Palestine

site of an ancient city in northern Israel's Jezreel valley

city in Israel

Ancient city and modern regional center in the Northern District of Israel

Ecbatana () was an ancient city, the capital of the Median kingdom, and the first capital in Iranian history. It later became the summer capital of the Achaemenid and Parthian empires. It was also an important city during the Seleucid and Sasanian empires. Ecbatana was located in the Zagros Mountains, the east of central Mesopotamia, on Hagmatana Hill (Tappe-ye Hagmatāna). Its strategic location and resources probably made it a popular site even before the 1st millennium BC. It is identified with the current city of Hamadan.

thumb|Map of ancient Lower Egypt showing Tanis Tanis ( ; ; ) or San al-Hagar (; ; ; or or ; ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ḏꜥn.t, an important archaeological site in the northeastern Nile Delta of Egypt, and the location of a city of the same name. Tanis was the capital of the Egyptian Kingdom in its 21st and 22nd Dynasties. It is located on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, which has long since silted up.

thumb|The ruins of Beitin, the site of ancient Bethel, during the 19th century

thumb|A satellite image of Arwad, with Tartus on the [[Syrian coast to the east]]

thumb|Map of ancient Lower Egypt showing Bubastis

Yavne () is a city in the Central District of Israel. In it had a population of .

ancient city in the West Bank, Palestine

Shechem ( ; , ; ), also spelled Sichem ( ; in the Septuagint, ) and other variants, was an ancient city in the Southern Levant. Described in ancient Egyptian inscriptions from the 19th century BC as a part of Retjenu, it is also recorded as a Canaanite city in the 14th century BCE Amarna letters.

Biblical city

Gezer () is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shephelah roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in central Israel. It is now an Israeli national park. In the Hebrew Bible, Gezer is associated with Joshua and Solomon. Gezer rises to an elevation of above sea-level, and affords a commanding prospect of the plains to the west, north, and east.

ancient city and archaeological site mentioned in the Bible and in Akkadian sources

human settlement

Halhul (, transliteration: Ḥalḥūl) is a Palestinian city located in the southern part of the West Bank, north of Hebron in the Hebron Governorate of Palestine. The town, bordered by Sa'ir and al-Shuyukh to the east, Beit Ummar and al-Arroub refugee camp to the north, and Kharas and Nuba westwards, is located 916 m above sea level, and is the highest inhabited place in the State of Palestine. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 27,031 inhabitants in 2017.

Bethuel ( – Bəṯūʾēl), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca.

Canaanite royal city

Salkhad () is a Syrian city in the Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It had a population of 9,155 inhabitants in the 2004 census. In Salkhad, Druze make up the predominant population, while Christians and Sunni Muslim Bedouins represent a minority.

280px|thumb|Tell Hesban Heshbon (also Hesebon, Esebon, Esbous, Esbus; , , Ḥešbōn, ) were at least two different ancient towns located east of the Jordan River in what is now the Kingdom of Jordan, historically within the territories of ancient Ammon.

Achziv ( ʾAḵzīḇ) or Az-Zeeb () is an ancient site on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel, between the border with Lebanon and the city of Acre. It is located north of Acre on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, within the municipal area of Nahariya. Today it is an Israeli national park.

Sarepta (near modern Sarafand, Lebanon) was a Phoenician city on the Mediterranean coast between Sidon and Tyre, also known biblically as Zarephath. It became a bishopric, which faded, and remains a double (Latin and Maronite) Catholic titular see.

Kutha, Cuthah, Cuth or Cutha (, Sumerian: Gû.du8.aki, Akkadian: Kûtu), modern Tell Ibrahim (also Tell Habl Ibrahlm) (), is an archaeological site in Babil Governorate, Iraq. The site of Tell Uqair (possibly ancient Urum) is just to the north. The city was occupied from the Akkadian period until the Hellenistic period. The city-god of Kutha was Meslamtaea, related to Nergal, and his temple there was named E-Meslam.

archaeological site west of the Dead Sea, Israel

archaeological site in the West Bank

human settlement in Israel

archaeological site

human settlement in Jordan

Israeli settlement in the West Bank

thumb|Kiryat Ye'arim, 2022|alt=Kiryat Ye'arim, 2022|border|300x300px

achaeological site in Israel

thumb|right|300px|Pharaoh's Island in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba

thumb|350px|Proposed location of Zoara, As-Safi thumb|right|200px Bela, also called Zoar or Tzoar, in the Hebrew Bible, Segor in the Septuagint, and Zughar by medieval Arabs, was an ancient city located in the Dead Sea basin in the Transjordan.

Six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum

city of the tribe of Benjamin referred to in the Hebrew Bible

depopulated Palestinian village

Sharuhen () was an ancient town in the Negev Desert or perhaps in Gaza. Following wars against the Hyksos in Egypt in the second half of the 16th century BCE, Sharuhen became a target, which some scholars argue was a city under Hyksos control. The armies of Pharaoh Ahmose I seized and razed the town after a three-year siege. The precise location of the town is uncertain and several archaeological sites have been suggested as being Sharuhen.

Ziklag () is the biblical name of a town in the Negev region in the southwest of what was the Kingdom of Judah. It was a provincial town in the Philistine kingdom of Gath when Achish was king. Its exact location has not been identified with any certainty.

Idna or Idhna () is a Palestinian town in the southern West Bank, located in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine, 13 kilometers west of Hebron and about one kilometer east of the Green Line. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 26,009 inhabitants in 2017.

Kedesh (alternate spellings: Qedesh, Cadesh, Cydessa) was an ancient Canaanite and later Israelite settlement in Upper Galilee, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Its remains are located in Tel Kedesh, northeast of the modern Kibbutz Malkiya in Israel on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Israeli settlement in the West Bank