Bet(H)-Haram
BET(H)-HARAM
BET(H)-HARAM (or Haran ) (Heb. ????? ?????, ?????), town in the Jordan Valley, N. of the Dead Sea, allotted by Moses to the tribe of Gad and included in the list of its cities (Num. 32:36; Josh. 13:27). It is possibly mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts of the 18th century b.c.e. In the Talmud, Beth-Haram is identified with Bet ha-Ramta (tj, Shev. 9:2, 38d; cf. Shab. 26a) which is also mentioned by Eusebius (Onom. 48:14) as Betharamphtha. *Herod Antipas, who fortified the city, called it Livias, in honor of the empress Livia, and also Julias, as soon as Livia became a member of the Julian imperial family. In 56 c.e. *Agrippa ii received Livias and its district from the emperor Nero (Jos., Wars, 2:59, 168, 252; Jos., Ant., 18:27; 20:159). Beth-Haram was the headquarters of a region as late as the Byzantine period. Springs and groves are reported to have existed in its vicinity. The Hellenistic and Roman cities are situated on Tell al-R?ma, in the lower Jordan Valley, which has preserved the ancient name; the Israelite city has been located by Nelson Glueck at Tell Iktan? nearby.
bibliography:
em, s.v.; Glueck, in: aasor, 25–28 (1951), 389–95; Press, Ere?, 1 (1951), 82; Aharoni, Land, index.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
