HADID

HADID (Heb. חָדִיד), city in the northern Shephelah, in the western part of the territory of *Benjamin. It is mentioned together with *Lydda and *Ono among the cities to which the Babylonian exiles returned (Ezra 2:33; Neh. 7:37; 11:34). The city had strategic importance; it was fortified by the Hasmonean *Simeon who camped nearby during Tryphon's invasion (i Macc. 12:38; 13:13 – Adida). The battle between the Nabatean King Aretas and Alexander *Yannai took place near Hadid, and Vespasian later conquered it (Jos., Ant. 13:392; Wars 4:486). According to the Mishnah, it was already fortified in Joshua's time (Ar. 9:6). Eusebius describes it as being east of Lydda (Onom. 24:24 – Aditha) and it also appears on the *Madaba Map (no. 59). A mosaic pavement with figurative nilotic scenes was found there in 1940. The ancient town was situated on a hill northwest of the abandoned Arab village of al-Ḥadītha, 3½ mi. (6 km.) east of Lydda. In 1951, 60 Yemenite immigrant families founded a settlement called Ḥadid near the village. They were joined later on by immigrants from Romania. In the mid-1990s, the population was approximately 480 and in 2002 it numbered 555.

bibliography:

Yeivin, in: Eretz Israel, 3 (1954), 35; Avi-Yonah, ibid., 2 (1953), 49; Alt, in: pjb, 24 (1928), 71–72; M. Noth, Das Buch Joshua (1938), 93ff.; Abel, in: rb, 35 (1926), 218; Beyer, in: zdpv, 56 (1933), 233. add. bibliography: Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea – Palaestina. Maps and Gazetteer. (1994), 138. website: www.calcalit.co.il/moatzot.asp.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]