ZARETHAN

ZARETHAN (Heb. צָרְתָן), site near Adam, mentioned in the account of the damming of the Jordan (Josh. 3:16) and in that of the flight of the Midianites (Judg. 7:22; as Zererah). Beth-Shean, in Solomon's fifth district, is described as being "beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel" (i Kings 4:12), but most scholars emend this passage by transposing Zarethan to the end of the verse, thus placing it at the farthest limit of the district near Jokneam (Tell al-Mazār?). Solomon had the vessels of the Temple cast between Succoth and Zarethan (i Kings 7:46; ii Chron. 4:17, as Zeredah). The identification of the place is in dispute, some scholars placing it west of the Jordan, others placing it to the east of the river. Of the latter, Mazar identifies it with Tell Umm Ḥamād, a large settlement between Adam and Succoth, while Glueck has suggested Tell al-Sa ʿ īdiyya farther to the north, which, however, Albright identifies with *Zaphon. Excavations directed by Pritchard at Tell al-Sa ʿ īdiyya revealed the remains of a Canaanite occupation, as well as an Israelite city (tenth-eighth centuries b.c.e.) with a casemate wall 17 ft. thick, remains of houses with pillared courts, a weaving room with 72 loom weights, and an Iron Age i staircase, roofed over and arranged in two passageways led by 84 steps from the city to the spring. Other finds include early Bronze Age, late Bronze Age and early Iron Age tombs, one of a woman with jewelry, including 575 beads.

bibliography:

N. Glueck, in: aasor, 25/28 (1951), 340ff.; B. Mazar, in: Eretz Israel, 3 (1954), 26; Y. Aharoni, in: Bi-Ymei Bayit Rishon, ed. by A. Malamat (1962), 111; Albright, in: jpos, 5 (1925), 32ff.; Pritchard, in: adaj, 8/9 (1964), 95ff.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]