Manasseh-2

1. Biblical Dan Identified as either Panias or Tel Dan (both close to each other)..
DAN
The tribe of Dan is mentioned together with the Bashan in Moses' farewell blessing (Deut 33:22): 'And to Dan he said, 'Dan is a lion's cub, he will leaps forth from the Bashan.' This verse suggests that the Danites and their capital city Dan were located somewhere in or near the Bashan.

The grouping of Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, and Ijon in 1 Kings 15:20 and 2 Chronicles 16:4 suggests that Dan was located to the northwest of the Bashan at the entrance of the Lebanon Valley.

An example is the identification of biblical Dan with Tell el-Qadi which fits the biblical and archaeological qualifications but does not have a relevant Arabic place name.182
 Although the Hebrew and Arabic names do not align, an inscription was found there that was dedicated 'To the god who is in Dan,' which bolsters the identification

According to Josephus (Ant. 1.177), Dan is one of two sources of the Jordan River. The city of Dan is located at 'the sources of the lesser Jordan' (Ant. 5.178; 8.226; ) while Paneas is 'the city near the sources of the Jordan' itself, i.e., the larger source (Ant. 8.28; ).326 Eusebius describes the location of Dan in a similar fashion (Onom. 369): ' Dan. So is called a village four miles from Paneas on the way to Tyre. It is also a boundary of Judaea, and from there the Jordan proceeds. '

Although the textual and inscriptional sources from the Hellenistic and Roman periods (4th century BCE to 4th century CE) identify Dan with Tell el-Qadi, later sources identify it with Paneas, also known as Banias, Caesarea Paneas, or Caesarea Phillippi. For example, Jerome writes 'Dan, which is today called Paneas' (Comm. Ezech. 48:18; Dan qua hodie appellatur Paneas).334 Rabbinic sources, which change the pagan name Paneas to Pamias.
Pamias, mention the following: 'Leshem is Pamias' b. Megillah 6a); 'Laish is Pamias,' Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 14); 'Leshem of Dan, which is Pamias'.

 

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2. Bashan as Basil [Note: Name of Scandinavia, Basilia, and of Royal Scythes, "Scythoi Basiloi"].

193 According to Benjamin Mazar, Bashan is mentioned in an earlier inscription of Gudea, king of Lagash (r. 2144-2124 BCE), who mentions a certain 'Basalla (ba-sal-la), mountain of the Amorites' from which Gudea quarried stones for pillars. Although written as Basalla, Mazar points out that alternations between s and sh as well as l and n are common in Sumerian. See Benjamin Mazar, Cities and Districts in Eretz-Israel (Jerusalem: Bialik, 1975), 184-185 [Heb.]; Francois Thureau-Dangin, Die sumerischen und akkadischen Konigsinschriften (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1907), 70 [Gudea Statue B, 6:3); Friedrich Delitzsch, Grundzuge der sumerischen Grammatik (Leupzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1914), 17. However, the more common interpretation is that Basalla, which can be understood as an alternative of Basarra, is actually Jebel Bishri in northern Syria, just south of the Euphrates. For examples of this interpretation, see Ignacio J. Gelb, 'Studies in the Topography of Western Asia,' American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 55 (1938), 66-85, esp. 73; Horst Klengel, Syria 3000-300 BC Handbook of Political History (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1992),

As a geographic as opposed to a political region, the Bashan is likely defined its two most prominent physical features, namely its flat plain-like nature and its dark basalt soil, which is apparent to the naked eye. This was already documented in the firstdetailed map of Transjordan by the American Palestine Exploration Society, which clearly differentiates between the the volcanic soil of the Bashan, and the limestonesoil of Gilead.
201 American Palestine Exploration Society, Map of East of Jordan, (London: Palestine Exploration Fund,1879), Sheet 9.

Although the etymology is uncertain, it is interesting to note that the Arabic root b-th-n is used to refer to an even, relatively stoneless plain such as the Nuqra.200
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3. Golan - Gaulanitis

 The city of Golan appears to have given its name to the surrounding region of Gaulanitis, which is mentioned in a number of places by Josephus (J. W. 2: 168, 247, 459, 574; 3: 37, 56; 4: 2; Ant. 4: 96; 8:36; 13:375, 396; 17: 189; 18: 106).233

While the basalt of the upper Golan is not advantageous for agriculture, the patches of soil in between the basalt are excellent for grazing. For this reason the pastoralists of the 19th century considered it the richest grazing land in the region and called it belad er-rabi, 'the land of pasture.'415
Moshe Hartal adds, 'The height differences between the western and of a Region During the Roman and Byzantine Periods (BAR International Series No. 369; Oxford: B. A. R., 1985), 57-65. 413 For the soil makeup of the Golan see Urman, The Golan, 54-57, especially fig. 10. 414 Urman, The Golan, 63. 415 Schumacher, The Jaulan, 13. 190 eastern parts of this region were also advantageous to herders. Vegetation grew at different rates, allowing for a longer grazing season.' 416 Compared to the upper Golan, the lower Golan is plain-like and has a continuous deep soil cover that can be used for agriculture. Settlements in this region tended to be situated along the edges of the plateau, which allowed for greater areas of cultivation and easier access to rivers and streams.

It should also be emphasized that in addition to the many non-Israelites who probably dwelled in this region, the tribe of Gad is said to have lived side by side with Manasseh. This can be seen from texts
such as Joshua 13:27, which places the tribe of Gad in the Jordan Valley up to the Sea of Galilee, and 1 Chronicles 5:11, 16, which places the tribe of Gad in both Gilead and the Bashan.
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4. Beth Shean - a place of Manasseh

According to 1 Chronicles 7:29, Beth Shean was one of the four main Manassite towns: ' By the hands of the Manassites, Beth Shean and its dependencies, Taanach and its dependencies, Megiddo and its  dependencies its and Dor, dependencies. According to Judges 1:27, the Manassites did not control the town itself: 443 Achituv, Canaanite Toponyms, 78-79. 207 Manasseh did not dispossess [the inhabitants of] Beth Shean and its dependencies...
....  early sources such as Eusebius identify Beth Shean with Scythopolis.
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5. Megiddo

The Megiddo site was well occupied during the Late Bronze, Iron I, and Iron II periods.496
According to Finkelstein, despite a number of destruction layers, the Late Bronze 'Caananite' architecture and assemblage continued into the Iron I, whereas a different 'New Canaanite' (what others would call 'Israelite') architecture and assemblage first appears in the Iron II period.497 Most important for the identification, the Middle Bronze, Late Bronze, and even Iron I strata revealed a number of Egyptian-style finds such as pottery, statuettes,
scarabs, inscriptions, and ivories.498 This is significant because it agrees with the picture painted by the Amarna letters that Megiddo was at one point in time an Egyptian administrative center.
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6. Jordan Valley

The Jordan Valley, also known as the Ghor, surrounds the Jordan River and separates the highlands of Cisjordan from the highlands of Transjordan. The valley is between 5 and 30 km wide and has elevation changes between 500-1100 m. The valley has traditionally been divided into the Zor/Katar, the Ghor (a term that also describes the valley as a whole), and the surrounding hills:

The Zor and Katar, which are 200 m to 1.6 km wide, were not well suited for settlement because of the constant threat of flooding and the thick brush consisting of oleander, canes, bushes, vines, willows, and tamarisks. Most ancient sites were situated in the Ghor, the wide and flat plain bottom that surrounds the river. The valley receives 200-400 mm of annual rainfall north of the Jabbok (Zarqa) River tributary, making it well suited for agriculture.576
As Israel Finkelstein has shown based upon ethnographic records from the 1920's-1940's, the valley was well suited for pasture ('animal husbandry per capita is the richest anywhere in the region') and the cultivated portions were used primarily for cereals instead of fruits such as olives and grapes.577
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7. Israel's Climate in Ancient Times

The study of the climate of ancient Israel has attracted a diverse group of researchers such as archaeologists, geologists, oceanographers, physicists, archaeo-botanists, and archaeo-zoologists. Objects of study include tubes of earth drilled from sea beds, tree rings found in ancient wood, the levels of salt in the Dead Sea, and the presence of Carbon-14 in ancient pollen. Yair Goldreich has compiled much of this data in his book, "The Climate of Israel," which discusses the climate of the land during the last 10,000 years. According to Goldreich, the last major shift in climate was ca. 2,300 BCE, which was a peak in temperature and a nadir in rainfall. Since then, there have only been minor shifts in climate (e.g., sustained droughts in the Byzantine period) but the overall climate has remained relatively stable. It therefore seems likely that today's climate, meaning temperature and rainfall, is not unlike that of the biblical period.604

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8. The Jordan River Reduced to a Trickle!

That said, the once mighty Jordan River has been reduced to a trickle. The reduction began in 1932 with the construction of the Degania dam at the river's exit from the Sea of Galilee. While we do not know the river's original flow, after 1932 it was approximately 1,207 million cubic meters per year.605 The river was diverted again in 1964 and 1966 by the construction of the National Water Carrier of Israel and by the King Abdullah Canal, respectively. A number of other projects followed such as the King Talal Dam in 1978, which redirected one of the Jordan's major tributaries, the Jabbok (Zarqa) River. This was followed by the Unity Dam in 2007, which redirected another main tributary, the Yarmouk River. By 2010, the annual flow was an estimated 20-30 million cubic meters, a mere 2% of what it was half a century earlier.606 Additionally, the river has been polluted to the point that it is now mostly waste. According to one environmental report, 'organic pollution is present in extremely high concentrations in the northern river segments and in levels that pose seasonal
risks to public health in the southern segments.' 607
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9. Interaction of Israelite Tribes East and West of the Jordan

There are a number of connections between Cis- and Transjordanian tribes in the Bible, and many of them appear tangentially.632 According to 1 Chronicles 2:21-23, the Cisjordanian Hezron married the daughter of the Transjordanian Machir, the father of Gilead. The Forest of Ephraim, where David's troops routed Absalom's (2 Sam 18:6-8), was presumably located in Transjordan whereas the tribe of Ephraim was located in Cisjordan.633 The Stone of Bohan son of the Reuben was located on the border of Judah and Benjamin in Cisjordan (Josh 15:6; 18:17), though Reuben was a Transjordanian tribe. According to Judges 6-8, the Transjordanian Midianites repeatedly raided the Cisjordanian settlements, especially those in the north near the Jezreel valley. The Song of Deborah reveals that the Transjordanian people of Gilead were expected to fight alongside their Cisjordanian brothers (Judges 5:17). There are a number of political connections between east and west as well. Cisjordanian Saul rescued the Transjordanian settlement of Jabesh-gilead (1 Sam 11:1-15) and the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead would later rescue Saul's and Jonathan's corpses from the walls of Beth Shean (1 Sam 31). David had strong ties with the Transjordanian Geshurites, Ammonites, and Moabites (1 Sam 22:3-4; 2 Sam 3:3; 10:2) as well as a number of Transjordanian individuals such as Barzillai the Gileadite (2 Sam 17:27; 19:32-35, 40; 21:8; 1 Kings 2:7). Solomon married Edomite, Moabite, and Ammonite wives (1 Kgs 11:1). Ramoth-gilead was one of Ahab's outposts, from which his chariots drove to Jezreel and Samaria (1 Kgs 22; 2 Kgs 9). All of these reveal a strong, active connection between east and west.

 

 

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10. Ancient Tribes could have Widely Separated Sections

 

The concept of a tribe being separated by great distances is not limited to the biblical or ethnographic data, nor is it limited to the region of Cis- and Transjordan; it can also be found in the texts from Mari (Tell Hariri), an ancient city-state located along the Euphrates River in what is today the contested region of Eastern Syria. Approximately 25,000 texts from the 2nd millennium BCE were discovered at Mari, and they shine a great deal of light upon the tribal structures during that time. During the 18th century BCE, Mari's king Zimri Lim (reign ca. 1775-1761 BCE) ruled over a tribal confederacy known as the binu yamina ('the righties,' Zimri Lim was himself one of the binu sima'l, or, 'lefties'). The binu yamina consisted of five groups living across a number of distant lands and kingdoms. Recently published texts reveals that the binu yamina lived in four different polities aside from Mari, namely Harran, Aleppo, and Qatna, all of which existed in Western Syria.667 The gap between the tight-knit tribal leaders in Mari and Aleppo, for example, was 392 km (243 mi), yet the tribal confederacy was able to function as one unit despite the significant distanciation. To put this length into perspective, the distance between Mount Hermon in Transjordan and
Shechem in Cisjordan, the two extremities of biblical Manasseh, is only 144 km ( 90 miles), a little more than one-third the distance.

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11. Recent Arab History as an Example. The Beni Sakhr

The Beni Sakhr were one of the largest, most dominant tribes in Cis- and Transjordan during the 19th century CE. Their territory was enormous, more than four times the size of Manasseh's territory if the desert to Wadi Sirhan is to be included. They numbered approximately 11,000 men and women and had at least six major branches, all of whom were 'related' genealogically. For our purposes the three most important branches were the Twaqa, the Kaabna, and the Sukhur el-Ghor. Each of these clans lived on both sides of the Jordan River; no single group lived on just one side of the river. Like Manasseh, these clans were either agriculturalists, pastoralists, or both.671 A branch of the Kaabna were semi-nomads based in Cisjordan; during the summer they tilled land in the vicinity of Hebron and during the winter they tended their flocks with their fellow tribesmen in Transjordan.672 The Twaqa and the rest of the Kaabna were based in the Belka in Transjordan, where many were agriculturalists during the winter. During the summer they covered great distances and spread out in many directions.673 While many would seek pastures to the Southeast as far as Wadi Sirhan, others would cross the Jordan to pasture their flocks and collect khawa from weaker tribes in the Jezreel Valley.674 The Sukhur el-Ghor were agriculturalists who lived on both sides of the Jordan River just below the Sea of Galilee.675 The Beni Sakhr were led by leaders ('sheikhs') who were in charge of the individual clans....

According to Evelyn Van der Steen, When [the Beni Sakhr] first entered the region [in the 18th century] they paid khawa [tribute tax of 'brotherhood'] to these tribes [the Sardiyeh, Adwan, Beni Amr, and the Anaze] for grazing rights. However, when they became more numerous, and sought a more permanent foothold in the region, they stopped paying the khawa, provoking conflicts with their host tribes, and in a relatively short time they became the most powerful tribe in the region, although the Adwan never stopped contesting their control over the Belqa.677 Within a couple of decades almost every tribe in the region was paying khawa to the once subordinate Beni Sakhr. All of this changed again with the onset of the 20th century, when the Beni Sakhr had lost most of their territory to other tribes in the region. The once vast territory of the Beni Sakhr had been reduced to memory and the tribe was forced to pay khawa to other dominant tribes.

 

See Also:

Manasseh-1.

Manasseh-3. Five Ways to Map Manasseh.