Tomb of Samuel
Coordinates | 31°49′59″N 35°10′54″E / 31.832978°N 35.181633°E |
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The Tomb of Samuel (
The site is of both religious and archaeological interest. In the 6th century, a monastery was built at the site in honor of Samuel, and during the early Arab period the place was known as Dir Samwil (the Samuel Monastery).[2] In the 12th century, during the Crusader period, a fortress was built on the area.[2]
The present structure is a mosque from the 14th century, built during the Mamluk period.[2] The purported tomb itself is in an underground chamber which has been repurposed after 1967 as a synagogue, today with separate prayer areas for Jewish men and women.
Since the beginning of the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank after the Six-Day War, the site is managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Location
The site is located around Nabi Samwil, a Palestinian village in the Seam Zone of the West Bank, an area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank separated from the rest of the territory by the Israeli West Bank barrier, with the surrounding Palestinian towns of Al Jib, Beit Hanina and Beit Iksa on the other side of the barrier. Nabi Samwil was classified as being in Area C of the West Bank under the Oslo Accords,[3] which left Israel in administrative and military control of the territory pending the transfer of control to the Palestinian Authority. Such transfer, which the accords called for to be completed by 1997, has not occurred since the accords signing in 1995.[4]
History and archaeology
Iron Age and biblical identification
Yitzhak Magen conducted archaeological excavations from 1992 to 2003. Magen's own conclusions have been criticised for stretching the evidence beyond the obvious implications, which he himself hints at:
We did not find any remains from the time of the
Judges ... not a single structure or even a standing wall from this period. On this basis, it might be tempting to conclude that the site was unoccupied at this time ...[8]
However, if
Some[who?] identify the location with the biblical temple of Gibeon, though consensus among experts places Gibeon at the village of al Jib.[citation needed]
Byzantine church and Samuel tradition
In the 6th century, a monastery was built at the site in honor of Samuel, and during the early Arab period the place was known as Dir Samwil (the Samuel Monastery).[2] There is no clear evidence that the place was considered the tomb of Samuel, or indeed a place of religious significance, before Byzantine times.[11] Magen argues that the builders of the monastery did not believe they were building over the tomb of Samuel, instead regarding their construction only as a memorial.[8] The fifth century writer Jerome, for example, argues that Samuel's remains were moved to Chalcedon, on the orders of Emperor Arcadius;[12] this would be a century before the Byzantine monastery was built.
A sixth-century Christian author identified the site as Samuel's burial place. According to the Bible, however, the prophet is buried at his hometown, Ramah (1Samuel 25:1, 28:3), to the east of the hill which is located near Geba.[citation needed]
Crusader period: church and fortress
Raymond of Aguilers, who wrote a chronicle of the First Crusade (1096–1099), relates that on the morning of June 7, 1099, the Crusaders reached the summit of Nebi Samuel, and when they saw the city of Jerusalem, which they had not yet seen, they fell to the ground and wept in joy;[13] the Crusaders named the place "Mount of Joy" (Latin Mons Gaudi, French Mont de Joie or Montjoie), for this reason. The Crusaders built a fortress on the spot, on an area of 100 x 50 m.[2]
The 12th-century Jewish traveller
Modern period
The present structure is a mosque from the 14th century, built during the Mamluk period.[2]
Nearby Jewish village
Jews had begun efforts to found a village at the site in 1890, originally called Ramah after the biblical home of Samuel, and then referred to by the name of the group which had purchased the lands, Nahalat Yisrael. Over the next five years various attempts to actualise the plan had failed due to bureaucratic obstacles, but in 1895, 13 Yemenite Jewish families joined the group and succeeded in the endeavour, even engaging in agriculture there.[citation needed]
Nachalat Yisrael - Rama was an association founded in 1886 for the purpose of establishing a Jewish settlement close to the traditional tomb of Samuel.
World War I
Nebi Samuel's strategic location made it the site of battles during the
1948 and 1967 wars
The location was again significant in the
Post-1967
The tomb, which is in Area C, is located on the Israeli side of the Israeli West Bank barrier with the nearby Giv'at Ze'ev. Nebi Samuel and the surrounding archeological excavations are now part of a national park. The original village located on the hilltop is still inhabited by 20 Palestinian families.[citation needed]
Both Jewish and Muslim prayers are held at the area, but the purported tomb of Samuel itself is in an underground chamber which has been repurposed after 1967 as a synagogue, today with separate prayer areas for Jewish men and women. Many religious Jews visit the tomb on the 28th of Iyar, the anniversary of Samuel the Prophet's death.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Hanukkah menorah removed from roof of mosque after Palestinians protest". www.timesofisrael.com. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "Nebi Samuel Park – Israel Nature and Parks Authority". en.parks.org.il. Archived from the original on 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- ^ Miller, Elhanan (3 February 2014). "In a uniquely confined Palestinian village, a feminist awakening". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
- ^ "Area C and the future of Palestinian. Also there is a location near saveh city in Iran named Samuel tomb ,economy" (PDF). World Bank. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ The Biblical Archaeology Society Library. "Nebi Samwil". bib-arch.org. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
- ^ a b "Nebi Samwil-Site of a Biblical Town and a Crusader Fortress". GxMSDev. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ Jeffery Zorn, Mizpah: Newly Discovered Stratum Reveals Judah's Other Capital, in Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1997
- ^ a b Yitzhak Magen, Nebi Samwil, Where Samuel Crowned Israel's First King, in Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2008
- ^ Jeremiah Chapter 41 Verse 10–12 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Mechon Mamre
- ^ I Mach., iii, 46, cited in Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ "Sacred Sites in the Holy Land: Historical and Religious Perspectives" (PDF). The Hague: The Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR). 2011: 86.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Jerome, Against Vigilantius, 5:343
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2020-07-06. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Adler, Nathan Marcus (1907). The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary. Vol. See "St. Samuel of Shiloh" and footnote 87. New York: Phillip Feldheim, Inc. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020 – via washington.edu.
- ^ "Summary Page: Palestine/Israel (Kingdom of Jerusalem)-St. Samuel". Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ Rey, Emmanuel Guillaume (1883). Géographie historique de la Syrie au temps des croisades: Le domaine royal. Paris: Alphonse Picard. p. 391. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Vacant, Alfred; Mangenot, Eugene; Amann, Émile (1936). Prémontrés. VI. Personnages célèbres: saint et bienheureux (in French). Vol. 13 pt. 1. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. p. 21[-22]. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ a b Four Rare Booklets of Regulations - Jerusalem 1905-1939 Archived 2022-06-03 at the Wayback Machine: A book of regulations from the Moshava "Nachalat Yisrael Rama", Jerusalem, 1921, Moriah Printing Press, 8 pages. At Bidspirit auction portal, July 7, 2016. Accessed 6 August 2020
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rabbis Letters & Religious Books Archived 2022-03-16 at the Wayback Machine: Nahalat Israel Rama company – an Experimental settlement of the Old Yishuv in Jerusalem, near the tomb of the... At Bidspirit auction portal, July 7, 2016. Accessed 6 August 2020
- Shklov, The Voice of the Turtledove - Kol HaTor: Translated and explained with an Introduction and Commentary. Keren Yeshuah. Accessed 6 August 2020.
- ^ "Jerusalem Won at Bayonet's Point". The New York Times. December 18, 1917. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
- ^ "Full Speed Ahead And Damn the Aesthetics". Time. March 1, 1971. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-415-35901-6. Archivedfrom the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
Further reading
- Reiter, Yitzhak, "Contest or cohabitation in shared holy places? The Cave of the Patriarchs and Samuel's Tomb" in Breger, Reiter and Hammer, "Holy Places in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict", Routledge (2009)
External links
- Media related to Tomb of Samuel at Wikimedia Commons
- Bibleplaces: Nebi Samwil
- Photos: Arabs Ransack Samuel's Tomb - January 28, 2007.
- israeltraveler.org
- jerusalem-insiders-guide.com
- Photos of the Tomb of Samuel at the Manar al-Athar photo archive