Kedesh Ruins


The ruins of the ancient Canaanite village of Kedesh are located within the modern Kibbutz Malkiya in Israel on the Israeli-Lebanese border.[1] Kedesh was first documented in the Book of Joshua as a Canaanite citadel that was conquered by the Israelites under the leadership of Joshua. Ownership for Kedesh was turned over, by lot, to the tribe of Naphtali and subsequently, at the command of God, Kedesh was set apart by Joshua as one of the Cities of Refuge along with Shechem and Kiriath Arba (Hebron) (Joshua 20:7). In the 8th century BCE during the reign of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser III king of Assyria took Kedesh and deported its inhabitants to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29). The Byzantine Empire or Byzantium is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople. The Empire is also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, although this name is more commonly used when referring to the time before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. During much of its history it was known to many of its Western contemporaries as the Empire of the Greeks because of the dominance of Greek language, culture and population. To its inhabitants, the Empire was simply the Roman Empire (Greek: ) and its emperors continued the unbroken succession of Roman emperors. In the Islamic world it was known primarily as (Rûm, land of the "Romans"). Later, in the 5th century BCE Kedesh may have become the capital for the Persian controlled, Tyrian administrated province of the Upper Galilee[2]. In 259 BC Kedesh was mentioned by Zenon, a traveling merchant from Egypt[3]. Between 145 BC and 143 BC Kedesh (Cades) was overthrown by Jonathan Maccabeus in his fight against the Seleucid king Demetrius I Soter [4] [5]. It remains abandoned until this day. Tel Kedesh continues to be excavated by the University of Michigan.


Size: 4032px × 6048px
Location: north of israel The Byzantine Empire or Byzantium is the term conventionally used since the 19th cen
Photo credit: © yoel harel / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: byzantine, canaanite, citadel, cities, naftali, naphtali, refuge, stone