Ashtaroth
עַשְׁתָּרוֹת
Where was biblical Ashtaroth? At Tell Ashtara, in the Hauran, Syria, about 45 km east of Tiberias. I mark it very likely.
Og, the last of the giant Rephaim, ruled Bashan from this city. The Torah still remembers his iron bed.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tell Ashtara, in the Hauran, Syria
- How sure
- Very likely Strong evidence, with no serious rival.
- Other names
- Ashteroth-karnaim, Ashtarot, Ashtartu, Tell Ashtara, Tell Ashtarah
- Location
- 32.8045° N, 36.0155° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The name barely moved. The mound is called Tell Ashtara, which is Ashtaroth with almost nothing worn away. It is a large city mound from the Bronze and Iron Ages, set in the heart of Bashan.
Ashtaroth was famous long before Israel arrived. Pharaoh Thutmose III listed it on the walls of his temple at Karnak. The Amarna letters, from the 14th century BCE, name its king, Ayyab. Centuries later an Assyrian relief shows the army of Tiglath-pileser III capturing the city.
The Bible supplies the map reference. Again and again it pairs Ashtaroth with Edrei as Og's two royal cities. Edrei is modern Daraa, and Tell Ashtara lies about 20 km north of it on the same plain. The pair fits. After the conquest both cities went to the clans of Machir son of Manasseh, and Ashtaroth later became a city of the Levites, given to the family of Gershon.
Genesis uses a longer name, Ashteroth-karnaim. That probably joins Ashtaroth with Karnaim, its neighbor a short way north. How exactly the two names relate is still debated.
An older proposal put Ashteroth-karnaim at Tell el-Ash'ari, working from distances Eusebius gave. Tell Ashtara has the name and the size, and the map follows it.
Visiting today
Tell Ashtara is in southern Syria. The mound is not open to most visitors today.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Ashtaroth on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Karnaim 4 km northeast
- Edrei 21 km southeast
- Ramoth Gilead 29 km south
- Geshur 38 km west
- The Sea of Galilee (Kinneret) 40 km west
- Hammath 44 km west