Dor
דּוֹר
Where was biblical Dor? At Tel Dor, beside Kibbutz Nahsholim on the Carmel coast, about 20 km south of Haifa. I mark it certain.
Manasseh could not take this Canaanite harbor. Under Solomon it became a royal district, run by his son-in-law Ben-abinadab, the husband of Solomon's daughter Taphath.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Tel Dor, beside Kibbutz Nahsholim on the Carmel coast
- How sure
- Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
- Other names
- Dora, Naphath-dor, Naphoth-dor, Tel Dor, Khirbet el-Burj, Du'ru
- Location
- 32.6167° N, 34.9165° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
Dor was Israel's window on the Mediterranean. Greek and Roman writers knew the harbor city of Dora on this stretch of the Carmel coast. Tel Dor is the only large ancient harbor mound in the right place.
The outside records agree. The Egyptian Tale of Wenamun, from around 1100 BCE, calls Dor a town of the Tjeker, one of the Sea Peoples. Assyrian records make it the capital of a province. That is the profile of a major port. Back in Joshua's day its king already answered the call of Jabin of Hazor and went down in defeat with the other kings of the north.
Excavators dug down through the whole story. They found Canaanite, Sea Peoples, Israelite, Phoenician and Roman cities stacked on top of one another.
The Bible adds one more clue in its name for the district, Naphath-dor, the heights of Dor. Stand on the beach and look inland. The coastal plain here is a narrow strip, and the Carmel slopes rise right behind it. The heights are the backdrop of the harbor.
Visiting today
Tel Dor is an open site on the beach at Dor and Nahsholim, with excavated temples, streets and harbor works, and the Mizgaga museum nearby.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Dor on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Mount Carmel 18 km northeast
- Jokneam (Yokneam) 19 km east
- Harosheth Haggoyim 22 km southeast
- Megiddo 25 km east
- Taanach 30 km east
- Aphek in Asher 31 km northeast