Canneh
Canneh is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Syria in modern-day Syria. Known today as Kullan Köy. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Canneh is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel 27:23, within the prophet's extended lament over the city of Tyre and its vast trading network. The oracle lists Canneh alongside Haran, Eden, Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad as partners in Tyre's commercial empire, declaring that "these traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of many colors, bound with cords and made secure." This single reference places Canneh within the elite circuit of luxury goods trade that connected the ancient Near East during the Iron Age. The city's precise identity has been debated by scholars, with suggestions ranging from a site near Haran in northern Mesopotamia to a location in northern Syria associated with the trading city of Calneh. The context of Ezekiel 27 paints Tyre as the commercial hub of an interconnected world, and Canneh's mention, however brief, confirms its role as a recognized trading partner in that world system. Its inclusion in the lament underscores the breadth of Tyre's network and, by extension, the magnitude of judgment pronounced against her.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The identification of Canneh remains uncertain. Some scholars equate it with Calneh or Calno, the city mentioned in Genesis 10:10, Amos 6:2, and Isaiah 10:9, which is tentatively identified with Tell Tayinat in the Amuq plain or a site in northern Mesopotamia near Haran. The proposed identification with Kullan Koy, a village in the Hatay region of modern Turkey, is based on phonetic similarity rather than firm archaeological evidence. No excavation has been definitively linked to Canneh as an independent city. Its context in Ezekiel 27 suggests it was a trading center in the broader Syrian-Mesopotamian corridor, an area rich in Iron Age settlement activity.
Verse Appearances (1)
Ezek
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]