Hammath
Hammath is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Hamat Tiberias. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Hammath was a fortified city assigned to the tribe of Naphtali during the distribution of the land under Joshua. Joshua 19:35 lists it among the fortified cities of Naphtali: 'The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth.' The name Hammath derives from the Hebrew root meaning 'hot springs,' a reference to the thermal springs along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, just south of Tiberias. These hot springs were a notable natural feature of the region and gave the settlement both its name and its practical value in antiquity. The city's inclusion in the tribal allotment of Naphtali places it within the broader divine distribution of Canaan's land to the twelve tribes following the conquest. This region of Galilee along the Sea of Galilee would later become central to the ministry of Jesus Christ, who called his first disciples from among the fishermen of these very shores. The presence of ancient settled communities like Hammath in this region illustrates the deep historical roots of Galilee's inhabitation.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Hammath is identified with confidence as Hamat Tiberias, located immediately south of modern Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Excavations led by Moshe Dothan in the 1960s and 1980s uncovered remains spanning from the Early Bronze Age through the Byzantine and Islamic periods. The site is particularly renowned for its magnificent synagogue mosaics from the 3rd-4th centuries AD, featuring a detailed zodiac wheel and the earliest known depiction of the Torah Ark in synagogue art. The hot springs of the site were exploited continuously from antiquity and remain active today as a tourist attraction near Tiberias.
Verse Appearances (1)
1Chr
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]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]