Hammon
Hammon 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
Hammon in Naphtali is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:76 as one of the Levitical cities assigned to the Gershonite clan of the Levites from the territory of Naphtali. The Levitical cities system, established under Joshua (Joshua 21) and revisited in the Chronicler's account, distributed forty-eight cities throughout the tribal territories to provide residential centers for the tribe of Levi, who received no independent territorial inheritance. The Naphtali Hammon, located along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee near the hot springs, would have served as a center for priestly service and Torah instruction in this northern region. Many scholars identify this Hammon with Hammath of Joshua 19:35 and with Hammoth-dor of Joshua 21:32, suggesting that these variant spellings refer to the same hot-spring settlement that served multiple administrative and religious functions. The Gershonite Levites stationed here would have served the surrounding Galilean communities as teachers, musicians, and priests, maintaining Israel's covenant worship far from Jerusalem.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
This Hammon is generally equated with Hamat Tiberias near modern Tiberias, where substantial ancient remains have been uncovered. The site's archaeological sequence confirms occupation during the Iron Age when the Levitical city system was operative. The famous Hamat Tiberias synagogue excavations revealed not only the later Roman-period religious buildings but also earlier strata with pottery and architectural remains from the biblical period. The natural hot springs that gave the site its ancient name continue to define the location and have been documented in ancient literary sources including Pliny the Elder and various rabbinic texts describing the therapeutic baths.
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]