Hammon
Hammon is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Phoenicia in modern-day Israel. Known today as Umm el Awamid. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Hammon in the Phoenician coastal region appears in Joshua 19:28 as a city within the territorial allotment of the tribe of Asher: 'Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon.' Asher's inheritance stretched along the Mediterranean coastal strip from Carmel northward into what is now southern Lebanon, encompassing the fringes of ancient Phoenicia. This Hammon was situated in the territory that bordered the great Phoenician city-states, placing it in one of the most commercially active and culturally sophisticated regions of the ancient Levant. The Phoenician coast was home to the seafaring peoples who would later become Israel's neighbors, trade partners, and occasionally sources of religious syncretism, the very region from which Jezebel came when she married Ahab (1 Kings 16:31). Asher's coastal allotment, including cities like Hammon, represented the western frontier of Israelite territorial claims, though the text of Judges 1:31-32 acknowledges that Asher failed to drive out the Canaanite inhabitants of much of this territory, dwelling among them instead.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Hammon of Asher is identified with Umm el Awamid (also spelled Umm al-Awamid), located on the Lebanese coast south of Tyre. The site preserves significant Phoenician and Hellenistic-period remains. A sanctuary dedicated to the Phoenician deities Milk-Ashtart and Ashtart was uncovered, along with numerous inscriptions in Phoenician script that illuminate the local cult practices. Architectural remains include temple structures and cisterns from the Hellenistic-Roman period. The site's identification is supported by its geographical position along the Phoenician coast and the survival of a related ancient name in local topography.
Verse Appearances (1)
Josh
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]