Sokho

For the neighbourhood of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, see Sukho. For the Korean given name, see Seok-ho.
Sokho
Stone wall at Tel Socho, Elah Valley, 2015
Sokho is located in Israel
Sokho
Shown within Israel
LocationIsrael Israel
Coordinates31°40′56″N 34°58′26″E / 31.682108°N 34.973866°E / 31.682108; 34.973866
Grid position147/121 PAL
Site notes
ConditionRuin
Blue Lupines at Tel Socho

Sokho (alternate spellings: Sokhoh, Sochoh, Soco, Sokoh; Hebrew: שׂוֹכֹה ,שׂוֹכוֹ ,שֹׂכֹה) is the name given to two ancient towns in the territorial domain of Judah as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, west of the Judean hills. Both towns were given the name Shuweikah in Arabic, a diminutive of the Arabic shawk, meaning "thorn".[1] The remains of both have since been identified.

One is located about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Hebron and has been identified with the twin ruins known as Khirbet Shuwaikah Fauka and Tahta (Upper and Lower Shuwaikah), 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of As-Samu in the Hebron Hills district (grid position 150/091 PAL)(Joshua 15:48).[2] Eusebius makes mention of this twin site in his Onomasticon.[3]

The other ruin is situated on a hilltop overlooking the Elah Valley between Adullam and Azekah (Joshua 15:35), in the lower stratum of the Judaean foothills (grid position 147/121 PAL).[4] Today it is a popular tourist attraction better known as Givat HaTurmusim. The site, occupied as early as the Iron Age, was visited by Claude Conder in 1881, who writes that it was already a ruin in his days, with two wells in the valley towards the west.[5]

A third town by this name, Shuwaykah, was located in the Hefer region (1 Kings 4:10), north of Tulkarm (grid position 153/194 PAL).[6][2]

  1. ^ Zadok, Ran [in Hebrew] (1995–1997). "A Preliminary Analysis of Ancient Survivals of Modern Palestinian Toponymy". Mediterranean Language Review. 9. Harrassowitz Verlag: 98–99. JSTOR 10.13173/medilangrevi.9.1997.0093.
  2. ^ a b Aharoni, Y. (1979). The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography (2 ed.). Philadelphia: Westminster Press. p. 442. ISBN 0664242669. OCLC 6250553. (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962))
  3. ^ Eusebius (2003). Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E. (eds.). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. p. 86. ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750.
  4. ^ Tsafrir, Y.; Leah Di Segni; Judith Green (1994). (TIR): Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea, Palestina: Eretz Israel in the Hellenistic , Roman and Byzantine Periods; Maps and Gazetteer. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. p. 234. ISBN 965-208-107-8.
  5. ^ See p. 410 in: Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
  6. ^ S. Klein, Qovetz: Journal of the Jewish Palestinian Exploration Society, 2nd year, volumes 1–4, article: On the Kings of Canaan (Heb. לפרשת מלכי כנען), Jerusalem 1934–1935, p. 41 (Hebrew).