the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Ashtaroth
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Ash´taroth and Ashtaroth-Carnaim, a town of Bashan (Deuteronomy 1:4; Joshua 9:10) which was included in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:31), and was assigned to the Levites (1 Chronicles 6:71). It is placed by Eusebius 6 miles from Edrei, the other principal town of Bashan, and 25 miles from Bostra. The town existed in the time of Abraham (Genesis 14:5); and as its name of Ashtaroth appears to be derived from the worship of the moon under that name [ASHTORETH], there is little need to look farther than the crescent of that luminary and its symbolical image for an explanation of the addition Carnaim, or rather Karnaim, 'horned.' Astaroth-Carnaim is now usually identified with Mezareib, the situation of which corresponds accurately enough with the distances given by Eusebius. Here is the first castle on the great pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca, which was built about 340 years ago by the Sultan Selim. There are no dwellings beyond the castle, and within it only a few mud huts upon the flat roofs of the warehouses, occupied by the peasants who cultivate the neighboring grounds.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Ashtaroth'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/a/ashtaroth.html.
