APHEC (Hebrew 'Āphīq or 'Āphēq, "Fortress" or "Watercourse"). - Name of 5 localities in Palestine.

1. Canaanite city in the mountains of Judah, whose king was defeated by Joshua (Josh. 12:18 and 15:52 [Aphecol]); it corresponds either to present-day Fūqīn, 9 km west of Bethlehem, or to Ḥirbet ed-Darrame near the spring 'Ayn Dilbe.

2. City on the southern border of the tribe of Asher (Josh. 13:14; 19:30; Judg. 1:31) between Amma and Rohob; it remained inhabited by the Canaanites. It perhaps corresponds to Apqu of the Egyptian campaign of Esarhaddon (v.). It is present-day Tell-Kurdāne, near the spring 'Ayūn el-Baṣṣ called Recordane by the Latins in the Middle Ages. It cannot be identified with the Greek Aphaka of Lebanon (present-day Afqa, 28 km west of Baalbek), famous for its temple of Venus (Astarte) which Constantine had destroyed (Eusebius, Vita Const., III, 55); in fact the frontiers of Israel never extended as far as Lebanon. It could instead be identified with the A. of I Sam. 29:1 (cf. below at no. 4).

3. City near Ebenezer in the plain of Sharon, where the Philistines defeated the Hebrews and took the Ark of the Covenant (I Sam. 4:1 ff.). It is in the list of Thutmose III (no. 66: I-pw-q-n = Efeqon), and in the Egyptian "execration texts" (19th century B.C.). Today it is often identified with Megdel Jāba (Migdal Aphec of Flavius Josephus, Bell. Iud., II, 19, 1), 14 km north of Lydda; but in reality it is Qal'at Rās el-'Ain, the Herodian Antipatris (v.), 3 km further to the northwest, where traces of a settlement from the Bronze Age (ca. 2000 B.C.) have been found. Cf. F. M. Abel, Mirabel et la tour d'Aphek, in Revue Biblique, 36 (1927), pp. 390-400.

4. City in Jezreel (v.), beside the mountains of Gilboa, near which the Philistines defeated Saul (I Sam. 29:1 ff.); it perhaps corresponds to present-day Fuqū'a. But F.-M. Abel identifies this one with the preceding. Cf. above at no. 2.

5. Place where Ahab king of Israel defeated Ben-hadad II king of Syria (I Kings 20:26-30), and later Jehoash king of Israel overcame Ben-hadad III (II Kings 13:17-25). It is to be placed east of the lake of Tiberias; it corresponds to present-day Fiq in the Golan, 2 1/2 km east-northeast of el-Ḥoṣn (Hippos).

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: A. Alt, Palästina Jahrbuch, 21 (1925), p. 50; 24 (1928), p. 59; 25 (1929), p. 41; 28 (1932), pp. 16-20; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, I. Paris 1933, pp. 149, 454; II, ibid. 1938, pp. 23-246 ff.; F. Sorell, Lexicon hebr. et aram. V. Test., fasc. I, Rome 1941, p. 75 (distinguishes seven A.).

Antonino Romeo

@incollection{ec1_aphec_ebr_aphiq_e_apheq_fortez, author = {Romeo, Antonino}, title = {Aphec (Ebr. 'ĀPhĪQ e 'ĀPhĒQ « Fortezza » O « Corso d'Acqua »)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1597--1598}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/aphec-ebr-aphiq-e-apheq-fortezza-o-corso-d-acqua} }

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