ASIONGABER (Hebrew Ešjōn-Gēbher "Grove of Gēbher [Name of a Man?]"). - A city in Edomite territory on the Red Sea, at the head of the Elanitic Gulf, near Elath (v.), which is present-day el-'Aqabah. There the Israelites camped during the Exodus (Num. 33:35; Deut. 2:8). Solomon built a port and a commercial fleet there; a century later Jehoshaphat built a new fleet there destined for Ophir, but it was destroyed in the port of A. by a storm (I Kings 9:26 ff.; 22:48 f.; II Chron. 8:17; 9:21; 20:35-37). Already under Joram (849-842 B.C.) Edom, having revolted, deprived the kingdom of Judah (cf. II Kings 8:20-22; II Chron. 21:8-10) of its coveted outlet to the sea. Afterward, the Bible no longer speaks of A., but of Elath, retaken from Edom by Uzziah (789-38 B.C.).

It was identified in 1934 by F. Frank with Tell el-Heléfi, 500 m. from the present-day shoreline, 3.5 km. northeast of el-'Aqabah. From 1938 to 1940 three excavation campaigns were conducted there, directed by Nelson Glueck.

From these excavations it emerges that A. was founded as an industrial and commercial center in the time of Solomon and fortified with walls 2.50 to 3 m. thick and 8 m. high; it was equipped with metallurgical installations, especially for the working of copper. It was perhaps destroyed by Shishak (Šošenk) around 950 B.C., then rebuilt (A. II) in the 9th century. After a fire, it was reconstructed on a new plan (A. III) in the 8th century, probably by Uzziah. Destroyed again by fire, it rose once more (7th century) probably through the work of the Edomites: this 4th stratum (A. IV) lasted until the Persian or Hellenistic period (5th or 4th century B.C.).

Bibliography13 works

BIBL.: F. Frank, Aus der Araba I, in Zeitschr. des deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 57 (1934), pp. 191-280; E. Sellin, Zur Lage von Ezion-Geber, ibid., 59 (1936), pp. 123-28; L. Koehler, Zum Ortsnamen Ezion-Geber, ibid., pp. 193-95; N. Glueck, The First Campaign at Tell el-Kheleifeh, in Bull. of Amer. School of Oriental Research, 71 (1938), pp. 3-18; id., The Topography and History of Ezion-Geber and Elath, ibid., 72 (1938), pp. 2-13; id., The Second Campaign at Tell el-Kheleifeh (Ezion-Geber: Elath), ibid., 75 (1939), pp. 8-22; id., The Third Season of Excavation at T. el-Kh., ibid., 79 (1940), pp. 2-18; id., Ostrava from Elath, ibid., 80 (1940), pp. 3-10; 82 (1941), pp. 3-11; id., Salomon's Seaport Ezion-Geber, in Asia, 38 (1938), pp. 591-95; G. Ryckmans, Un fragment de jarre avec caractères miniens à T. el-Kheleifeh, in Revue Biblique, 48 (1939), pp. 247-49; A. Bea, Archäol. Beiträge zur israel.-jüdischen Geschichte: II Eziongeber-Elath-Tell el-Heléfi, in Biblica, 21 (1940), pp. 437-45; J. Pinkerfeld, Excavations, Ezion-Geber, in Kedem, 1 (1942), pp. 57-60.

Antonino Romeo

@incollection{ec2_asiongaber_ebr_esjon_gebher_bo, author = {Romeo, Antonino}, title = {Asiongaber (Ebr. EsjŌN-GĒBher « Boschetto di GĒBher [Nome di Uomo?])}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {149--150}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/asiongaber-ebr-esjon-gebher-boschetto-di-gebher-nome-di-uomo} }

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