ENGADDI (Hebrew 'En Gādhī', Fountain of the Goat). - A city of the desert of Paran (Josh. 15:62), surrounded by steep cliffs (1 Sam. 24:3), almost halfway along the western shore of the Dead Sea. Its ancient name was Asasonthamar ("cutting of the palm"): according to F.-M. Abel this identification (2 Chron. 20:2) would be recent, at the expense of Thamar, south of the Dead Sea. Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Jud., 9, 1, 2; Bell. Jud., 4, 7, 2) places E. 300 stadia (more than 55 km) from Jerusalem, as a village whence comes the opobalsamum. The name survives today in the spring 'Ajn Gidi, near which are found the remains of a small city that was once a toparchy of Judea (Bell. Jud., 3, 5).
At first it was in the possession of the Amorites, who were defeated by Elam and his allies (Gen. 14:7). After the conquest of Palestine, it was assigned to Judah (Josh. 15:62).
David, during the persecution by Saul, took refuge there, taking advantage of the inaccessibility of the cliffs, "passable only by the wild goats" (Vulgate in 1 Sam. 24:1-3). There the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites gathered against the king of Judah Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:2).
'Ajn Gidi is today an oasis on a kind of terrace suspended more than 120 m. above the level of the Dead Sea, surrounded to the west and north by an immense circle of chalky cliffs, in various strata. The spring has clear waters, of a high temperature (27°), laden with calcium carbonate. In ancient times the oasis, fed by the spring, was cultivated with vines and palms (Song 1:14); the ancient name and Flavius Josephus speak of palm groves; today the copious spring feeds a grove of tamarisks and acacias and a few shrubs of the apple of Sodom (sulotropis aceris) and irrigates the crops of the bedouin. Near E. the Essenes practiced their ascetic life.
Vincenzo M. Iacono