ETAM (Heb. 'Ējām, Vulg. Etam). - Name of two Libyan localities.

1. City of southern Judah, near 'En-Rimnūn, transferred by Judah to Simeon (J Par. 4, 23); today Tell Ejām, about 10 km south of Hebron, near Tell bejṭ Mirsim. Connected with this locality is, it seems, the "rock of E." in which Samson had taken refuge (Iude. 15, 8-13).

2. City fortified by Jeroboam, in the vicinity of Bethlehem (I Par. 4, 3; II Par. 11, 6; Jos. 15, 19 in the Septuagint), where, according to Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Ind., VIII, 7, 3), King Solomon used to go every morning to enjoy amid the gardens the abundance of running waters. The distance given by Josephus, which corresponds to 11 km, leads into the beautiful region of 'Ajn 'Ajan, where the three great reservoirs commonly called - Pools of Solomon - lie south of Hirbet el-Hoh, the probable site of E. Talmudic tradition traces back to Solomon the hydraulic works of E. to supply the temple of Jerusalem with water, but they are presumably of Herodian date, although the documentation brings to light only Pilate (Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Ind., XVIII, 3, 2).

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: F. M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, I, Paris 1933, p. 451; II, ibid. 1938, p. 321.

Donato Baldi

@incollection{ec5_etam_ebr_ejam_volg_etam, author = {Baldi, Donato}, title = {Etam (Ebr. 'ÉjĀM, volg. etam)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {666--667}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/etam-ebr-ejam-volg-etam} }

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