IAMNIA (Hebr. Jabhneh; Gr. Ασβνάς, Ιασβνάς). — A city on the northern border of Judea (Jos. 15:5), to be identified with Jabneh, a Philistine city dismantled by Uzziah (1 Chron. 26:6) and later known as Iamnia when it became the base of Syrian generals against Judea (1 Macc. 5:58; 10:69; 15:40); it was subdued by Alexander Jannaeus (Antiq. Jud., XIII, 6, 6; XV, 4). In 63 B.C., Pompey made it independent, but in 30 B.C. it was given by Augustus to Herod the Great.
It was densely populated, largely by Jews, who had a flourishing rabbinic school, which grew when the Sanhedrin transferred to Iamnia (70–132). Christianity had martyrs there even under Diocletian; a bishop appears at Nicaea in 325. Iamnia had its port, where Eudocia built a church in honor of St. Stephen and St. Thomas with a hospice, though the port was largely inhabited by Samaritans. In the Middle Ages, Iamnia was called Yebelin, a corruption of Jabhneh, from which the family governing it took its name. To this day, Iamnia is represented by the Muslim village of Jebneh, which in 1948 became part of the State of Israel.