IAMNIA (Heb. Jähnel; Greek Αἰξνά, Ιαξνήλ) — A city on the northern borders of Judaea (Ios. 15:5), to be identified with Iabnia, the Philistine city dismantled by Ozia (II Par. 26:6) and known in later times as I., when it served as the base of the Syrian generals against Judaea (I Mach. 5:58; 10:69; 15:40); it was subjugated by Alexander Jannaeus (Antiq. Iud., XIII, 6, 6; XV, 4). In 63 B.C. Pompey made it independent, but in 30 it was given by Augustus to Herod the Great.
It was very populous, largely because of the Jews, who had there a flourishing rabbinical school, which grew with the transfer of the Sanhedrin to I. (70–132). Christianity already had martyrs under Diocletian; its bishop appears at Nicaea in 325. I. had its own port, where Eudocia built a church in honor of St Stephen and St Thomas, with a hospice, although the port was inhabited largely by Samaritans. In the Middle Ages I. was called Yebelin, a corruption of Jähnel, from which the family that governed it took its name. Until our own times, I. has been represented by a Muslim village, Yebnah, which in 1948 became part of the Jewish state.