LIDDA (Heb. Lâdh; Gr. Λάδω). - A city of Palestine, 20 km from Jaffa and 44 from Jerusalem. It is mentioned among the cities conquered by Tuthmosis III; its foundation, according to I Par. 8, 12, is connected with the Benjaminite Samad. After the exile it was repopulated by the Benjaminites (Esd. 2, 33; Neh. 7, 37; 11, 35), but acquired importance only in the Hellenistic period, when it became the capital of a toparchy (Antiq. Iud., XX, 2; Bell. Iud., III, 3, 5). About 145 B.C., Demetrius II Nicator detached it from Samaria in order to unite it with Judea, giving it to Judas Maccabeus (I Mach. 11, 34; Antiq. Iud., XVIII, 4, 9). Pompey took it from the Maccabees, but Caesar restored it to them. Around A.D. 200 Septimius Severus gave it the name Diospolis. St. Peter found Christians there already and healed Aeneas (Act. 10, 32-34).
The bishop of L. appears at Nicaea (325); the cult of St. George, believed to have been a native of L., is well known in the sixth century through the church built over his relics, transferred from Nicomedia. After 70 the Jews had a flourishing rabbinical school there. L. lost importance with the rise of Ramleh (eighth century). In the Middle Ages it was administered by a viscount. In 1948 it was reoccupied by the Jews, with the removal of the Arab population.