MAON. - A city of the tribe of Judah. Mentioned together with Carmel and Ziph in Josh. 15:55, it is commonly identified with present-day Tell Mâ'in, located not far from those two places and 14 km from Hebron (v.). The city gave its name to the nearby desert, that is, to a half-uninhabited area used for grazing, which forms part of the desert of Judah. The place is known above all for the exploits of David pursued by Saul (1 Sam. 23:24-28) and for his conflict with Nabal the Calebite, whose wife Abigail he later married (ibid. 25:1-42).

In the early Christian period M. was inhabited by Christians and Jews, though no remains of churches are found there as in the neighboring places. There are, however, many remains of houses, cisterns hewn in the rock and caves, on the western slope of the Tell, and a tower built of squared and rough-hewn stones (7 x 8 m) on the highest part, which suggest that the site was already of some importance. Megalithic remains have also been noted, in the form of a great avenue and of circles, which have suggested a "high place" of worship.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Heidet, s. v. in DB, IV, coll. 690-704; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, p. 377; B. Ubach, Excursion aux déserts d'Engaddi, Zif et M., in Revue biblique, 55 (1946), pp. 257-58.

Bellarmino Bagatti

@incollection{ec7_maon, author = {Bagatti, Bellarmino}, title = {Maon}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {2015--2016}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/maon} }

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