SILOS. - A Spanish Benedictine monastery in the diocese and province of Burgos, originally dedicated to St Sebastian and later to Abbot St Dominic, probably founded in the Visigothic period and endowed by Count Fernán González in 919.
Its medieval glory was the abbot St Dominic (1041-1090).
SILO (Hebr. Σίλό or Σίλιθι, Gr. Σηλών, Σηλών). - An ancient locality in Palestine in the tribe of Ephraim, corresponding, according to biblical indications (Judg. 21:19), to modern Khirbet Sejūn, 5 km south of Lubbān, 40 km north of Jerusalem, on the road to Nābulus.
Conquered by the Hebrews, it became a centre of Joshua’s activity and of the assemblies of Israel (Josh. 18:8-10; 19:51; 21:22; 22:9-12). The presence of the Ark and the Tabernacle made S. a pilgrimage destination (1 Sam. 1:4); on the occasion of an annual festival the Benjaminites abducted the dancing girls (Judg. 21:13-23). When the Ark fell into the power of the Philistines and the sanctuary where the boy Samuel had been received by the priest Eli was destroyed (1 Sam. 4; Jer. 7:12; 26:16; Ps. 38:60), the city lost its former importance, though it remained inhabited (1 Kgs. 11:29). It regained splendour in the Seleucid period down to the Byzantine era; Christians, Jews and Muslims until the fourteenth century revered its sacred memories.
Archaeological excavations conducted by a Danish society in several campaigns from 1922 to 1932 have brought to light the various historical phases of the city. Already occupied in the Middle Bronze Age, it enjoyed great prosperity until the Iron Age (13th-10th centuries BC). After this period archaeological material becomes scarce, corresponding to the semi-abandoned state in which the city was left after the Philistine victory. The Hellenistic revival is attested by abundant pottery, a villa with a bath, the city walls and a rock-cut necropolis on the road to 'Ajn Sejūn. The flourishing Christian period is represented by a three-aisled basilica of the 5th century and another small church with figured mosaics and inscriptions. In the ruined mosque of el-'Arba'in there is a carved lintel with Hebrew motifs, which also indicates the presence of an ancient synagogue.