SUNEM (SUNAM). – A Canaanite city of Palestine (Heb. Sūndam; Gr. Σουσάμ), occupied by Tuthmosis III (mm, n. 38), which remained of considerable importance until its destruction at the hands of Labaja in the fourteenth century.
Conquered by the Hebrews, it was assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Issachar (Ios. 19, 18). The Philistines encamped there
before the battle against Saul on Mount Gelboe (I Sam. 28, 4). It was the birthplace of Abisag (I Reg. 1, 3), of the pious woman whose son Eliseo raised from the dead (II Reg. 4, 8, 12; 8, 1), and of the Sulamite (Cant. 7, 1; Gr. Σουνταξίτης). Today it is Sólem or Súlam, a village on the southern slope of the so-called “Little Hermon” (= Nebi ed-Dabi), south of Thabor. In the tell above the village, pottery dating from the Bronze II period through the Arab period has been collected.