Taanath-Shiloh

TAANATH-SHILOH

ta'-a-nath-shi'-lo (ta'-anath shiloh; Codex Vaticanus Thenasa kai Sellesa, Tenathselo):

A town on the border of the territory of Ephraim named between Michmethath and Janoah (Joshua 16:6). According to Eusebius, Onomasticon (s.v. "Thena") it lay about 10 Roman miles East of Neapolis, on the road to the Jordan. Ptolemy speaks of Thena, probably the same place, as a town in Samaria (Joshua 16:5). It may be identified with Ta`na, a village about 7 miles Southeast of Nablus. Yanun, the ancient Janoah, lies 2 miles to the South. A Roman road from Neapolis to the Jordan valley passed this way. At Ta`na there are "foundations, caves, cisterns and rockcut tombs" (PEFM, II, 245). This identification being quite satisfactory, the Talmudic notion that Taanath-shiloh was the same place as Shiloh may be dismissed (Jerusalem Talmud, Meghillah, i).

W. Ewing