Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods
The Phoenician-ruled harbor city on Israel's coast that supplied cedar and trade to Yehud
Found 1980 — Ephraim Stern (Hebrew University, with the Israel Exploration Society), 20 seasons 1980–2000; continued by Ilan Sharon and Ayelet Gilboa, following soundings by John Garstang (1920s) and J. Leibowitz (1950s)
Where Tel Dor (Khirbet el-Burj), Carmel coast (Israel)
Dates from c. 530–100 BCE · Persian to Hellenistic · Return from exile (timber from Sidon and Tyre) through the Hasmonean conquest
Now at In situ (Tel Dor National Park); finds in the Mizgaga (Glasshouse) Museum / CONRAD at Kibbutz Nahsholim and the Israel Museum
How Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods was found
Large-scale excavation of the coastal mound revealed a Persian-period city laid out on a grid with Phoenician-style pier-and-rubble walls, a fortified gate, purple-dye workshops and quantities of Greek imported pottery.
What it is
A walled port city of the Persian period given by the Persian king to the king of Sidon (as the Eshmunazar inscription records), with orthogonal streets, a market building, a temple with figurines and votive bowls, and later Hellenistic fortifications with towers and a Ptolemaic and Seleucid town.
Why it matters for the Bible
Ezra 3:7 says the returnees paid Sidonians and Tyrians to float cedar from Lebanon to Joppa for the Temple; Dor was the chief Sidonian port on the coast of Israel and shows the Phoenician network that carried that timber and trade. The city's Greek pottery, Phoenician cult and Persian-era wealth contrast with poor inland Yehud. In the Maccabean period Dor was besieged by Antiochus VII (1 Maccabees 15) and later taken by Alexander Jannaeus, matching the site's Hellenistic destruction levels.
The Hebrew word: tsee-do-NEEM
צִידֹנִים
צִידֹנִים is pronounced tsee-do-NEEM and means Sidonians, the Phoenicians who ruled Dor and shipped cedar for the Temple (Strong's H6722).
Places
- Dor — דּוֹר (DOHR) — dwelling, generation
- Sidon — צִידוֹן (tsee-DONE) — fishery
Events
Phoenician timber shipments for the Second Temple · Siege of Dor by Antiochus VII, 138 BCE
Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods in Scripture
Joshua 11:2 First mention of Dor in Scripture.
Ezra 3:7 Sidonians and Tyrians bring cedar by sea to Joppa 'by the grant of Cyrus'; Dor was the Sidonian port of the region.
1 Maccabees 15:11-14 Trypho flees to Dor and Antiochus VII besieges it with 120,000 men; the Hellenistic walls and destruction were found.
Questions people ask
What is Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods?
A walled port city of the Persian period given by the Persian king to the king of Sidon (as the Eshmunazar inscription records), with orthogonal streets, a market building, a temple with figurines and votive bowls, and later Hellenistic fortifications with towers and a Ptolemaic and Seleucid town.
When was Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods discovered?
It was found in 1980 by Ephraim Stern (Hebrew University, with the Israel Exploration Society), 20 seasons 1980–2000; continued by Ilan Sharon and Ayelet Gilboa, following soundings by John Garstang (1920s) and J. Leibowitz (1950s), at Tel Dor (Khirbet el-Burj), Carmel coast.
Where is Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods today?
In situ (Tel Dor National Park); finds in the Mizgaga (Glasshouse) Museum / CONRAD at Kibbutz Nahsholim and the Israel Museum.
Which Bible verses does Tel Dor in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods relate to?
Joshua 11:2, Ezra 3:7, 1 Maccabees 15:11-14.
Related discoveries
- צִידוֹןSidon: The British Museum 'College Site' ExcavationA Canaanite temple and 4,000 years of the city that gave Israel Jezebel
- פַּחַת יְהוּדָהPersian-Period Jerusalem: Bullae, Seals and the Small CityThe scanty but telling remains of the Jerusalem Ezra and Nehemiah knew
- קוֹסIdumean Aramaic OstracaAbout 2,000 potsherd receipts from southern Judah recording grain, oil and taxes on the eve of Alexander's conquest
- קֶדֶשׁTel Kedesh: The Persian–Hellenistic Administrative Building and Its 2,000 BullaeA governor's compound in Galilee abandoned after Jonathan Maccabee's victory, with its seal-impression archive intact
- אֱדוֹםMaresha Painted Tombs (Tomb of Apollophanes)Hellenistic Idumean tombs with painted animals and Greek epitaphs of the Sidonian colony at Marisa
- דַּיָּגAncient Harbors of the Sea of GalileeMendel Nun's sixteen first-century harbors revealed by low water
Sources
- Stern, Dor, Ruler of the Seas (2nd ed., 2000)
- Tel Dor Excavation Project
- Wikipedia: Tel Dor
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