Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews')
A Delta site with a Hyksos-era rampart and, much later, a Jewish temple
Found 1887 — Édouard Naville (Egypt Exploration Fund, 1887); Flinders Petrie (1906); later French work by du Mesnil du Buisson (1929)
Where Tell el-Yahudiya, near Shibin el-Qanatir, about 20 km north of Cairo (ancient Leontopolis) (Egypt)
Dates from c. 1800 BCE – 73 CE · Middle Kingdom – Second Intermediate Period; New Kingdom; Ptolemaic–Roman · Sojourn in Egypt; later Diaspora
Now at Site (mostly levelled); finds in the British Museum, the Petrie Museum and the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
How Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews') was found
Naville cleared the temple of Ramesses III with its glazed tiles. Petrie mapped the huge sloping rampart and called it the 'Hyksos camp', and recovered the black burnished juglets now known as Tell el-Yahudiya ware; he also identified the Jewish town and temple of Onias on a nearby mound.
What it is
A rectangular enclosure about 515 by 490 m with plastered, sloping earthen ramparts, built in the Second Intermediate Period, with a Ramesses III temple on its west side. The ramparts resemble Middle Bronze Canaanite defences. The site gives its name to a class of small dark juglets with white-filled pricked designs traded across Egypt and Canaan around 1700–1550 BCE. On a neighbouring mound Onias IV, a Jerusalem high priest's son, built a temple modelled on the Jerusalem temple in the 2nd century BCE; it was closed by Rome in 73 CE.
Why it matters for the Bible
Two biblical threads meet here. The Hyksos-period rampart and Canaanite-style pottery show a strong Semitic presence in the eastern Delta in the age most readers assign to Yaakov's family, alongside Avaris. Centuries later the site became a Jewish town with a rival temple, mentioned by Josephus and the Talmud, which is why its Arabic name means 'mound of the Jews'. The name has nothing to do with Yosef's time, a point worth stating because it is sometimes misused.
The Hebrew word: GOH-shen
גֹּשֶׁן
גֹּשֶׁן is pronounced GOH-shen and means Goshen, the eastern Delta region where Israel lived (Strong's H1657).
Places
- Goshen — גֹּשֶׁן (GOH-shen) — the eastern Delta district given to Yaakov's family
Events
Semitic settlement in the eastern Delta; the Hyksos period; the temple of Onias
Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews') in Scripture
Genesis 45:10 First mention of Goshen in Scripture.
Genesis 47:27 Israel settles in Goshen and multiplies; Tell el-Yahudiya is one of the Delta sites showing Semitic settlement in that era.
Isaiah 19:19 'An altar to YHVH in the midst of Egypt'; Onias cited this verse to justify his temple at Leontopolis.
Questions people ask
What is Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews')?
A rectangular enclosure about 515 by 490 m with plastered, sloping earthen ramparts, built in the Second Intermediate Period, with a Ramesses III temple on its west side. The ramparts resemble Middle Bronze Canaanite defences. The site gives its name to a class of small dark juglets with white-filled pricked designs traded across Egypt and Canaan around 1700–1550 BCE. On a neighbouring mound Onias IV, a Jerusalem high priest's son, built a temple modelled on the Jerusalem temple in the 2nd century BCE; it was closed by Rome in 73 CE.
When was Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews') discovered?
It was found in 1887 by Édouard Naville (Egypt Exploration Fund, 1887); Flinders Petrie (1906); later French work by du Mesnil du Buisson (1929), at Tell el-Yahudiya, near Shibin el-Qanatir, about 20 km north of Cairo (ancient Leontopolis).
Where is Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews') today?
Site (mostly levelled); finds in the British Museum, the Petrie Museum and the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Which Bible verses does Tell el-Yahudiya ('Mound of the Jews') relate to?
Genesis 45:10, Genesis 47:27, Isaiah 19:19.
Related discoveries
- גֹּשֶׁןAvaris (Tell el-Dab'a)A Semitic city in the eastern Delta, in the land the Bible calls Goshen
- מֵיטַב הָאָרֶץWadi TumilatThe green valley from the Delta to the Bitter Lakes, the heart of Goshen
- מֶלֶךְ חָדָשׁThe Hyksos Expulsion: Kamose's Stelae and Ahmose son of EbanaEgyptian records of driving out the Asiatic rulers, background to 'a new king who knew not Yosef'
- עַזָּהGaza: Tell el-Ajjul and Its Gold HoardsPetrie's Bronze Age city at the mouth of Wadi Ghazzeh, the richest gold find in Canaan
- פְּלֶשֶׁתPhilistine Bichrome PotteryRed-and-black painted ware that maps where the Philistines lived
- מִדְיָנִיMidianite (Qurayyah) Painted WareColorful pottery of the Midianites, found from Arabia to Timna
Sources
- Griffith Institute, Artefacts of Excavation: '1887 Tell el-Yahudiya'
- Egyptian Monuments, 'Tell el-Yahudiya'
- Wikipedia: Tell el-Yahudiyeh Ware
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