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Jethira Jattir

JATTIR, JETHIRA (Heb. יַתִּיר), Judean city situated in the southernmost hill district and mentioned together with Shamir and Socoh (Josh. 15:48). It was a levitical city of the Kohathite family (Josh. 21:14; I Chron. 6:42). Jattir was one of the cities in southern Judah to which David distributed part of the spoils taken from the Amalekites (I Sam. 30:27). Eusebius identifies it with Lether, a large village 20 Roman miles from Eleutheropolis (Bet Guvrin), inhabited only by Christians (Onom. 108:1ff.). The site of Jattir is now called Khirbat 'Attīr; its extensive ruins date from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The *Madaba map shows Jattir in the wrong place, confusing it with Ether.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

E. Mader, Altchristliche Basiliken und Lokaltraditionen in Suedjudaea (1918), 224; A. Alt, in: pjb, 28 (1932), 15ff.; M. Avi-Yonah, Madaba Mosaic Map (1954), no. 102; EM, 3 (1965), 953; B. Bagatti, in: LA, 11 (1961), 304–5.


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.