Abimelech (Judges)
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Abimelech or Abimelek was the king of Shechem and the tribal territory of Manasseh, and a son of biblical judge Gideon. His name can best be interpreted as "my father is king", claiming the inherited
Gustave Doré, The Death of Abimelech
Shechem
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Shechem, also spelled Sichem and other variants, was an ancient city in the Southern Levant. Described in ancient Egyptian inscriptions from the 19th century BC as a part of Retjenu, it is also record
Abimelech (Judges)
…Abimelech (; אֲבִימֶלֶךְ ’Ǎḇīmeleḵ) or Abimelek was the king of Shechem and the tribal territory of Manasseh, and a son of biblical judge Gideon. His name can best be interpreted as "my father is king", claiming the inherited…
Archaeological site of Tell Balata, identified with ancient Shechem
Balata in the 1880s in the PEF Survey of Palestine. Nablus is stated as being the location of Biblical Shechem, in contrast to the modern identification with Tell Balata.
The Sebek-khu Stele, dated to the reign of Senusret III (reign: 1878–1839 BC), records the earliest known Egyptian military campaign in the Levant. The text reads "Then Sekmem fell, together with the wretched Retenu", where Sekmem (s-k-m-m) is thought to be Shechem, and the "Retunu" or "Retjenu" a people of the Levant.
Amarna letter EA 252. Letter from Labayu (ruler of Shechem) to the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III or his son Akhenaten. 14th century BC. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. British Museum