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DOTHAN

(Heb. dōṯān; Gk. Dōthaim)

A major city in the territory of Ephraim located 22 km. (14 mi.) N of Shechem. Tell Dôthān (173202) covers 62 ha. (25 a.) and looms up out of the eastern end of a fertile valley; a major north-south road leading from the Samaritan hills into the Jezreel Valley ran beside the site. It was in the pastureland of Dothan that Joseph’s brothers sold him to a passing Ishmaelite/Midianite caravan (Gen. 37:13-25), and there the Syrian Ben-hadad sought to capture Elisha (2 Kgs. 6:13-14). The city is cited in connection with the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar’s general Holofernes against Judea (Jdt. 3:9; 4:6; 7:3-18), but is not mentioned in any other source. Tell Dôthān was excavated by Joseph P. Free between 1953 and 1960, and again by Robert E. Cooley from 1959 to 1964.

Limited pottery evidence indicates that settlers first occupied Dothan in the late Chalcolithic period. By the Early Bronze Age it was a significant fortified city with at least seven phases of occupation. A thick defensive wall (3.3 m. [11 ft.] wide) typical of sites in this era protected the city. Ca. 2400 b.c. Dothan was abandoned, as were most Palestinian sites in the late 3rd millennium.

Dothan was resettled during the Middle Bronze Age, again with large fortifications. This city, perhaps the one indicated in the Joseph narrative, is represented by fragmentary domestic remains. Even fewer architectural remains attest Late Bronze Age Dothan, although the site appears to have been at least sporadically inhabited in the period. Cooley excavated three tombs on the western side of the tell dating from the LB II to Iron I periods; one tomb contained 3400 objects from 300-500 burials.

The Iron II remains at Dothan are the most significant, including several domestic and public buildings, a street, and many small finds. One major destruction level dated to the late 9th century may be associated with the Aramean conflicts. Later, Dothan fell to Assyrians with the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Israel.

Bibliography. D. Ussishkin, R. E. Cooley, and G. D. Pratico, “Dothan,” NEAEHL 1:372-74.

Thomas V. Brisco

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DOTHAN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)