BET(H)-HARAM

BET(H)-HARAM (or Haran) (Heb. בֵּית הָרָם, הָרָן), town in the Jordan Valley, N. of the Dead Sea, allotted by Moses to the tribe of Gad and included in the list of its cities (Num. 32:36; Josh. 13:27). It is possibly mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts of the 18th century B.C.E. In the Talmud, Beth-Haram is identified with Bet ha-Ramta (TJ, Shev. 9:2, 38d; cf. Shab. 26a) which is also mentioned by Eusebius (Onom. 48:14) as Betharamphtha. herod antipas , who fortified the city, called it Livias, in honor of the empress Livia, and also Julias,   as soon as Livia became a member of the Julian imperial family. In 56 C.E. agrippa ii received Livias and its district from the emperor Nero (Jos., Wars, 2:59, 168, 252; Jos., Ant., 18:27; 20:159). Beth-Haram was the headquarters of a region as late as the Byzantine period. Springs and groves are reported to have existed in its vicinity. The Hellenistic and Roman cities are situated on Tell al-Rāma, in the lower Jordan Valley, which has preserved the ancient name; the Israelite city has been located by Nelson Glueck at Tell Iktanū nearby. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: EM, S.V.; Glueck, in: AASOR, 25–28 (1951), 389–95; Press, Ereẓ, 1 (1951), 82; Aharoni, Land, index. (Michael Avi-Yonah)