Media Central Fact Sheet

Nablus (Shechem)

Nablus, or Shechem (Sh’chem) in Hebrew, is one of the oldest cities in the world, possibly first established 9000 years ago as a Canaanite city. Archaeological evidence indicates that the city was razed and reconstructed up to 22 times before its final demise in AD 200. Within the remains of the city can still be found a number of walls and gates built for defense, a government house, a residential quarter and the ruins of a temple raised to Zeus by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the latter dating to the second century AD. (See below for more biblical/archeological information.) It was first named "shechem" meaning shoulder or high land, then "moborta" from of the Aramaic name "Mabarakhtha" or the blessed one, on the side of Maborta. Titus built the new town - Flavia Neapolis, in 70 A. D., in honor of Flavius Vespasian the Roman emperor at that time which gave the city its current name.

During Ottoman rule, Nablus suffered, like other cities of the Middle East, from a dearth of a real educational system or other public services. Schools were first established in the middle of the 19th century during the short reign of Ibrahim Pascha, and maintained their existence in the following years when the Ottomans regained control of the region.

On 11 July 1927 the town suffered a major earthquake. Much of the consequent damage to buildings was never repaired and the ruinous condition of many of them may well have encouraged the inhabitants to move outside the old city to build their new houses, although some new building to the north and west of the old city had already been undertaken before 1927. The arrival of the motor car increased emigration to the slopes of Mount Grizim and Mount Ebal, the biblical cities mentioned in the Deuteronomy, where new roads allowed vehicles the easy access otherwise denied to them in the center of the city.

During the British Mandate (1918 - 1948), Nablus was at the forefront of the emerging Palestinian nationalism, and it was the center of resistance against the British. The 1948 Arab-Israeli war saw the city fall under Jordanian authority, and two camps were built near the city to accommodate the refugees. In 1967, Nablus fell under Israeli authority, and until the implementation of the Oslo II agreement was administered, as the rest of the Wst Bank area, by Israel. (Three additional refugee camps were set up near the city, to accommodate people who fled to the city during the 6-day war.) In 1996, authority for the city’s inhabitants was transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

Nablus city is the largest city in the Palestinian Authority. It is situated between and on the slopes of two mountains: Ibal (Ebal) (940 m.) above sea level, and Jerzim (Grizim) (881 m.). It is located (69) km. north of Jerusalem and (42) km. east of the Mediterranean Sea. It is rich in archaeological and historical sites, including: Tel Balata, Jacob's well, a Roman theater, the Jewish Samaritan Community, and Joseph’s Tomb (destroyed by Palestinians in 2000). Jacob's well is marked by a church built over the site in the fifth century and maintained ever since. Additional buildings were added during the sixth and twelfth centuries and others in 1908.

Roman ruins have been found under the present city. Recently, the remains of a horse track were discovered in the center of the city, as well as a Roman cemetery at the Sillawi station and a soldier's cemetery. Both cemeteries include stone-engraved coffins with architectural designs. The Roman Theater found in Nablus is the largest found anywhere in Palestine. Parts of a Roman road were found beneath the Thafer Al-Masri School. This road, in addition to the remains of a stairway, connects Nablus city with the Roman Temple on top of Jerzim Mountain (Har Grizim).

The Old City of Nablus dates back to the Othman Mamluk period. Many of the quarters still carry the characteristics of old Islamic cities and are named after the goods or skills that were traditionally traded in the souqs. The Old City is considered one of the oldest cities in the world. Its buildings belong to different historical periods from Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader, Islamic and Ottoman time. Nablus Municipality, since 1994, set up a vast project of renovation and rehabilitation of the streets, houses, water sources, mosques and churches in cooperation with specialized International organizations, mainly UNESCO, in order to preserve the Old City as an important historical monument. (Much of the work has been retarded by the recent years’ violence but has been renewed recently with the stabilization and economic rejuvenation of the city.)

Nablus has been, and now is again, the major commercial, industrial and agricultural centre in the northern section of the the West Bank.

Pre-Roman History & Biblical Tradition/Archeological Evidence (from Wikipedia):

Shechem’s position is clearly indicated in the Bible: it lay north of Bethel and Shiloh, on the high road going from Jerusalem to the northern districts (Judges xxi, 19), at a short distance from Machmethath (Joshua 17:7) and of Dothain (Genesis 37:12-17); it was in the hill-country of Ephraim (Joshua 20:7; 21:21; 1 Kings 12:25; 1 Chronicles 6:67; 7:28), immediately below Mount Gerizim (Judges 9:6-7). These indications are completed by Josephus, who says that the city lay between Mount Ebal and Mt. Garizim, and by the Madaba map, which places Sychem, also called Sikima between the Tour Gobel (Ebal) and the Tour Garizin (Garizim). We may therefore admit unhesitatingly that Sichem stood on (St. Jerome, St. Epiphanius), or very close to (Eusebius, "Onomast.", Euchem; Medaba map), the site occupied by the town of Nablus, the Neapolis, or Flavia Neapolis of early Christian ages.

The old city of Shechem dates back to about an estimated four thousand years. At Shechem, Abram "built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him ... and had given that land to his descendants" (Gen 12:6-7). This Biblical account, considered by some to be the first place Abraham, Sarah, Lot and their party stopped upon their entry to Canaan. The Bible states that on this occasion, God confirmed the covenant he had first made with Abraham in Harran, regarding the possession of the land of Canaan. On a later sojourn, the sons of Jacob avenged their sister's rape (or by another interpretation, seduction) by massacring the city's inhabitants. Joshua assembled the Israelites in Shechem and encouraged them to reaffirm their adherence to the Torah. During the Judges period, Abimelech was crowned king in Shechem.

Shechem was a commercial center due to its position in the middle of vital trade routes through the region. It traded in local grapes, olives, wheat, livestock and pottery between the middle Bronze Age and the late Hellenic Period (1900-100 BC). Shechem had been a Canaanite settlement, mentioned on an Egyptian stele of a noble at the court of Senusret III (c. 1880–1840 BC).

Shechem first appears in the Tanakh in Genesis 12:6–8, which records how Abraham reached the "great tree of Moreh" at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Later Joseph's bones were brought out of Egypt and reburied at Shechem. That the city of Sichem, the name of which (Hebrew shékém — 'shoulder, saddle') appears to have been suggested by the configuration of the place, existed in the time of Abraham is doubted by a few who think it is referred to in Genesis, xii, 6, by anticipation; but there can be no question touching its existence in Jacob's time (Genesis 33:18, 19); it is certainly mentioned in the El-Amarna letters (letter 289), and is probably the Sakama of the old Egyptian traveler Mohar (fourteenth century B.C.; Muller, "Asien u. Europ.", p. 394, Leipzig, 1893).

Owing to its central position, no less than to the presence in the neighborhood of places hallowed by the memory of Abraham (Genesis 12:6, 7; 34:5), Jacob's Well (Genesis 33:18-19; 34:2, etc.), and the tomb of Joseph (Joshua 24:32), the city was destined to play an important part in the history of Israel. The city, including its Bronze Age temple, fell to the Israelites sometime before 1000 BC.

There it was that, after Gideon's death, Abimelech, his son by a Sichemite concubine, was made king (Judges 9:1-6). Yotam, the youngest son of Gideon, made a famous speech on Mount Gerizim known as Yotam's allegory where he warned the people of Shechem about Abimelech's future tyranny (Judges 9:7-20). When the city has, three years later, risen in rebellion, Abimelech took it, utterly destroyed it, and burnt the temple of Baal-berith where the people had fled for safety. From the excavations, it was learnt that the city was destroyed in 1100 BC.

It was rebuilt in the 10th century BC and was probably the capital of Ephraim (1 Kings 4). Shechem was the place appointed, after Solomon's death, for the meeting of the people of Israel and the investiture of Roboam; the meeting ended in the secession of the ten northern tribes, and Sichem, fortified by Jeroboam, became for a while the capital of the new kingdom (1 Kings 12:1; 14:17; 2 Chronicles 10:1).

When the kings of Israel moved first to Tirzah, and later on to Samaria, Shechem lost its importance, and we do not hear of it until after the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.; Jeremiah 12:5). The events connected with the restoration were to bring it again into prominence. When, on his second visit to Jerusalem, Nehemias expelled the grandson of the high priest Eliashib (probably the Manasse of Josephus, "Antiq., XI, vii, viii), who refused to separate from his alien wife, Sanaballat's daughter, and with him the many Jews, priests and laymen, who sided with the rebel, these betook themselves to Shechem; a schismatic temple was then erected on Mount Garizim and thus Shechem became the "holy city" of the Samaritans. The latter, who were left unmolested while the orthodox Jews were chafing under the heavy hand of Antiochus IV (Antiq., XII, v, 5) and welcomed with open arms every renegade who came to them from Jerusalem (Antiq., XI, viii, 7), fell about 128 B.C. before John Hyrcanus, and their temple was destroyed ("Antiq.", XIII, ix, 1). During the Roman conquest of Samaria, Shechem was destroyed and a Neapolis or "new city" was built nearby. Eventually, this name was corrupted to the Arabic Nablus.