Arvad, Arvadites

See also Arvad


ARVAD, ARVADITES är’ văd, är’ və dīt (Heb. אַרְוַ֔ד). The most northerly Phoen. town situated on a rocky island called Ruâd. The island lies a short distance off the Syrian coast directly opposite Cyprus. In Gr. and later sources it is called Aradus. In ancient times it was heavily built over to spite its diminutive size of less than a mile in circumference. It ruled over much of the neighboring coast for centuries. Although few surface remains are extant, various scenes of Aradus appear on Assyrian reliefs (The Bronze Gates of Shalmaneser III, 858-824 b.c.) and Arvadite coins. The city is first mentioned in Amarna Letters 101, 105, 109 as arwada; in the records of Tiglath-pileser I (1114-1076 b.c.) it is called armada; while subsequent annals usually spell it as aruada, e.g. Aššurnaṩirpal II, Annal III, et al. It is mentioned only twice in the OT. Its inhabitants, the Arvadites, are mentioned in the genealogy of Noah in the Canaanite line (Gen 10:18; 1 Chron 1:16). Sailors from Arvad sailed for Tyre (Ezek 27:8, 11).

Bibliography E. Unger, “Arwad,” Reallexikon Der Assyriologie, Bd. I (1928) 160, 161; D. Harden, The Phoenicians (1963) 23-28, 48-52, 166, 167, 191-210.