Arkites
Summary
A Canaanite people of the Sidonian or Phoenician branch, descended from Canaan, who inhabited the city of Arka in northern Phoenicia.
☩Canaanite Origin
The Arkites were one of the peoples descended from Canaan, listed in the Table of Nations. They belonged to the Sidonian or Phoenician branch of Canaan's family—a colony from the great parent state of Sidon, like the other small northern states of Phoenicia. The biblical references appear in Genesis 10:17 and 1 Chronicles 1:15.
☩City of Arka
The Arkites inhabited Arka (modern Tell Arqa or Arka), their chief town at the northwest foot of Mount Lebanon. The site lies about twelve miles north of Tripoli, five miles south of the Nahr el Kebir (Eleutherus), and was well known to the crusaders. The city is mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions and in the Tell el-Amarna tablets. In late Roman times it became significant: the emperor Alexander Severus was born there in a temple dedicated to Alexander the Great, and the town was subsequently called Caesarea Libani. It served as an important fortress during the crusades and a flourishing commercial town in the twelfth century. The ruins were found by Burckhardt and others. Burckhardt described Tel-Arka as a hill with a regularly flattened conical form and smooth sides, appearing artificial; on an elevation to the east and south are large heaps of rubbish, traces of ancient dwellings, blocks of hewn stone, remains of walls, and fragments of granite columns—likely the acropolis, citadel, or site of a temple. The scattered ruins occupy a hill of about two acres and a plateau to the north.
References
- 1.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Arkites," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 2.American Tract Society, "Arkites," in American Tract Society Bible Dictionary (American Tract Society, 1859).
- 3.Philip Schaff and Johann Herzog (ed.), "Arkites," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. I (Funk and Wagnalls, 1908–1914).
- 4.John Kitto, "Arkites," in A Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, vol. I (Mark H. Newman, 1845).