A city. Also [sc. attested are] Gabaonites, [meaning] those from the territory [of that name].
*gabaw/: po/lis. kai\ *gabawni=tai, oi( a)po\ th=s xw/ras.
Likewise, according to Adler, in two entries of the
Ambrosian Lexicon (92 and 55 respectively).
The place in question is better known as Gibeon, present-day el Jib in the West Bank, some 8 km NW of
Jerusalem; Barrington Atlas map 70 grid G2). In the
Septuagint (e.g.
Joshua 9:9) and other Greek sources (e.g
Josephus,
Jewish Antiquities 7.11 (283)) it is
*gabaw/n, Gabaon; the lexicographers' Gabao is either a variant (or corruption) of that, or else its (attested) accusative case.
The ethnic term given here
*Gabaoni=tai ('Gabaonites' or 'Gibeonites') is attested in e.g.
2 Kings 21:2
LXX for the inhabitants of Gibeon. This is perhaps the origin (via ps.-Herodian 3.1.93.7) of
Stephanus of
Byzantium's reference to a city in Galilee called "Gabaoupolis", with an ethnikon "Gabaoupolites"; he cites
Josephus, who in fact refers (
Jewish Antiquities 6.7 (105)) not to "Gabaoupolis" but "Gabaon polin" ('Gabaon city') which may be a reference to Gaba or Gabaa -- both, like Gibeon, sited within the territory of the tribe of Benjamin (cf. Kallai 1986: 398-404).
Curiously, none of these places is anywhere near the region of Galilee. Perhaps there is confusion in our sources with the Gaba(a) near Galilee mentioned by
Josephus,
Jewish War 3.3 (36).
Kallai, Z. 1986. Historical Geography of the Bible: The Tribal Territories of Israel. Jerusalem
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