HAMATH (3-inn; Sept. Aip,on- and 'Efp40). A T very ancient city of Syria, and the capital of a small kingdom of the same name. Gesenius is probably right in deriving the word from the Arabic root to defend ; with this agrees the modern name of the city Hanzah Hamath is one of the oldest cities in the world. We read in Gen. x. 18, that the youngest or last son of Canaan was the Hamathite'—apparently so called be cause he and his family founded and colonised Hamath. It was a place of note, and the capital of a principality, when the Israelites conquered Palestine ; and its name is mentioned in ahnost every passage in which the northern border of Canaan is defined (Num. xiii. 22 ; XXxiV. 8 ; Josh.
5 ; etc.) Toi king of Hamath gave tribute to David after the successful campaign of the latter in northern Syria and Damascus (2 Sam. viii.) Ha math was conquered by Solomon (2 Chron. viii. 3) ; and its whole territory appears to have re mained subject to the Israelites during his pros perous reign (verses 4-6). After it had regained its independence, probably during the reign of the first Jeroboam, it was again subdued by Jeroboam the second (circa B. C. 784 ; 2 Kings xiv. 28). At this period the kingdom of Hamath included the valley of the Orontes, from the source of that river to near Antioch (2 Kings xxiii. 33 ; xxv. 21). It bordered Damascus on the south, Zobah on the east and north, and Phcenicia on the west (r Chron. xviii. 3 ; Ezek. xlvii. 17 ; xlviii. ; Zech. ix. 2). In the Sth century B.C. the powerful monarchs of Assyria extended their conquests west ward, and captured Hamath. It must have been then a large and influential kingdom ; for Amos speaks emphatically of Hamath the Great' (vi. 2) ; and when Rabshakeh, the Assyrian general, en deavoured to terrify king Hezekiah into uncondi tional surrender, he said : Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph ? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sephet vaim, Hena, and Ivah ?' (Is. xxxvii. 12-14 • 2 Kings xviii. 34, sq.) The frequent use of the phrase, the entering in of Hamath,' also shews that this kingdom was the most important in northern Syria (Judg. 3). Hamath remained under the Assyrian rule till the time of Alexander the Great, when it fell into the hands of the Greeks. The
Greeks introduced their noble language as well as their government into Syria, and they even gave Greek names to some of the old cities ; among these was Hamath, which was called Epiphania ('Brapcilaaa), in honour of Antiochus Epiphanes (Cyril, Comment. aa Amos).
This change of name gave rise to considerable doubts and difficulties among geographers regard ing the identity of Hamath. Jerome affirms that there were two cities of that name—Great Haman, identical with Antioch, and another Hamath called Epiphania (Comment. ad Amos, vi.) The Targuins in Num. xiii. 22, render Hamath Antztkia (Reland, Pa/. p. 120). Eusebius calls it a city of Damas cus,' and affirms that it is not the same as Epi phania ; but Jerome states, after a careful investi gation, reperi Aemath urbem Coeles Syri appel lari, gum nunc Grmco sermone Epiphania dicitue (Onamast., s. v. Aenzath and Enzath). Theodoret says that Great Hamallz was Emesa and the other Hamath Epiphania (Comment. yerem. iv.) Josephus is more accurate when he tells us that Hamath was still called in his day by the inhabi tants 'Atta-n, although the Macedonians called it Epiphania (Antiq. i. 6. 2). There is reason to believe that the ancient name Hamath \vas always retained and used by the Aramaic speaking popu lation ; and, therefore, when Greek power de clined, and the Greek language was forgotten, the ancient name in its Arabic form Hanztilz be came universal. There is no ground whatever for Reland's theory that the Hamath spoken of in connection with the northern border of Palestine was not Epiphania, but some other city much farther south. The identification of Riblah and Zedad places the true site of Hamath beyond the possibility of doubt (Reland, Pal. p. 121 ; Porter, Dal) Mina , ii. pp. 335, 354, sy.) Epiphania remained a flourishing city during the Roman rule in Syria (Ptolemy, v. 15 ; Pliny, Hist. Aral. v. 19). It early became, and still continues the seat of a bishop of the Eastern Church (Caroli a san. Paulo, Geogr. Sac., p. 28S). It was taken by the Mohammedans soon after Damascus. On the death of the great Saladin, Hamath was ruled for a long period by his descendants, the Eiyubites. Abulfeda, the celebrated Arab historian and geo grapher, was a member of this family and ruler of Hamah (Bohadin, Vita Saladini ; Schulten's index Geographicus, s. v. Hamata).