Tell Dibbine

Tell Dibbine is an archaeological site 2 km north of Marjayoun in the plain of El Marj in the Nabatieh Governorate. It dates at least to the Neolithic. It was also known in the ancient world as Ijon. Many artifacts have been found including statues (currently lost), columns, and many more... The people of this settlement could be Hivites, or most possibly Phoenician. According to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible, Ijon and the nearby towns of Dan and Abel-beth-maachah were sacked by Ben-Hadad I of Aram Damascus in the ninth century BCE during his war with the northern Kingdom of Israel. Ijon is referred to once again in the same book as one of the towns that Tiglath-Pileser III of the Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered from Israel before deporting the local Israelites to Assyria, around 733 BCE. After this period, there appears to be no archeological evidence of settlements which could imply it was abandoned during this period, until around 500 B.C. After this date, the tell seems to have been settled by Greco-Phoenician colonists as a trade center. Further archeological evidence indicates that Ijon flourished during the Roman period as a transit spot for traders. Byzantine settlement is also evident by coins found in the area, yet the Tell appears to have started declining in importance and population for unknown reasons. It is possible that Niqbata of Ayun (

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).