Biblical city
Jericho
Jericho, West Bank · Jordan Valley
One of the oldest continuously occupied settlements known, Jericho guarded the approach from the Jordan Valley into Canaan and fell to Israel under Joshua (Joshua 6). It reappears in the Gospels in the accounts of Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus. Tell es-Sultan preserves the ancient mound.
History in Scripture
One of the oldest continuously settled places on earth, Jericho is the first city Israel took in Canaan when its walls fell (Joshua 6). Elisha healed its spring, Herod the Great built a winter palace nearby, and Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus and called Zacchaeus there.
The ancient city
Fed by a perennial spring in the Jordan Valley some 250 metres below sea level, Jericho was a warm oasis of palms and balsam, guarding the route from the Jordan crossing up to the Judean hills.
The site today
Tell es-Sultan is an excavated UNESCO World Heritage Site beside modern Jericho, with a Neolithic tower among its most striking remains. Herodian Jericho and the traditional Mount of Temptation are nearby.
Key passages
Sources & notes
Description summarizes standard historical and archaeological reference works. Imagery is added separately and is labeled by type.