KIRJATHAIM (R. V. Kiriathaim, = "two cities"):

  • 1. City on the Moabite plateau, assigned by Moses to Reuben; mentioned with Heshbon and Elealeh (Num. xxxii. 37) as well as with Kedemoth and other cities which had previously belonged to Sihon (Josh. xiii. 18-20). It is spoken of as a Moabite town in Jer. xlviii. 23, Ezek. xxv. 9, and in the inscription of Mesha (line 10), who, calling it "Ḳiryatan" (), declares that he had built or fortified it. Kirjathaim gave its name to the plain Shaveh Kiriathaim (Gen. xiv. 5). In the "Onomasticon" (s.v. KαριαΘαηίμ, KαρίαΘα) it is described as a Christian village situated ten Roman miles west of Medeba. It is identified by many scholars with the ruins now called "Ḳariyah," south-west of Machærus (see Conder in Hastings, "Dict. Bible," and the bibliography there given).
  • 2. A city in Naphtali assigned to the Gershonite Levites (I Chron. vi. 61 [A. V. 76]). In the parallel list of Josh. xxi. 32, it is called "Kartan."
E. G. H. M. Sel.
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