Dan (ancient city)

Dan (Biblical Hebrew: דָּן), and older name Laish, is an ancient city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, described as the northernmost city of the Kingdom of Israel, and belonging to the tribe of Dan, its namesake. It was later the site of a royal sanctuary built by Jeroboam. The city is identified with a tell located in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel known as Tel Dan (תל דן) and Tel el-Qadi (Levantine Arabic: تل القاضي), literally 'Mound of the Judge', a popular translation of the Biblical name.

The site was occupied continuously from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age II, the time of the Kingdom of Israel. While evidence suggests a period of abandonment during the Achaemenid Empire, it was later rebuilt as a Hellenistic city with a notable shrine.