Ashteroth Karnaim

Ashteroth-karnaim is an ancient city of Canaan named in the account of Chedorlaomer's campaign against the eastern peoples before the time of Abraham. The verse records the city's location as the site where the Rephaim were defeated: "And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim" (Ge 14:5).

A Battlefield of the Pre-Patriarchal Wars

The coalition led by Chedorlaomer swept through Transjordan and Canaan in the fourteenth year, subduing various peoples at a series of named locations. Ashteroth-karnaim was the site where the Rephaim — one of the giant peoples of the ancient Near East — were struck down. The city's name links it to the deity Ashtaroth and the word for "horns," though the text provides no further description of the city itself beyond its role as the location of this early military campaign.