Dora, Dor

(circle, circumference; perhaps: dwelling) (Josh. 12:23) — one of the ancient Canaanite cities, whose king entered into alliance with Jabin, king of Hazor, against Joshua, and was defeated. The city of Dor was founded by the Phoenicians. Small shells were gathered nearby, from which the Phoenicians produced purple dye. Coins of this city are found not infrequently, bearing the inscription “Dora Hiera.” Though the city lay within the inheritance of the tribe of Asher, it was afterward ceded to the tribe of Manasseh (Josh. 17:11).

The Manassites could not drive out the native inhabitants of Dor (Judg. 1:27), but by David’s time it again belonged to Israel. Solomon set his son-in-law, Ben-abinadab, over it as governor (1 Kings 4:11). Besieged and destroyed by Antiochus Sidetes, it was rebuilt by Gabinius, the Roman general, and for many years afterward was renowned as a considerable city. In the early Christian centuries Dor was the seat of a bishop, but by the fourth century Jerome saw there only the ruins of the city.

According to Jerome, Dor lay 9 miles from Caesarea on the road to Ptolemais. On the site there now stands a small village, Tantura, amid large heaps of rubble and fragments of columns.