The Hefzibah Project aims to identify and excavate the original findspot of the “Hefzibah
Inscription,” a 77 × 47 cm limestone stele preserving five letters exchanged between
Ptolemaios son of Thraseas, King Antiochos III, and high-ranking Seleucid officials.

Dated to the turn of the 3rd century BCE during the Fifth Syrian War and its aftermath,
the dossier documents the transition of the region from Ptolemaic to Seleucid control
and addresses violations committed by Seleucid troops against the private villages of
Ptolemaios, a strategos and high priest who defected to the Seleucid side.

The inscription was discovered in 1960 during agricultural work near Kibbutz Hefzibah
and first published by Yohanan Landau in 1966. Landau reported that it was found
“between Hefzibah and Bet ha-Shittah… in an area named Tell el-Firr.” The difficulty lies
in the fact that the toponym Tell el-Firr appears twice on early maps: once referring to
what is now Tel Slawim and once to a land plot later renamed Horvat Shammot. While
the inscription was officially registered under Tel Slawim, archaeological survey and
newly uncovered archival evidence suggest that it originated at Horvat Shammot.

​

Archival research conducted in 2025 uncovered a key reference in the Kibbutz Hefzibah
newspaper BaKvutza, quoting Landau’s remarks that the inscription had been
discovered by “Uri Telem… in the land of Tell el-Firr or Tell Shammas.” Interviews with
Telem and renewed field examination confirm that the discovery location corresponds to
Horvat Shammot. This clarification corrects a longstanding error and recontextualizes
one of the most important Seleucid inscriptions from the southern Levant.

Horvat Shammot is a small site (approximately 0.5 hectares) located in the Harod Valley,
southeast of the Beit HaShita interchange (Routes 71 and 669), approximately 2.2 km
north of Kibbutz Hefzibah. Surface remains indicate occupation during the Persian and
Hellenistic periods. The site lies on alluvial soils near tributaries of Nahal Harod,
between the basaltic Ramot Yissachar and the limestone slopes of the Gilboa.
Research Goals

By integrating archival research, oral history, survey, and excavation, the Hefzibah
Project seeks to situate the inscription within its proper archaeological context and
illuminate the local realities of Seleucid administration in the Jezreel and Ḥarod Valleys.