Bible Encyclopedias
Taanath-Shiloh

　　(Heb. Taanath' Shiloh', שַׁלֹה תִּאֲנִת, Taanah' [Gesenius, approach; Furst, circle] of Shiloh, so called prob. from its vicinity to that place; Sept. Τηνὰθ Σηλώ v.r. Θήνασα καὶ Σέλλης ), a place mentioned (Joshua 16:6) as situated near the northern border of Ephraim at its eastern end between the Jordan and Janohah. (See TRIBE).

　　With this agrees the statement of Eusebius (nomast. s.v.), who places Janoh'ah twelve and Thenaet ten Roman miles east of Neapoli. It is probably W. Thena. (Θῆνα ) mentioned by Ptolemy (Geog. 5, 16, 5) of the chief cities of Samaria, in connection with Neopolis. In the Talmud (Jerusalem Megillah, 1), Taahath-Shiloh is said to be identical with Shiloh, a statement which Kurtz' (Gesch. des Alt. Bundes, 2, 70) understands as meaning that Taanath was the ancient Canaanitish name of the place, and Shiloh the Hebrew name, conferred on it in token of the "rest" which allowed the tabernacle to be established there after the conquest of the country had been completed. But this is evidently conjecture arising from the probable proximity of the two places. Taanah-of-Shiloh is probably the Ain Tana seen by Robinson north-east of Mejdel (Later Res. 3, 295), and by Van de Veldee (Memoir, p. 121, although erroneously marked Meraj ed-Din on his Map), about a mile from the road between Aerabi and Mejdel, consisting of "a small tell with a ruin, on the first lower plateau into which the Ghor descends."