Shiloh Attractions

36km/22mi south of Nablus is the village of Sinjil, which takes its name from the Crusader Raymond de Saint-Gilles, Count of Toulouse. From here a poor road runs 6km/4mi east by way of the village of Turmus-Aya to the site of ancient Shiloh (Hebrew Shillo, Arabic Khirbet Seilun). In the early period of Israelite settlement Shiloh was an important shrine, for it was here that the Tabernacle containing the Ark of the Covenant stood for a hundred years from about 1175 B.C. (Joshua 18,1). Here Samuel was called to be a prophet (1 Samuel 3). After the battle of Eben-ezer the Ark of the Covenant was carried off by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4,11) and the town was destroyed. In the 10th century B.C. Shiloh was the abode of the prophet Ahijah, who prophesied to Jeroboam that after Solomon's death he would be the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kings, 29-37).

Excavations by Danish archeologists from 1926 onwards brought to light a temple of the Canaanite period and a mosaic pavement from a Byzantine church. Adjoining the site is the Mosque of the Sixty (Djami Sittin).