Heshbon
human settlement
Heshbon (also Hesebon, Esebon, Esbous, Esbus; Arabic: حشبون, Latin: Esebus, Hebrew: חשבון Ḥešbōn, Ancient Greek: Ἐσεβών, Ἐσσεβών, Ἐσβούτα, Ἐσβούς, Ἔσβους, Ἔξβους) were at least two different ancient towns located east of the Jordan River in what is now the Kingdom of Jordan, historically within the territories of ancient Ammon.
The Bronze Age Heshbon of biblical King Sihon has not been identified. The town of Esbus from the Roman and Byzantine period has been identified with a tell (archaeological mound) known in Arabic as Tell Hisban or Tell Ḥesbān.
Location of Tell Hisban
The Roman and Byzantine town is believed to have been located at the ruin called Hesbân or Hisban, about 20 km (12 mi) southwest of Amman, and 9 kilometers (5.6 mi) to the north of Madaba, on one of the highest summits of the mountains of Moab. A large ruined reservoir is located east of the place, and below the town there is a fountain.
Biblical reference to Heshbon
Ancient Heshbon was beyond, i.e. east of, the Jordan. The city was where the Israelites passed by on their entry to the Promised Land, and was assigned to the tribe of Reuben; afterwards it was given to the Tribe of Gad and became a Levitical city for the Merarites.
Heshbon is mentioned in the Tanakh in the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy as the capital of Amorite king, Sihon (also known as Sehon). The biblical narrative records the story of the Israelite victory over Sihon during the time of the Exodus under the leadership of Moses.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Heshbon” as human settlement. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as human settlement. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1615584. VIAF identifies the subject as 316602885. Authority coordinates are 31.819, 35.799. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Heshbon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.