Shefa-'Amr
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Hebrew transcription(s) | ||
• ISO 259 | Šparˁam | |
• Also spelled | Shfar'am (official) | |
View of Shefa-'Amr
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Coordinates: 32°48′20″N 35°10′10″E / 32.80556°N 35.16944°ECoordinates: 32°48′20″N 35°10′10″E / 32.80556°N 35.16944°E | ||
Grid position | 166/245 PAL | |
District | Northern | |
Founded | Bronze age | |
Government | ||
• Type | City | |
• Mayor | Amin Anabtawi | |
Area | ||
• Total | 19,766 dunams (19.766 km2 or 7.632 sq mi) | |
Population (2015) | ||
• Total | 40,017 |
Shefa-'Amr, also Shfar'am (Arabic: شفاعمرو, Šafā ʻAmr, Hebrew: שְׁפַרְעָם, Šəfarʻam) is an Arab city in the Northern District of Israel. In 2015 it had a population of 40,017, with a Sunni Muslim majority alongside large Christian and Druze minorities.
Palmer writes that the name meant: "The margin or edge of 'Amr. Locally and erroneously supposed to mean the healing of 'Amer (ed Dhaher), but really a corruption of the Hebrew Shafram."
Walls, installations and pottery sherds from the Early Bronze Age IB and the Middle Bronze Age IIB Iron, Hellenistic and Roman periods have been excavated at Shefa-'Amr.
Settlement has existed there without interruption since the Roman period, when it was one of the cities mentioned in the Talmud as containing the seat of the Jewish Sanhedrin. Decorated burial caves were documented by the Survey of Western Palestine in the late nineteenth century. They found the caves to be Christian tombs from the Byzantine era, dating to the 5th and 6th century CE. Greek inscriptions were also found.
Archeological excavations of a cave and quarries revealed that they were used in the Roman and Byzantine eras. Shefa-'Amr contains Byzantine remains, including of a church and tombs.