Jubb Yussef (, ), also known as "Joseph's Well" in English, is an archaeological site in Ramat Korazim in Galilee, Israel. It is believed by Muslims to be the site of the pit into which Yusuf (Joseph), a figure which is part of both the Biblical and Quranic narratives, was thrown by his brothers.
Name, location and tradition Jubb Yussef is located near Ami'ad in the Galilee, altitude 246 meters, at the western side of a rocky hill (datum point 2006.2583). Jubb means cistern or well in Arabic, and its cognate in Christian Palestinian Aramaic is gubba, and Yussef is the Arabic form for Joseph.
The well consists of a dug-out pit with a diameter of one metre and depth of about four metres, roofed by a cupola supported by four pillars and surrounded by ancient graves.
Biblical narrative According to the biblical story (), Joseph was sent from Hebron by his father Jacob, to his brothers who tended sheep in Shechem (Tell Balata near Nablus). When he arrived there he learned that his brothers had moved on to Dothan, where he then caught up with them. The distance from Shechem to Dothan is not mentioned, nor is the distance from Hebron to Shechem, but it is customary to associate Dothan with Tel Dothan, located between Shechem and Jenin. After throwing him into the pit, his brothers sold Joseph to a caravan of Midianites on its way to Egypt ().
Quranic narrative In the Quran, Jubb Yussef is mentioned in two verses: Surah 12 verses 10 and 15. Verse 10 says that one of the brothers of Joseph opposed killing him, and said it would be better to throw him into the bottom of a pit (jubb), so that one of caravans could take him from there. Verse 15 says that when Joseph was cast into the pit, God told him that he would one day remind his brothers of this incident.
History Overview The site served as a crossroads on the Via Maris linking Egypt (Cairo), Syria (Damascus), and Mesopotamia. From the 10th century onward, it is mentioned as a landmark, a holy place, and a source of water for caravans. From the 13th century there was a settlement in the area, which is mentioned up to the 17th century. At the end of the 16th century, a small khan or caravanserai was built there, which is notable for its solid construction and state of preservation compared to other khans from the same period.Kohner, Gabriel (2006). The Ruins at Jubb Yussef (English transl. Anat Efron); Hebrew editions by the Society for the Protection of Nature, 1987, and Ariel Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1995.
Jubb Yussef is mentioned in the middle of the 10th century but the current structure is of a later period. According to travellers, the well, which was 10 meters deep, held good drinking water up until the 19th century. Afterwards, due perhaps to the Galilee earthquake of 1837, the pit collapsed and was no longer cited as a water source.Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, Report HYDRO/5/78 - Jerusalem - June 1978, Damage Caused By Landslides During the Earthquakes of 1837 and 1927 in the Galilee Region, By D. Wachs and D. Levitte, earthquake of 1837 According to 19th-century visitors, the well and cupola were located in a quadrangle alongside a small mosque.
Early Muslim period The Muslim commentators disagree over the location of the pit. Some place it in Jerusalem, while others say it was in "Syria". The mid-10th century geographer Al-Istakhari placed the pit in the Galilee, which was more likely than between Sangil and Shechem.Tamri, Jama Albian, commentary on the Quran, Surah 12:10 This was the common tradition from the 10th century onward, to the point that Jubb Yussef served as a geographical landmark in the region: Qudamah of Bagdad , who lived during the first half of the 10th century, mentions Jubb Yussef as a location between Kfar Leila and Tiberias. Al-Muqaddasi supplements further details in 985, and also mentions Jubb Yussef as a landmark and to note distances to different destinations.
Crusaders, Ayyubids, and Mamluks In the 12th and 13th century, the Crusaders accepted the Muslim narrative but since the Bible states that the pit is located in Dothan, they named the region Dothan.
More detailed descriptions of Jubb Yussef can be found in Arab sources. In 1189, Saladin passed by on his way to the siege of Acre. In 1225, Yaqut al-Hamawi writes:
Jubb Yussef, the hole into which his brothers cast him, which Allah mentioned in his precious book (the Koran), and is located in Urdan (in the Galilee), between Banias and Tiberias, 12 miles from Tiberias on the way to Damascus. So said Istakhari (951 CE), and others say that Jacob lived in Shechem in Palestine, and the pit into which Joseph was cast is between Kfar Makhparia, called Sangil, and between Shechem...
The Mamluks fortified the road from Egypt to Damascus and built khans and forts along the way. In 1440, Mamluk sultan Jaqmaq built a chain of khans in the country, among others Khan el-Minya in Tabgha, and the khan by the Bnot Yaacov Bridge. The distance between these two khans is one day's walk for a caravan. It seems that Jubb Yussef was viewed as a holy place at that time, and there may have been a small village near it, but the khan had not yet been built. Thirty years later, in 1470, the Belgian traveller Anselme Adorno visited Jubb Yussef with his son Jan. He called it "a beautiful inn which was built not long ago, a stone's throw away from the city".Adorno, Jean (1978) [1471 & 1510]. Itinéraire d'Anselme Adorno en Terre sainte (1470-1471). Jacques Heers & Georgette Groër, eds. Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, p. 323.
During the Mamluk period, the area apparently enjoyed prosperity and the khan was built. Safed and Gaza were important cities at the time. Unlike Gaza, which was located on the main coastal road and near the seashore, Safed was a mountain city, which served as the capital of a district - the Mamlakat Safad. Its status as an official station under the authority of Safed is also apparent from later documents, showing that there was a station for collecting toll fees, manned by a military unit.
Ottoman period
From the Ottoman period, there was a settlement at this location, presumably non-military. In the Ottoman tax registers of 1596, Jubb Yusuf is listed as a village with a population of 72, which paid taxes on crops, goats and beehives.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 175. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 460Rizk, Khalil. "Jubb Yusuf". Villages of Palestine.
Travellers' descriptions The first detailed account of Jubb Yussef and the khan comes from the Italian traveller Aquilante Rocchetta in 1599, who describes a quadrangle with a water pit in its centre.Rocchetta, Aquilante (1630). Peregrinatione di Terra Santa e d'altre provincie. Palermo, Alfonso dell'Isola. He recounts his meeting with processions of eastern Christians, which apparently performed a special ritual there that was related to Joseph. Rocchetta also writes about a domed structure built on marble pillars above the pit, and about ruins east of the pit, which he identified as "the house of Jacob our Father". Usually the few pilgrims who arrived here did not spend the night but proceeded to the next station at the Bnot Yaakov Bridge Khan, or to Safed. Their descriptions are brief and similar to Rocchetta's. They described the khan as dilapidated and noted that the pit was located in a quadrangle next to a small mosque. Sometimes they recounted the Joseph legend and cited the holiness of the place.
In March 1799, Jubb Yussef was mentioned in the context of the siege of Acre. Napoleon learned that Turkish units were crossing the Bnot Yaakov Bridge (Jisr Ya’aqub in Arabic) on their way from Damascus to Safed and sent an army under the command of General Mira to the area. The first battle took place near Safed on 31 March, the second one by the Bnot Yaakov Bridge on April 2. Units of the "geographical engineering corps" under the command of M. Jacotin were sent together with the French army, and this is the source of the first modern maps of the country.
General Mira led his troops to Safed through Ramah, Kafr 'Inan, Ramat Pishchor (near the current day hospital) – and not through Jubb Yussef, so that the mapping of the area is not perfect, but still of interest. In the Jacoutin's map, which was drawn during this journey, Jubb Yussef ("Puits de Joseph") is noted as a crossroads. The khan does not appear on the map, though it had existed at the time. Other khans such as Khan el-Minya and the khan at the Jacob's Daughters Bridge are noted on the map. It seems that despite being located on a main road, the importance of Jubb Yussef is secondary.
The first traveller to offer a detailed architectural account of the site was Burckhardt (1812):Burckhardt, J.L. (1822). Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. p.317 As there is no khan for travellers at Szaffad, and I had no letters to any person in the town, I was obliged to lodge at the public coffee house. We left the town early in the morning, and descended the side of the mountain towards the lake; here the ground is for the greater part uncultivated and without trees. At two hours and a quarter is khan Djob Yousef, or the khan of Joseph's Well, situated in a narrow plain. The khan is falling rapidly into ruin; near it is a large Birket. Here is shewn the well into which Joseph was let down by his brothers; it is in a small court-yard by the side of the Khan, is about three feet in diameter, and at least thirty feet deep. I was told that the bottom is hewn in the rock: its sides were well lined with masonry as far as I could see into it, and the water never dries up, a circumstance which makes it difficult to believe that this was the well into which Joseph was thrown. The whole of the mountain in the vicinity is covered with large pieces of black stone; but the main body of the rock is calcareous. The country people relate that the tears of Jacob dropping upon the ground while he was in search of his son turned the white stones black, and they in consequence call these stones Jacob's tears. Joseph's well is held in veneration by Turks as well as Christians; the former have a small chapel just by it, and caravan travellers seldom pass here without saying a few prayers in honour of Yousef. The khan is on the great road from Akka to Damascus. It is inhabited by a dozen Moggrebyn soldiers, with their families, who cultivate the fields near it. This is the first description which definitely confirms that this is indeed the pit we know today. In spite of the location of the pit – on a hill – it has water at a depth of about 10 metres. Burckhardt is not the only one to mention this fact, and we can assume that this was the case at least until the year 1837, the time of the great earthquake of Safed which probably caused the collapse of the well.
The road from Acre to Damascus (and not the traditional "Via Maris") is related to the reign of Suleiman Pasha, in the Galilee and Damascus. Suleiman Pasha was the successor of Jazzar Pasha, who successfully protected his city Acre from the army of Napoleon. The aforementioned Maghrebi soldiers were part of the North African mercenary army, which Jazzar and Suleiman brought to the country to protect their reign.
The many travellers which had been in the area in the 19th century often mention Jubb Yussef, but they usually do not add details beyond the comprehensive account by Burckhardt, which is often quoted in their writings.
The British survey of Palestine in the year 1875, which was conducted by the Palestine Exploration Fund, is the first to present the plans of the khan.P.E.F., Survey of Western Palestine, Sheet IV Pf, p. 234. In their book, they write: