PENTAPOLIS (= Πεντάπολις, i.e., a group of five cities; comp. Decapolis).
- 1. The five Sodomite cities Adamah, Gomorrah, Sodom, Zeboim, and Zoar, expressly called "Pentapolis" in Wisdom x. 6.
- 2. The five Philistine cities Askelon, Azotus, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza (comp. I Sam. vi. 17, 18) in connection with which Josephus ("Ant." vi. 1, § 1) uses the term "five."
- 3. Five cities in the district of Cyrenaica in northern Africa: Apollonia, Arsinoe, Berenice, Cyrene, and Ptolemais. Josephus ("B.J." vii. 11, § 1) mentions them in connection with the Jewish war of the year 70 which the Jews had carried thither. The district is called by Pliny ("Historia Naturalis," v. 5, § 5) "Pentapolitana regio." The Pentapolitans are mentioned in Targ. Jonathan and Targ. Yer. to Gen. x. 13, 14, and in Targ. to I Chron. i. 12.
Bibliography:
- Forbiger, Gesch. der Alten Geographie, s.v.;
- Boettger, Topographisch-Historisches Lexicon zu den Schriften des Flavius Josephus, p. 201, Leipsic, 1879.
