Hamath
 
 Fortress, the capital of one of the kingdoms of Upper Syria of the
 same name, on the Orontes, in the valley of Lebanon, at the northern
 boundary of Palestine Nu 13:21 34:8 at the foot of Hermon Jos 13:5
 towards Damascus Zec 9:2 Jer 49:23 It is called "Hamath the great"
 in Am 6:2 and "Hamath-zobah" in 2Ch 8:3 Hamath, now Hamah, had an
 Aramaean population, but Hittite monuments discovered there show that
 it must have been at one time occupied by the Hittites. It was among
 the conquests of the Pharaoh Thothmes III. Its king, Tou or Toi, made
 alliance with David 2Sa 8:10 and in B.C. 740 Azariah formed a
 league with it against Assyria. It was, however, conquered by the
 Assyrians, and its nineteen districts placed under Assyrian
 governors. In B.C. 720 it revolted under a certain Yahu-bihdi, whose 
 name, compounded with that of the God of Israel (Yahu), perhaps shows
 that he was of Jewish origin. But the revolt was suppressed, and the
 people of Hamath were transported to Samaria 2Ki 17:24,30 where
 they continued to worship their god Ashima. Hamah is beautifully
 situated on the Orontes, 32 miles north of Emesa, and 36 south of the
 ruins of Assamea. The kingdom of Hamath comprehended the great plain
 lying on both banks of the Orontes from the fountain near Riblah to
 Assamea on the north, and from Lebanon on the west to the desert on
 the east. The "entrance of Hamath" Nu 34:8 which was the north
 boundary of Palestine, led from the west between the north end of
 Lebanon and the Nusairiyeh mountains.