kingdom · Anatolia and the Levant

Aram-Zobah

1050 BCE – 950 BCE (approx.)

Aram-Zobah, an Aramaean kingdom of the 10th century BCE, the main rival of King David in the Bible.

Origins

Zobah was an Aramaean kingdom probably centred on the Beqaa valley and the region north of Damascus. It is known almost entirely from the Hebrew Bible, which describes its king Hadadezer son of Rehob as a powerful ruler whose influence reached the Euphrates.

Rule and society

According to the Bible, Hadadezer commanded chariots and allied Aramaean kingdoms, and rich towns of his land produced bronze. Little else is known, since no inscriptions from Zobah have been found.

Decline and legacy

The Bible says David of the United Kingdom of Israel defeated Hadadezer and took his gold shields to Jerusalem, and that Rezon, a former officer, founded Aram-Damascus, which soon replaced Zobah as the leading Aramaean power.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Aram-ZobahAram-Damascus 1000 BCE – 732 BCE

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Aram-Zobah. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/aram-zobah
MLA
“Aram-Zobah.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/aram-zobah. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Aram-Zobah.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/aram-zobah.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Aram-Zobah’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/aram-zobah (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻