Carmel was an ancient Israelite town in Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

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Biblical references

There are several references to Carmel in the Bible. Carmel is mentioned as a city of Judah

Kingdom of Judah

The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....

 in 1 Samuel 15:12 and 55 and also in Joshua 15:12 and 55. It is mentioned as the place where Saul

Saul

-People:Saul is a given/first name in English, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew name Shaul from the Hebrew Bible:* Saul , including people with this given namein the Bible:* Saul , a king of Edom...

 erects a monument after the expedition against the Amelekites (1 Samuel 15:12). Carmel is mentioned in 1 Samuel 25 as the home of Nabal

Nabal

According to the 1st Book of Samuel Chapter 25, Nabal , was a rich Calebite who was also described as being harsh and surly. David and his band of men who had been outlawed by King Saul were living off the Wilderness of Paran and providing voluntary protection to the shepherds in the area.The...

 and his wife Abigail

Abigail

Abigail was the wife of Nabal; she became a wife of David after Nabal's death .In the passage, Nabal demonstrates ingratitude towards David, and Abigail attempts to placate David in order to stop him taking revenge...

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Later Jewish history

After the Bar Kochba revolt Carmel was used as a Roman garrison town. The Jews of the town being uncomfortable with the Roman presence moved their settlement 2 km southeast, occupying a hilltop ridge. The new Jewish settlement prospered until the Persian

Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...

 army of Chosroes

Khosrau II

250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II 250px|thumb|Khosrau II (Khosrow II, Chosroes II, or Xosrov II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the Ever Victorious" – (in Persian: خسرو پرویز), was the twenty-second Sassanid King of Persia, reigning from 590 to 628...

 forced the Roman garrison of Heraclius

Heraclius

Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

's army to quit Palestine. The Persian army was, in its turn, shortly destroyed by the Rashidun Caliphate

Rashidun Caliphate

The Rashidun Caliphate , comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632, Year 10 A.H.. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia...

. With a lack of market for their wine, the Jewish settlement declined with the synagogue finally being abandoned in the 9th Century. The abandoned synagogue, which still stands in the Palestinian town now known as al-Karmil

Al-Karmil

al-Karmil is a Palestinian village located twelve kilometers south of Hebron. The village is in the Hebron Governorate Southern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 3,741 in 2007...

, is one of the best preserved ancient synagogues in the West Bank.