JAMNIA ('Ia,uvia or '1a /11161a)  , the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jabneel—i.e . " God causeth to build " (Josh. xv . 1I)—or Jabneh (2 Chron. xxvi . 6), the modern Arabic YEBNA, a town of Palestine, on the border between Dan and Judah, situated 13 M . S. of Jaffa, and 4 M . E. of the seashore . The modern village stands on an isolated sandy hillock, surrounded by gardens with olives to the north and sand-dunes to the west . It contains a small crusaders' church, now a mosque . Jamnia belonged to the Philistines, and Uzziah of Judah is said to have taken it (2 Chron. xxvi . 6) . In Maccabean times Joseph and Azarias attacked it unsuccessfully (r Macc. v . 55-62; 2 Macc. xii .

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Alexander Jannaeus subdued it, and under Pompey it became Roman . It changed hands several times, is mentioned by Strabo (xvi . 2) as being once very populous, and in the Jewish war was taken by Vespasian . The population was mainly Jewish (Philo, Leg. ad Gaium, § 3o), and the town is principally famous as having been the seat of the Sanhedrin and the religious centre of Judaism from A.D . 70 to 135 . It sent a bishop to Nicaea in 325 . In 1144 a crusaders' fortress was built on the hill, which is often mentioned under the name Ibelin . There was also a Jabneel in Lower Galilee (Josh. xix . 33), called later Caphar Yama, the present village Yemma, 8 m . S. of Tiberias; and another fortress in Upper Galilee was named Jamnia (Jdsephus, Vita, 37) . Attempts have been made to unify these two Galilean sites, but without success .