Queen of Israel
d. c. 841 BCE · Biblical era · Sidon
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Izevel was a Phoenician princess. She was the daughter of Etbaal, 'king of the Sidonians', a biblical term for the Phoenicians, and the wife of King Achav of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). The book of Kings presents her as the driving force behind Baal worship at the northern court. Prophets of Baal and Asherah ate at her table (18:19), and she had prophets of the God of Israel killed (18:4). After Eliyahu's victory on Mount Carmel she swore to kill him too, and he fled (19:1-2). When Navot of Jezreel refused to sell his vineyard to Achav, she wrote letters in the king's name, sealed them with his seal, and arranged false witnesses so that Navot was stoned (21:7-16). The text describes Achav as a king 'incited by his wife' (21:25). She outlived Achav. When the army commander Yehu rebelled and came to Jezreel, she painted her eyes and faced him from a window. At his order she was thrown down and killed. Yehu then said she should be buried, because she was a king's daughter (2 Kings 9:30-37).
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SidonPhoenicia
What they did here
She was the daughter of Etbaal, "king of the Sidonians" (1 Kings 16:31). The text names her father's people, not her birthplace, so this pin marks her Phoenician homeland, not a known birth city.
About Sidon
Sidon, modern Saida on the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon, was one of the great cities of ancient Phoenicia. It is named as the home of the astrologer Dorotheus of Sidon, whose verse work on astrology was widely influential in antiquity.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Queen of Israel’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Queen of Israel’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
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