Dan redirects here.
This article is about the city. You may be looking for the tribe or the patriarch.
Dan, formerly known as Laish, is a city in the northernmost part of Israel, at the border of Lebanon. Dan was originally a Canaanite city before it was conquered and renamed by the tribe of Dan.[1] Dan became part of the popular phrase "from Dan to Beersheba," which is used several times in the Bible, describing the full length of the territory of Israel.
About 2900 years ago, when Israel split up into two kingdoms, King Jeroboam I set up two golden calves he had made, in the towns of Dan and Bethel, for the people of the Northern Kingdom to worship, in an attempt to keep them from traveling to the Temple in Jerusalem,[2] which was located in the Southern Kingdom, which was called Judah.
When King Asa of Judah was at war with King Baasha of Israel, he made an alliance with King Benhadad in Damascus, who sided with Asa and captured Dan along with other northern cities.
Excavations at Dan have uncovered the remains of the temple set up by Jeroboam, and a 4-horned altar.