Anim

Anim, meaning fountains or springs, was a city in the hill country of Judah listed in the tribal allotment of Joshua (Josh. 15:50). It appears alongside Eshtemoh and Goshen in the southern hill-country district, and is generally identified with the modern site of Khirbet Ghuwein el-Tahta, approximately ten miles southwest of Hebron.

The name reflects the common practice in ancient Palestine of identifying settlements by their water sources, a critical geographical feature in an arid region where reliable springs determined habitation patterns. Anim is not mentioned again after its appearance in the Judahite city list, suggesting it was a relatively minor settlement in the highland zone. Its inclusion in the biblical record nonetheless attests to the systematic nature of the tribal territorial descriptions preserved in Joshua 15.