Shaveh-Kiriathaim

Shaveh-Kiriathaim (meaning: plain of Kiriathaim) was a location in Transjordan, east of the Dead Sea in the territory of Moab, where the Emim — the ancient giant inhabitants of the region — were defeated by Chedorlaomer and the coalition of four eastern kings in the military campaign described in Genesis 14:5. This expedition preceded the more famous battle of the kings of the plain, and the defeat of the Emim at Shaveh-Kiriathaim represents one step in a broad campaign that swept down the eastern side of the Jordan valley.

The site takes its name from the nearby city of Kiriathaim, a double city whose name means the two cities or the two meeting places. Kiriathaim later became a Reubenite settlement (Numbers 32:37; Joshua 13:19) and is mentioned by the prophets Jeremiah (48:1, 23) and Ezekiel (25:9) in oracles of judgment against Moab. The plain or valley beside it served as the battlefield for this early confrontation between the eastern kings and the pre-Israelite peoples of Canaan.