Maon

MAON, a City of the Tribe of Judah, in the most southerly Parts belonging to this Tribe. Nabal the Carmelite had great Josh. xv. 55. See also 1 Sam. xxiii. 24, xxv.Possessions in the Desert of Maon, and David dwelt for a good while in these Quarters, during the Time of Saul’s Persecution. We think Maon to be the Capital of the Meonians, of whom Mention is made in the Hebrew of 1 Chron. iv. 40, 41. and 2 Chron. xx. 1. The Vulgate in this last Place reads Ammonites instead of Maonim; and in the other Passage it has Habitatores, and the Seventy Minæos. The City of Maon, which gave Name to the Desart of Maon, is probably the same as Mænois, or Mæonis¹, which Eusebius places in the Neighbourhood of Gaza; and as Menæum in the Codex Theodosianus, which is near Beersheba, or Versabinum Castrum. It is called Minois in the Subscriptions of the Council of Chalcedon, in the Year 451. See Cellarius and Reland under Minois or Menois.

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