Name of a clan descended from Ham’s son Canaan (Genesis 10:17; 1 Chronicles 1:15). The Arkites were probably residents of Arqa, a Phoenician town north of Tripolis in Syria.
According to an early inscription, Arqa was captured by the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser III in 738 BC. Another branch of the tribe may have settled near Ataroth, a town on the border between Ephraim and Benjamin (Joshua 16:2).