History
In the Amarna letters, 14th century BCE clay tablets written in the cuneiform script of the Akkadian language, the village is listed under its ancient name of Shunama, as one of several cities conquered by the Canaanite warlord Lab'ayu in the Dothan Valley and southern Jezreel Valley. Sulam is also identified with the biblical village of Shunem, which is said to be of the tribe of Issachar and the place where the Philistines camped before Saul's last battle, and the native town of Abishag, King David's concubine, in 1Kings 1,1.
Mentioned by the name Sulem in 4th century CE works, such as the Onomasticon of Eusebius, and by Jerome, both authors situate it 5 Roman miles from Tabor. The village was also known to the Crusaders (12th century CE) under the name Suna.
During the period of Ottoman rule, Sulam was listed in the Ottoman tax registers of 1596 as being in the nahiya of Jinin in the liwa of Lajjun. It had a population of 26 Muslim families. Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, who visited the village in the mid-19th century, describe it as "small and dirty" and its inhabitants as "civil and friendly." They also recount being approached by the Wely of Duhy who offered to take them to the shrine on the mountain which he said was often visited by monks.
The Survey of Western Palestine (1881) describes Sulam as, "a large village, standing on a slope near the foot of Jebel ed Duhy ." It further notes that part of the village was built of stone, and that to the west there were shady gardens of lemon-trees. A perennial spring in the west collected in a stone trough was said to have good supply of clear water in September, 1872. What was described as a suburb of mud hovels ran southwards out from the village.
By the time of the mandate period and the 1931 census, there were 85 inhabited houses in Sulam with a population of 328 Muslims.
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