Bethoron (; ), also Beth-Horon, were two neighboring towns in ancient Israel, situated on the Gibeon–

Aijalon The Ayalon Valley ( or , ''ʾAyyālōn''), also written Aijalon and Ajalon, is a valley in the lowland of the Shephelah in Israel. The Ayalon Valley has been an important route connecting the coastal plain and Jerusalem for generations. Due to i ...

road. They served as strategic points along the road, guarding the "ascent of Bethoron". While the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' The towns are mentioned in the Bible and in other ancient sources: Upper Bethoron appears in

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

, Lower Bethoron in Joshua, both in

1 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

, and the ascent in I Maccabees. The ancient towns of Upper Bethoron and Lower Bethoron are identified respectively with the present-day Palestinian Arab villages of Beit Ur al-Fauqa and Beit Ur al-Tahta, which preserve the ancient names. Archaeological evidence suggests that Lower Bethoron was established first, as the earliest potsherds discovered there date back to the Late Bronze Age, while those from the upper town originate from the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

onward.

Etymology

The

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

name Bethoron (Beit Horon, ) is derived from the name of an Egypto- Canaanite

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

, '' Horon'', mentioned in Ugaritic literature. The city is mentioned among the cities and towns smitten by Sheshonq I in his

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

at the Temple of Karnak as Batae Houarn.

Ascent of Beth-horon

The biblical "way of Beth-horon", also known as "the ascent of Beth-horon", is a pass which ascends from the plain of

(now Ayalon-Canada Park) and climbs to Beit Ur al-Tahta (1,210 ft.). It then ascends along the ridge, with valleys lying to north and south, and reaches Beit Ur al-Fauqa (2,022 ft.). Al-tahta means 'the lower', and al-fauqa (fawqa) means 'the upper' in Arabic. The ascent is an ancient east-west trade route connecting two broadly north-south routes, the Via Maris along the Mediterranean coastline, and the Way of the Patriarchs, which follows the crest of the central mountain range of Samaria in the north and Judah in the south.

History

Iron Age: in the Bible and contemporary texts

Upper Bethoron is first mentioned in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

as a city on the border between the

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

tribes of

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

and

Ephraim Ephraim (; , in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephrai ...

(). The borderline passed alongside the two Bethorons (Joshua 16:5; 21:22) who belonged to the latter Israelite tribe and therefore, later on, to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, while the tribe of Benjamin belonged to the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

. One or both of the towns was a Levitical city (Joshua 21:22; 2 Chronicles 6:53). According to biblical records, these cities were conquered by the Israelites under the leadership of

, who defeated the five Amorite kings near Gibeon and pursued them southward past Beth-Horon to Azekah and Makkedah (Joshua 10:5-11). According to the Bible, when Joshua defeated the Amorite kings, "he killed a large number of them at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the 'Ascent of Beth-horon'". Later on, the

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

chose to launch their attack against

Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...

via the route passing through Beth-Horon (1 Samuel 13:18), sending a company of their men to hold "the way of Beth-horon". Upper Bethoron is later mentioned in 2 Kings as one of the cities built and fortified by

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

(, also in ). Solomon "built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars" (2 Chronicles 8:5; 1 Kings 9:17). From

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian sources it appears that Bethoron was one of the places conquered by

Shishak Shishak, also spelled Shishaq or Susac (, Tiberian: , ), was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BC. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.Troy Leiland Sagrillo. 2015.Shoshe ...

of Egypt from

Rehoboam Rehoboam (; , , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a grandson of David. In the account of I Ki ...

. It may also be the Bethoron mentioned in a 8th/7th century

ostracon An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeology, archaeological or epigraphy, epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer ...

found at Tel Qasile, which reports the transfer of 30 sheqels of Ophir gold to Bethoron. According to 1 Chronicles 7:24, Lower Bethoron was built by She'era, daughter of Beriah, son of Ephraim. The Second Book of Chronicles mentions Beth-Horon in the context of disbanded Israelite mercenaries in Amaziah's army who looted towns in Judah "from

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

to Beth-Horon" (2 Chronicles 25:13).

Hellenistic period

The

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n ( Seleucid) general Seron was defeated here in 166 BCE by

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

( 1 Macc. 3:13–24) in the Battle of Beth Horon. Six years later Nicanor, retreating from

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, was defeated and slain (1 Macc. 7:39;

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, ''

Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

'' Bk12 Ch10:5.) Bacchides repaired Beth-horon "with high walls, with gates and with bars and in them he set a

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

, that they might work malice upon ("vex") Israel" (1 Macc. 9:50–51). Later, the Jews fortified it against Holofernes ( Judith 4:4–5).

Roman period

There are traces of an ancient Roman paving still visible. In the battle of Beth Horon in the year 66 CE, the first decisive Jewish victory in the First Jewish–Roman War the Roman general Cestius Gallus was driven in headlong flight before the Jews.

Late Roman & Byzantine periods

Eusebius' ''Onomasticon'' mentions the 'twin villages' and St. Jerome describes them as 'little hamlets.' Sharon, 1999, p
165
/ref>

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

(late 4th to early 5th centuries) noted that Bethoron was just a little village at his time. In his eulogy for Saint Paula, he describes Lower and Upper Bethoron as cities founded by Solomon and destroyed by war.Guérin, 1868, pp
343
344

Arab villages

The two Palestinian Arab Muslim villages of Beit Ur el-Fauqa and Beit Ur et-Tahta preserve the

– Canaanite name, and have been identified as the sites of Upper and Lower Bethoron.

Modern period

In 1915, the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

wrote that changes in the main road to Jerusalem had left the Bethoron route "forsaken" and "almost forgotten". The Israeli settlement of Beit Horon was founded in 1977 on a site adjacent to the two Arab towns. Highway 443 follows part of the ancient road.

Archaeology

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

finds indicate that the lower town was established before the upper one. Potsherds from the Late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

onward were discovered at Lower Beit Ur, whereas those in Upper Beit Ur date only from the

onward.

References

Bibliography

*Masterman, E. W. G. (1915
BETH-HORON
''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', Orr, James, retrieved December 9, 2005. * {{coord, 31, 52, 38, N, 35, 7, 7, E, source:wikidata, display=title

External links

Israel Antiquities Authority report on the discovery of a burial cave in Beit 'Ur al-Tahta
Levitical cities Tribe of Ephraim Geography of the West Bank Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea