Bethoron (Hebrew: בֵית־חוֹרֹ֔ן, lit. 'house of Horon'; Ancient Greek: Ὡρωνείν), also Beth-Horon, was the name of two adjacent ancient towns strategically located on the Gibeon–Aijalon road, guarding the "ascent of Beth-Horon". The towns are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and in other ancient sources: Upper Bethoron appears in Joshua 16:5, Lower Bethoron in Joshua 16:3, both in 1 Chronicles 7:24,[1] and the ascent in I Maccabees 3:16.
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 are believed to preserve the ancient names.[2]
The biblical "way of Beth-horon", also known as "the ascent of Beth-horon", is a pass which ascends from the plain of Aijalon (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
Hebrew Bible: Joshua to United Monarchy
One or both of the towns was a Levitical city (Joshua 21:22; 2 Chronicles 6:53[6]).
Upper Bethoron is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. It is first mentioned in the Book of Joshua as a city on the border between the tribes of Benjamin and Ephraim (Joshua 16:5). The borderline passed alongside the two Bethorons (Joshua 16:5; 21:22[7]) who belonged to the latter Israelite tribe and therefore, later on, to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, while the tribe of Benjamin adhered to the Kingdom of Judah.
When Joshua utterly defeated the kings of the Amorites "he killed a large number of them at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the 'Ascent of Beth-horon.'(Joshua 10:10[8])
Upper Bethoron is later mentioned in 2 Kings as one of the cities built and fortified by Solomon (1 Kings 9:17, also in 2 Chronicles 8:59). Solomon "built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars" (2 Chronicles 8:5;[9] 1 Kings 9:17[10]).
Bacchides repaired Beth-horon "with high walls, with gates and with bars and in them he set a garrison, that they might work malice upon ("vex") Israel" (1 Macc. 9:50–51[16]). Later, the Jews fortified it against Holofernes (Judith 4:4–5[17]).
Eusebius' Onomasticon mentions the 'twin villages' and St. Jerome describes them as 'little hamlets.' [1]
Eusebius mentions the two Bethorons in their Biblical contexts, noting Joshua's victory and the fortification by King Solomon.[19]
Jerome (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.[20]
In 1915, the Palestine Exploration Fund 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.
Archaeological finds indicate that the lower town was established before the upper one. Potsherds from the Late Bronze Age onward were discovered at Lower Beit Ur, whereas those in Upper Beit Ur date only from the Iron Age onward.[1]
^Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World's Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 71.
