Bethoron

It then ascends along the ridge, with valleys lying to north and south, and reaches Beit Ur al-Fauqa (2,022 ft.).

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'".

[1] From Egyptian sources it appears that Bethoron was one of the places conquered by Shishak of Egypt from Rehoboam.

[13] According to 1 Chronicles 7:24,[14] Lower Bethoron was built by She'era, daughter of Beriah, son of Ephraim.

[17]) 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.

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.

In his eulogy for Saint Paula, he describes Lower and Upper Bethoron as cities founded by Solomon and destroyed by war.

[3] In 1915, the Palestine Exploration Fund wrote that changes in the main road to Jerusalem had left the Bethoron route "forsaken" and "almost forgotten".