Elath

Elath (Hebrew: אֵילַת, Modern: Elat, Tiberian: ʼÊláṯ; Latin: Aila; Ancient Greek: Ελά[1] and Ἀηλά[1] and Αἴλανα[2] and Αϊλά), or Eloth,[3] was an ancient city mentioned in several places in the Hebrew Bible[4] on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. It was in the same vicinity as Ezion-Geber.

Main article: Aqaba § Early_history

The name survived into the Roman period as Aela, adopted into Byzantine Greek as Aila and into Arabic as Aylah (the Arab settlement was built outside the ruins of the ancient city), later becoming Aqabat Aylah ("Aylah Ascent"), eventually shortened down to Aqaba.

The modern Israeli town of Eilat, established 1947, is named for the ancient city.

Biblical account

According to the Bible (2 Kings 14:22),[5] one of the earliest and most significant of King Uzziah's achievements, unless it has to be attributed to his predecessor Amaziah, was the recovery of Elath, which was later lost by Ahaz[6]

The same Uzziah regained for Judah that command of the trade route of the Red Sea which Solomon had held,[7] but which has subsequently been lost[8].

See also

References
  1. Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography, §140
  2. Strabo, Geography, §16.2.30
  3. 'Eloth' is used in the King James Version
  4. Deuteronomy 2:8, 1 Kings 9:26, 2 Kings 14:22, 2 Kings 16:6, 2 Chronicles 8:17 and 2 Chronicles 26:2
  5. 16611 King James Bible. Second Book of Kings, chapter 14, verse 22. kingjamesbibleonline.org. Archived from the original on June 12, 2014.
  6. as affirmed in 2 King 16:6
  7. 1 King 9:28
  8. George G. Buchanan (1912). A critical and exegetical commentary on the book of Isaiah 1-39. 40-66. archive.org. I. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 472. Archived from the original on December 2, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
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