Editing Elath (section)

{{Short description|Biblical city}}
{{main|Aqaba#Early_history}}
'''Elath''' ({{hebrew name|אֵילַת|Elat|ʼÊláṯ}}; {{langx|la|Aila}}; {{langx|grc|Ελά}},<ref name="Cosmas Indicopleustes">[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/20vs/103_migne_gm/0500-0600,_Cosmas_Indicopleustis,_Christiana_Topographia_(MPG_088_0051_0476),_GM.pdf Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography, §140]</ref> Ἀηλά,<ref name="Cosmas Indicopleustes"/> Αἴλανα,<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:16.2.30 Strabo, Geography, §16.2.30]</ref> Αἰλανίτης,<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=aelana-harpers Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Aelāna]</ref> Αἰλανή,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=aelana-geo Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed., Aelana]</ref> Ἐλάνα,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"/> Αἴλανον,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"/> Αἰλάς,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"/> Αἰλάθ,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"/> Αἰλών,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"/> Ἡλάθ,<ref name="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"/> Αϊλά), or '''Eloth''',<ref>'Eloth' is used in the [[King James Version]]</ref> was an ancient city mentioned in several places in the [[Hebrew Bible]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|2:8|}}, {{bibleverse|1|Kings|9:26}}, {{bibleverse|2|Kings|14:22}}, {{bibleverse|2|Kings|16:6}}, {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|8:17}} and {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|26:2}}</ref> on the northern tip of the [[Gulf of Aqaba]]. It was in the same vicinity as [[Ezion-Geber]].

The name survived into the [[Arabian peninsula in the Roman era|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 [[Israel]]i town of [[Eilat]], established in 1951, is named for the ancient city.