Editing Elath

{{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.

==Name==
The name likely comes from the Hebrew root {{smallcaps|ʾyl}} ({{langx|he|א י ל}}), which is also the root for the word ''Elah'' ({{langx|he|אלה}}), meaning [[Pistacia]] tree. <ref>{{JewishEncyclopedia|title=OAK AND TEREBINTH |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11638-oak-and-terebinth}}</ref> There may be an etymological relationship between ''ʾElat ''goddess and אלה terebinth.<ref name="Locatell McKinny Shai 2022 p. ">{{cite journal | last=Locatell | first=Christian | last2=McKinny | first2=Chris | last3=Shai | first3=Itzhaq | title=Tree of Life Motif, Late Bronze Canaanite Cult, and a Recently Discovered Krater from Tel Burna | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=142 | issue=3 | date=2022-09-30 | issn=2169-2289 | doi=10.7817/jaos.142.3.2022.ar024 | page=}}</ref> Like numerous other localities, Eilat is mentioned in the Bible both in singular (possibly [[construct state]]) and plural form (Eilot).<ref name="grinzweig110">{{cite journal|author=Grinzweig, Michael|editor1-last=Cohen|editor1-first=Meir|editor2-last=Schiller|editor2-first=Eli|year=1993|title=From the Items of the Name Eilat|issue= 93–94: Eilat – Human, Sea and Desert|journal=Ariel|publisher=Ariel Publishing|page=110|language=he}}</ref> Elath was an Israelite city that existed in the same general area. The original settlement was probably at the northern tip of the Gulf of Eilat.<ref>Dr. Muhammed Abdul Nayeem, (1990). ''Prehistory and Protohistory of the [[Arabian Peninsula]]''. Hyderabad. ISBN.</ref> [[Ancient Egypt]]ian records also document the extensive and lucrative mining operations and trade across the Red Sea with Egypt starting as early as the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}} Elath is mentioned in antiquity as a major trading partner with Elim, [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]]' Red Sea Port, as early as the [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth Dynasty]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}} Trade between Elim and Elath furnished [[frankincense]] and [[myrrh]], brought up from [[Ethiopia]] and [[Land of Punt|Punt]]; [[bitumen]] and [[natron]], from the [[Dead Sea]]; finely woven [[linen]], from [[Byblos]]; and copper amulets, from [[Timna Valley|Timna]]; all mentioned in the [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}} In antiquity Elath bordered the states of [[Edom]], [[Midian]] and the tribal territory of the [[Rephidim]], the indigenous inhabitants of the [[Sinai Peninsula]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2017}}

==Hebrew Bible==
Elath is first mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]] in the [[Book of Exodus]]. The first six [[Stations of the Exodus]] are in Egypt. The seventh is [[Crossing the Red Sea]] and the 9th–13th are in and around Elath. Station twelve refers to a dozen campsites in and around Timna in the state of Israel near Eilat.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}} 

When [[David|King David]] conquered [[Edom]],{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} which up to then had shared a common border with [[Midian]], he took over Eilat, the border city shared by them as well. The commercial port city and copper based industrial center were maintained by Egypt until reportedly rebuilt by [[Solomon]] at a location known as [[Ezion-Geber]] (I Kings 9:26). In [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]] 14:21–22, many decades later, "All the people of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] took [[Uzziah]], who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father [[Amaziah of Judah|Amaziah]]. He rebuilt Elath, and restored it to Judah, after his father's death." Later, in 2 Kings 16:6, during the reign of [[Ahaz|King Ahaz]]: "At that time the king of Edom recovered Elath for Edom, and drove out the people of Judah and sent Edomites to live there, as they do to this day."

According to the Bible ([[Books of Kings#King and Chronicles|2 Kings 14:22]]),<ref>{{cite book |url= https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Kings-Chapter-14_Original-1611-KJV/ |title= 16611 King James Bible. Second Book of Kings, chapter 14, verse 22 |website= kingjamesbibleonline.org |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140612045743/https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Kings-Chapter-14_Original-1611-KJV/ |archive-date= June 12, 2014 |url-status= live}}</ref> one of the earliest and most significant of King [[Uzziah]]'s achievements, unless it has to be attributed to his predecessor [[Amaziah of Judah|Amaziah]], was the recovery of Elath, which was later lost by [[Ahaz]]<ref>as affirmed in 2 King 16:6</ref> - all three 8th-century BCE kings of Judah.

The same Uzziah regained for Judah that command of the trade route of the [[Red Sea#Ancient era|Red Sea]] which [[Solomon#Sins and punishment|Solomon]] had held,<ref>1 King 9:28</ref> but which has subsequently been lost.<ref>{{cite book |author= George G. Buchanan |author-link= George Buchanan |url= https://archive.org/details/criticalexegetic01grayuoft |title= A critical and exegetical commentary on the book of Isaiah 1-39. 40-66 |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |location= New York |year= 1912 |via= [[Internet Archive|archive.org]] |language= en |volume= I |pages= [https://archive.org/details/criticalexegetic01grayuoft/page/472 472] |archive-url= https://archive.today/20181202143147/https://archive.org/stream/criticalexegetic00gray00rich/criticalexegetic00gray00rich_djvu.txt |archive-date= December 2, 2018 |url-status= live |access-date= December 2, 2018}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Port of Eilat]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Hebrew Bible cities]]
[[Category:History of Eilat]]
[[Category:Aqaba]]