Editing Ayalon Valley

{{Short description|Valley in Shephelah, Israel}}
[[Image:EmekAyalon.jpg|thumb|250px|Ayalon Valley, as seen from [[Gezer]]]]
[[File:Ayalon valley railway viaduct.jpg|thumb|right|[[Israel Railways|Train]] passes Ayalon Valley, [[Israel]]]]
The '''Ayalon Valley''' ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|אַיָּלוֹן}}}} or {{Script/Hebrew|איילון}}, ''ʾAyyālōn''), also written '''Aijalon''' and '''Ajalon''', is a valley in the lowland of the [[Shephelah]] in [[Israel]].

The Ayalon Valley has been an important route connecting the [[coastal plain]] and [[Jerusalem]] for generations. Due to its location, several battles were fought in its vicinity. The [[Hebrew Bible]] gives the valley its name from Ayalon, a city that the [[Tribe of Dan]] possessed before their migration to the north. In the modern period, ancient Ayalon was identified with the former village of [[Yalo]] at the base of the [[Bethoron|Bethoron pass]], which preserved the ancient, biblical name.<ref name="DouglasTenney2011">{{cite book|author1=J. D. Douglas|author2=Merrill C. Tenney|title=Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Tq7UcPMwacC&pg=PA45|date=3 May 2011|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-310-49235-1|page=45}}</ref>

Today, the Ayalon Valley is home to several ''[[kibbutz]]im'' and ''[[moshav]]im'', including [[Sha'alvim]], [[Mishmar Ayalon]], [[Nahshon, Israel|Nahshon]], and [[Kfar Bin Nun]]. The valley is also home to [[Canada Park]], a [[National parks and nature reserves of Israel|national park]], the [[Yad La-Shiryon|Yad La-Shiryon (Armored Corps Museum)]], [[Mini Israel]], the [[Latrun]] Monastery and [[Emmaus Nicopolis]], an [[Archaeological site|archeological site]] commonly identified with [[Emmaus]] of the [[New Testament]].

==History==
In the [[Amarna letters|Tell el-Amarna letters]], written during the last twelve years of Pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] and the first regnal year of [[Tutankhamun]] (14th century BCE), [[Abdi-Heba]] speaks of the destruction of the "city of Ajalon" by the invaders,<ref name="Conder1893">{{cite book|author=Claude Reignier Conder|title=The Tell Amarna Tablets|url=https://archive.org/stream/tellamarnatablet00palerich#page/148/mode/2up|edition=2nd|year=1894}}</ref> and describes himself as "afflicted, greatly afflicted" by the calamities that had come on the land, urging the king of [[Egypt]] to hasten to his help. This event may have been connected to an attack of the [[Amorite]]s, before the arrival of the Israelites under Joshua. But since the valley stretches as far to the west as to a point halfway between [[Sha'alvim]] and [[Latrun]], the city referenced in these letters may have been any settlement in the valley.

Ajalon is mentioned in the accounts of an invasion of Canaan by the Egyptian king [[Sheshonk I]] of Egypt in the 10th century BCE.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Frank Clancy | title = Shishak/Shoshenq's Travels | journal = Journal for the Study of the Old Testament | year = 1999 | volume = 24 | issue = 3 | pages = 3–23| doi = 10.1177/030908929902408601 | s2cid = 170437101 }}</ref>

===Joshua's battle===
The Valley of Ayalon was first mentioned in the ''[[Book of Joshua]]'' as where [[Joshua]] defeated five [[Amorite]] kings. Following his midnight march to rescue the city of [[Gibeon (ancient city)|Gibeon]] from the coalition led by the King of [[Jebusite|Jebus]] (Jerusalem), Joshua pursued the coalition eastward, down through the descent of Beth-horon, and then southward across the Valley of Ajalon. To allow the [[Israelites]] to complete the rout before nightfall, Joshua asked the Lord to lengthen the day by uttering the command: "Sun, stand thou still on [[Gibeon (ancient city)|Gibeon]]; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon". {{bibleverse||Joshua|10:11-14|HE}} records that God cooperated with Joshua's request.

===Tribe of Dan===
Following the conquest, the city of Ajalon was apportioned to the [[Tribe of Dan]] ({{bibleverse||Joshua|19:42|HE}}) and was designated as one of the [[Levitical city|Levitical cities]] given to the [[Kohathites]] ({{bibleverse||Joshua|21:24|HE}} and {{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|6:69|HE}}). In spite of Joshua's initial victory in the Valley of Ajalon, the Amorites continued to live in the city of Ajalon ({{bibleverse||Judges|1:34-35|HE}}). Constant [[Philistines|Philistine]] pressure to control the valleys of the [[Shephelah]] forced the tribe of Dan to retreat westward, reducing the extent of their territory. Eventually, the Danites abandoned their initial inheritance in the Aijalon area and moved to the extreme northern part of Israel, settling in the city of Laish, which they renamed [[Dan (ancient city)|Dan]] ({{bibleverse||Judges|18|HE}}).

The location was also the site of a great victory over the [[Philistines]] by King [[Saul]] and his son [[Jonathan (1 Samuel)|Jonathan]]. After a daring attack by Jonathan on the Philistine garrison at [[Michmash]], they pursued the Philistines to Aijalon, a distance of fifteen miles ({{bibleverse|1|Samuel|14:31}}). In later years, Aijalon was inhabited by Ephraimites and Benjamites ({{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|6:69|HE}} and {{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|8:13|HE}}).

After the kingdom divided, Ajalon became the boundary between the kingdoms of [[kingdom of Judah|Judah]] and [[kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]]. [[Rehoboam]], the first king of Judah, fortified the city of Aijalon, supplying officers, weapons and food provisions ({{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|11:5-12|HE}}).

===Identification===
Ajalon's identification with [[Yalo]] was made by [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] during his travels in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] in 1838. Using the works of [[Jerome]] and [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], who describe Aijalon as being two [[Roman mile]]s from [[Emmaus Nicopolis|Nicopolis]], while also drawing upon descriptions of Aijalon in the [[Old Testament]] and noting the philological similarities between the Arabic name and its Hebrew root, Robinson concluded that the Yalo was indeed Aijalon.<ref name=Robinsonp253>Robinson and Smith, 1860, p. 253-254.</ref>

==Sites==
[[Canada Park]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kkl.org.il/eng/tourism-and-recreation/forests-and-parks/ayalon-canada-park.aspx|title = Ayalon Canada Park - Biblical and Modern Israel}}</ref> [[Yad La-Shiryon]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.yadlashiryon.com|title=אתר יד לשריון - חיל השריון מאז ועד היום}}</ref> the [[Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel#Birding Division|International Center for the Study of Bird Migration]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/creativeEcology/articles/The_birds_Eye_View.html |title=Israel: The Bird's Eye View |access-date=2014-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419013142/http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/creativeEcology/articles/The_birds_Eye_View.html |archive-date=2014-04-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the Latrun Monastery<ref>{{Cite web |title=HOLY WINE - Domain de Latroune Wine |url=http://www.holy-wine.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130035558/https://holy-wine.com/ |archive-date=30 November 2022 |access-date=2023-03-18 |website=www.holy-wine.com}}</ref> are located in the Ayalon Valley.

[[File:Modiin-Jerusalem Railway Bridge6 02.jpg|thumb|center|650px|[[Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway]] bridge, Ayalon Valley]]

==See also==
* [[Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway]]
* [[Geography of Israel]]
* [[Geography of the State of Palestine]]
* [[Cities in the Book of Joshua]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Robinson, Edward and Eli Smith (1860). ''Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Regions: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838''. Crocker and Brewster.
* Robinson, Edward and Eli Smith (1856). ''Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and Adjacent Regions: A Journal of Travels in the Year 1852. J. Murray.

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[[Category:Valleys of Israel]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible valleys]]
[[Category:Levitical cities]]
[[Category:Tribe of Dan]]
[[Category:Valleys of the West Bank]]
[[Category:Saul]]