Iron Age: in the Bible and contemporary texts Upper Bethoron is first mentioned in the
Book of Joshua as a city on the border between the
Israelite tribes of
Benjamin and
Ephraim (). The borderline passed alongside the two Bethorons (Joshua 16:5; 21:22) who belonged to the latter Israelite tribe and therefore, later on, to the
Northern Kingdom of Israel, while the tribe of Benjamin belonged to the
Kingdom of Judah. One or both of the towns was a
Levitical city (Joshua 21:22; 2 Chronicles 6:53). 1 Kings 9:17). It may also be the Bethoron mentioned in a 8th/7th century
ostracon found at
Tel Qasile, which reports the transfer of 30 sheqels of
Ophir gold to Bethoron. According to 1 Chronicles 7:24, Lower Bethoron was built by
She'era, daughter of
Beriah, son of Ephraim.) in the
Battle of Beth Horon. Six years later
Nicanor, retreating from
Jerusalem, was defeated and slain (1 Macc. 7:39;
Josephus,
Antiquities Bk12 Ch10:5.)
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. 9:50–51). Later, the Jews fortified it against
Holofernes (
Judith 4:4–5).
Roman period There are traces of an
ancient Roman paving still visible. 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.
Late Roman & Byzantine periods Eusebius'
Onomasticon mentions the 'twin villages' and
St. Jerome describes them as 'little hamlets.'
Jerome (late 4th to early 5th centuries) noted that Bethoron was just a little village at his time. In his eulogy for
Saint Paula, he describes Lower and Upper Bethoron as cities founded by Solomon and destroyed by war.
Arab villages The two
Palestinian Arab Muslim villages of
Beit Ur el-Fauqa and
Beit Ur et-Tahta preserve the
Hebrew–
Canaanite name, and have been identified as the sites of Upper and Lower Bethoron.
Modern period In 1915, the
Palestine Exploration Fund wrote that changes in the main road to Jerusalem had left the Bethoron route "forsaken" and "almost forgotten". The Israeli settlement of
Beit Horon was founded in 1977 on a site adjacent to the two Arab towns.
Highway 443 follows part of the ancient road. ==Archaeology==