AELANA
or AILA (Tell el-Khuleifa) Israel.
An ancient port at the N end of the NE arm of the Red
Sea, known today as the Gulf of Aqaba. In Biblical literature this place is frequently mentioned, together with
Ezion-geber, as an important naval station on the trade
route to “Ophir.”
Early in the Hellenistic period the Ptolemies of Egypt
had established a port named Berenike “not far from the
city of Aelana” (
Joseph. AJ 8.163). Strabo (
16.759）
knew the port of Aila (Elath) at the head of the Arabian
Gulf, at a distance of 1260 stadia from Gaza. From
Early Hellenistic times the port of Aila had apparently
been in the hands of the Nabateans and was prominent
in their Indo-Arabian spice trade. Probably Strabo's
reference to the caravans of camels crossing the desert
from Aila to Gaza should be understood in this context.
This is also confirmed by Pliny (
HN 5.65). Ptolemy
(
Geog. 16.1) in the early 2d c. A.D. knew the village of
Aelana in Arabia Petraea, the name by which he refers
to the Nabatean kingdom. The region of Aila retained
its importance in Late Roman and Byzantine times. During the early 2d c. A.D. a unit of the Legio III Cyrenaica
was stationed near Aila, probably in order to guard the
road to the copper mines at Sinai, the exploitation of
which was renewed at this period. About A.D. 300, during the reign of Diocletian, this legion was replaced by
the Legio X Fretensis (Euseb.
Onom. 6.17-20; 8.1.). In
the 4th c. Aila became the seat of the prefect of that
legion (
Not. Dig. 73.16.30). In the Byzantine period Aila
must have been an important station on the pilgrim's
way to Mt. Sinai.
The remains of ancient Aelana should be probably
sought at Tell el-Khuleifa, where remains of an Israelite
fortified emporium have been unearthed. Persian, Attic,
Roman-Nabatean, and Byzantine pottery attest to the
later occupation of the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
N. Glueck, “Explorations in Eastern
Palestine II,”
AASOR 15 (1935) 26-7, 42-5, 47-8, 138-9;
3 (1939) 3-7; M. Avi-Yonah,
The Holy Land from the
Persian to the Arab Conquests (
536 B.C. to A.D. 640).
A Historical Geography (1966).
A. NEGEV
