Bethoron (also Beth-Horon) (House of Horon) was an ancient biblical town strategically located on the Gibeon-Aijalon road, guarding the "ascent of Beth-Horon". Upper Bethoron appears in Joshua and Lower Bethoron in ..
The Hebrew name Bethoron (Beit Horon בית חורון) is derived from the name of an Egypto-Canaanite deity, Horon, mentioned in Ugaritic literature.
According to 1 Chronicles , Lower Bethoron was built by She'era, daughter of Beriah, son of Ephraim.Eusebius' Onomasticon mentions the 'twin villages' and St. Jerome describes them as 'little hamlets.' From Egyptian sources (Muller, As. und Europa, etc.) it appears that Bethoron was one of the places conquered by Shishak of Egypt from Rehoboam.
The borderline between Benjamin and Ephraim 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 adhered to the Kingdom of Judah. Solomon "built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars" (2 Chronicles 8:5; 1 Kings 9:17). One or both of the towns was a Levitical city (Joshua 21:22; I Chron. 6:53).