Two neighbouring towns, Upper and Lower Beth-horon, guarding the road that climbs from the Aijalon valley onto the plateau around Gibeon; the name means ‘house of Horon’. From below the road is the ascent of Beth-horon and from above the descent, and Joshua 10 uses both names in two verses: Israel pursues the five kings by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and the hail falls on them on the descent of Beth-horon (Joshua 10:10–11, now on these pages). The pass was fought over again long after, in the Maccabean wars of the 160s BC and in a Jewish rout of a Roman army in AD 66. Both villages keep the old name, Beit Ur.