ELATH (
or 
; in the Sinaitic inscriptions 
):
Idumean port at the northern end of the Ælanitic Gulf, the later Aila. According to the Old Testament, the name of the place is also Elparan. In Deut. ii. 8 it is mentioned with Eziongeber (comp. I Kings ix. 26; II Chron. viii. 17). In Solomon's time the city came into the possession of the Israelites, but afterward it was probably taken from them. Later Uzziah reconquered it (II Kings xiv. 22; II Chron. xxvii. 2), but under Ahaz it was again lost (II Kings xvi. 6). The old city owed its name to the abundance of palms in the vicinity.
Bibliography:
- Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, i. 280;
- Wetzstein, in Delitzsch, Hiob, p. 118;
- Buhl, Gesch. der Edomiten, p. 38.
