Ay (also Gaius ; Aiya , Hebrew עיה ( Nehem . 11:31 ) and Aiyat ; Aiath , עית ( Isa. 10:28 ) [1] ) is an ancient Canaanite city.
| Ai | |
| Ai | |
|---|---|
| Ruined | 3 thousand BC e. or 2 thousand BC e. |
| Causes of destruction | According to the Bible, the conquest of the Israelites led by Joshua |
The Bible mentions that it existed during the time of Abraham ( Gen. 12: 8 ), conquered and destroyed to the founding of Joshua , but in the era of Isaiah , apparently rebuilt again ( Isaiah 10:28 ). City dwellers were listed among those who returned from the Babylonian captivity ( Ezek. 2:28 ; Nehem. 7:32 ); by the time of Jerome and Eusebius only ruins remained of the city. [1] [2]
Geography
There are several versions about the exact location of the city.
According to the biblical text, Ay was located near Bethel (Bet-El) and Bet-Aven , somewhat east of the first and north of Mihmas ( Nav. 12: 9 ; Nav. 7: 2 ), two valleys were located near this city - one to the north , another to the west of it ( Nav. 8:11 ) [1] . The city was east of Bethel , an hour's walk from it, and three miles from Jericho .
In the 19th century, there were ruins on this site, which the Arabs called “Churbath Medinath Gai” (that is, “the ruins of the city of Gaya”).
Some scholars of the Holy Land , referring to Jeremiah ( Jer. 49: 3 ), which mentions a city of the same name between the cities of the former country of Moab , believed that there was another city Ay, east of the Jordan ; but S. Munch, in his work “Palèstine”, noted that in the indicated place of Jeremiah, one should not read Ai, but Ar , the capital city of Moab . [2]
The most common identification of the city with the tell is Et-Tell ( Khirbet Haijah ), but excavations date back to the complete destruction of this city by the 24th century BC. e. [3] [4] , which does not correspond to the time of the appearance of Jews in Canaan led by Joshua (XIII century BC. According to the estimates of most historians) [5] .
Another version of the identification of the biblical Aya is Khirbet el-Maqatir .
Cities of the same name
- Ai ( Gai ) is an Ammonite city lying north or west of Heshbon ( Jer. 49: 3 ). There is no information about him in the Bible. According to Rothstein, Kautzsch, and Cornell (in The Sacred Books of the Old Testament), based on reading the Count, this city is not Guy, but Ar, ער (cf. Isa. 15: 1 ) [1] .
- Ai ( Guy ) - border point of the Ephraim inheritance of unknown location ( 1 Ch. 7:28 ) [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Guy, city // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
- ↑ 1 2 Ay, city // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ The Early Bronze Age Citadel at Ai (Et-Tell)
- ↑ Biblical Ai (Et Tell)
- ↑ Paykov, Valery Lazarevich . Book of Joshua: Authorship and Historical and Archaeological Parallels // Science and Life of Israel. - 2014. Archived on March 27, 2019.