Adoraim

Adora'im (Heb. Adora'yim, אֲוֹרִיַם, two mounds or dwellings; Sept. Α᾿δωραϊvμ v. r. Α᾿δωραί), a town, doubtless in the south-west of Judah, since it is enumerated along with Hebron and Mareshah as one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam (2Ch 11:9). Under the name of Adora it is apparently mentioned in the Apocrypha (ςΑδωρα, 1 Maccabees 13:20), and also often by Josephus (ςΑδωρα or Δῶρα, Ant. 8:10, 1; 13:6, 5; 15, 4; War, 1, 2, 6; 8, 4), who usually connects it with Maressa, as cities of the later Idumaea (see Reland, Paloest. p. 547). It was captured by Hyrcanus at the same time with Maressa, and rebuilt by Gabinius (Joseph. Ant. 13, 9, 1; 14:5, 3). Dr. Robinson discovered the site under the name of Dura, a large village without ruins, five miles W. by S. from Hebron, on the eastern slope of a cultivated hill, with olive-groves and fields of grain all around (Researches, 3, 2-5; comp. Schwarz, Palest. p. 113).