Azotus, Mount

Azo'tus, Mount

(Α᾿ζώτου ὄρος or ῎Αζωτος ὄρος; Vulg. mons Azoti), a spot to which, in the battle in which Judas Maccabeus fell, he pursued the broken right wing of Bacchides' army (1 Maccabees 9:15). Josephus (Ant. 12, 11, 1) calls it Aza (Α᾿ζά, or Azara, ῎Αζαρα, according to many MSS.), which Ewald finds in a mountain west of Birzeit, under the form Atara, the Philistine Ashdod being, in his opinion, out of the question. But it is possible that the last-named encampment, Eleasa, was at some distance.