ESDRAELON. - A plain of Palestine, between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, Galilee and Samaria, thus called (Judg. 1:8; 4:5; 7:3) in a Hellenized form of Jizé' (Vulg. Jezrael) with the extensions of the d. In the time of the Hasmoneans and of Herod it was called simply "the great plain" (1 Macc. 12:19; Flavius Josephus, Bell. Iud., III, 12).
It has the shape of an irregular triangle with a base of 35 km, between the southern slopes of Carmel and the flanks of the mountains of Samaria, and sides of 25 km, pointing to the base of Tabor. Watered by the river Muqaṭa' (the biblical Kishon), which flows into the Mediterranean, and by the Nahr Ġalūd (Harod, Judg. 7:1), which empties into the Jordan, the vast depression is notably fertile, though in some zones marshy. Owing to the unevenness of the terrain - the height varies from 25 to 100 m above sea level - particular zones are distinguished within it, such as the "field of Megiddo" (2 Chron. 35:32; Zech. 12:11) and the valley of Jezreel (Judg. 6:33; 7:1).
A junction of the roads that linked the Empires of the East to those of the West, it was always a favored field of battle, with the memories of the famous victories of Thutmose III, of Barak (Judg. 4:5), of Gideon (Judg. 7:1), of the Philistines against King Saul (1 Sam. 31:7), of Ahab over the Arameans (2 Kings 20:26), of the pharaoh Necho over Josiah (2 Kings 23:29), in modern times of Saladin, of Kléber and Napoleon.
Its present name is Marj b. 'Amir; since 1920 the Zionists have created numerous colonies there.
Bibliography
Donato Baldi