SHARON (Heb. Haš-Šarōn). - 1. Biblical name of the stretch of the Palestinian plain that extends along the coast from Carmel as far as Jaffa, celebrated for its fertility (Is. 35:2), for the abundance of its pastures (Is. 65:10; 1 Par. 27:29), for its meadows flowering with narcissi and anemones (Cant. 2:1).
In antiquity the alluvial zone between Carmel and Caesarea rivaled, with its dense woodlands and thickets, the glory of Lebanon and Carmel (Is. 35:2), and for this reason S. is translated by ὁ ἁρμῶς (ibid. 65:10), a name also adopted by Flavius Josephus (Bell. Jud., I, 13,2; Antiq. Jud., XIV, 13,1) and by Strabo (XVI, 2,27). To the fertile fields, watered by numerous streams, which extend from Nahr ez-Zerqā as far as Nahr el-'Auġā', where the plain widens inland to as much as 20 km, the name of S. is applied, translated τὸ πεδίον (Cant. 2:1). Eusebius (On., 163,2) specifies that "a Caesarea Palaestina usque ad oppidum Ioppe omnis terra quae cernitur, dicitur Saronas". After a long period of abandonment during which the plain had become marshy, today, in the State of Israel, it has regained its proverbial magnificence. From Tel Aviv to Haifa numerous agricultural villages have arisen, and over the reclaimed land spread luxuriant citrus groves, olive groves, vineyards, vegetable gardens, and the rational cultivation of narcissi and anemones.
2. Canaanite city, conquered by Thutmose III (list no. 25), it is mentioned in the el-'Amārna letters (Sarōna, 241,4); its geographical location is uncertain, that is, whether it corresponds to a city of the coastal plain conquered by Joshua (Josh. 12:18), or to a locality in Galilee between Tabor and the Lake of Tiberias, which preserves the name Hirbet Sarūnah, southwest of el-Aḥmah, and in whose vicinity the Jewish colony of Sarona has arisen.
3. Pastoral region in Transjordan (1 Chron. 5:16), distinct from Gilead and Bashan, mentioned on the stele of Mesha (line 12), probably synonymous with mīšōr ("plain").
Bibliography2 works
Donato Baldi