What is "abila"

Abila is the name of several places:

• Abila (Decapolis), also called Seleucia, northeast of Irbid, Jordan
• Abilene (biblical)
• Abila Lysaniou, capital of ancient Abilene, northwest of Damascus, Syria
• Abila (Peraea), northeast of the northern shore of the Dead Sea, currently in northwestern Jordan
• Abila, a Latin name for Ávila, Spain

• Monte Hacho (Abila Mons), the southern of the Pillars of Hercules on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta

Abila, distinguished as Abila in the Decapolis (, Abila Dekapoleos) and also known for a time as Seleucia (, Seleúkeia), was an ancient city in the Decapolis; the site, now referred to as is occupied by two tells (Tell al-Abila and Tell Umm al-Amad) and the village of Hartha, approximately north-northeast of Irbid, Jordan. The site is east of the Sea of Galilee and south of the Yarmouk River. The name "Abila" is derived from the Semitic word Abel (in Hebrew, "meadow" and in Arabic, "green growth").

Abila – also Biblical: Abel-Shittim or Ha-Shittim (or simply Shittim) – was an ancient city east of the Jordan River in Moab, later Peraea, near Livias, about twelve km. northeast of the north shore of the Dead Sea; the site is now that of Abil-ez-Zeit, Jordan.

Abel-Shittim, ( Hebrew meaning "Meadow of the Acacias"), is found only in Numbers xxxiii.49; but Ha-Shittim (Hebrew meaning "The Acacias"), evidently the same place, is mentioned in Numbers xxv.1, Joshua iii.1, and Micah, vi.5. It was the forty-second encampment of the Israelites, associated with Israelite cultural integration and inter-marriage with the Moabite residents, the heresy of Peor and the Covenant of Peace according to which God recognized the zeal of Phinehas and the permanence of the Aaronic priesthood. It was also the final headquarters of Joshua before he crossed the Jordan.

The location is translated as Shittim in the Geneva Bible, Jerusalem Bible, King James Version, New International Version and New Revised Standard Version. The Complete Jewish Bible and Orthodox Jewish Bible both translate as Sheetim. The Good News Translation has Acacia Valley and the New King James Version has Acacia Grove.

Josephus stated that there was in his time a town, Abila, full of palm trees, at a distance of sixty stadia from the Jordan, and described it as the spot where Moses delivered the exhortations of Deuteronomy. There is to this day an acacia grove not far from the place, although the palms mentioned by Josephus are no longer there.