Adummim

Adummim (meaning the red ones or bloody things) was a pass or ascent on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, mentioned in Joshua 15:7 and 18:17 as a boundary marker between the tribal territories of Judah and Benjamin. The name likely refers to the reddish limestone of the area or, according to some ancient authorities, to bloodshed that occurred there. The road through this pass was notoriously dangerous in antiquity, a steep and winding descent through the Judean wilderness favored by bandits.

The pass is traditionally identified with the modern Tal'at ed-Damm, approximately halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho at an elevation change of over 3,000 feet. Its character as a perilous wilderness road makes it the almost certain setting of Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan, in which a man traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho fell among thieves (Luke 10:30) — a scenario entirely credible to any first-century audience familiar with the road through Adummim.