History
The village has a millennium-long history. It is mentioned in Assyrian and Ancient Egyptian texts as "Bīt Dagana" and bet dgn respectively. Its Arabic name, Bayt Dajan, preserves its ancient name. Beth Dagon appears in the Joshua 15:41 among the list of "the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward."
It also appears in Joshua 19:27 and in the Tosefta (Ohalot 3:4) transcribed as "Beth Dagan". Moshe Sharon writes that this latter spelling, which corresponds exactly to the Arabic name, may have arisen after the village was conquered by Judea. With Dagon being a head deity in the Philistine pantheon of gods, Sharon speculates that under Judean control, his name was changed to Dagan, meaning "wheat", a symbol of prosperity.
Eusebius describes the village in the 4th century CE as "very large", noting its name then as "Kafar Dagon" or "Caphardagon", situating it between Diospolis (modern Lod) and Yamnia (Yibna). Bayt Dajan also appears on the 6th century Map of Madaba under the name o Dagana. Another Bayt Dajan, not to be confused with this one, is located southeast of Nablus.
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