Bectileth, the Plain of

Bec'tileth, The Plain Of (τὸ πεδίον Βαικτιλαίθ v. r. Βεκτελέθ=Heb. בֵּית קטֶלֶת, house of slaughter), mentioned in Judith 2:21, as lying between Nineveh and Cilicia. The name has been compared with Bactaella (Βακταιαλλή), a town of Syria named by Ptolemy (69:35) as situated in Castiotis (v. 15); Bactiali in the Peutinger Tables, which place it 21 miles from Antioch (comp. the Itin. Antonin.). The most important plain in this direction is the Bekaa, or valley lying between the two chains of Lebanon; and it is possible that Bectileth is a corruption of that well-known name, if, indeed, it be a historical name at all. See Mannert, Alt. Geog. VI, 1, 456.