Ilut
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Local council (from 1991) | |
 Ilut | |
  Ilut | |
| Coordinates:32°43′00″N35°15′45″E / 32.71667°N 35.26250°E /32.71667; 35.26250 | |
| Grid position | 174/235PAL |
| Country |  Israel |
| District | Northern |
| Government | |
| • Head of Municipality | Ibrahim Abu Ras |
| Area | |
• Total | 3,051dunams (3.051 km2; 1.178 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
• Total | 8,894 |
| • Density | 2,915/km2 (7,550/sq mi) |
| Ethnicity | |
| • Arabs | 99.99% |
| • Others | 0.01% |
| Name meaning | possibly from the name of a tree[2] |
Ilut, also speltʿAilut (Arabic:عيلوط;Hebrew:עִלּוּט), is anArablocal council in theNorthern District ofIsrael. It was declared a local council in 1991. In 2023 its population was 8,894.[1]
Ilut is located to the northwest ofNazareth. The town is home to theIlut Stadium, the home ground ofMaccabi Ahi Nazareth.
Sherds from theMiddle Bronze Age II and theIron Age have been found here.[3]
A burial cave from thePersian era have been excavated[4] andHellenistic (3rd–2nd centuries BCE), remains have also been found here.[3][5]
Historical geographer,Samuel Klein (1886–1940), suggested identifying the village with the 2nd century town known as‘Ayṯoh-lo, mentioned in rabbinical sources and home to one of the 24priestly families that settled in theGalilee after theBar Kokhba revolt.[6]
A fish breeding pond, made inRoman era, and in use until the lateByzantine (5th–6th centuries CE) era have been excavated in the centre of Ilut, near a perennial spring. It was probably used for raisingSt. Peter's fish.[7] Other building remains, pottery and coins have also been found dating from the Roman and Byzantine eras.[3]
Remains from theUmayyad (7th–8th centuries CE)[5]Fatimid (10th–11th centuries CE)[5]Abbasid[5]Crusader[5] andMamluk (13th–15th centuries CE)[3][5] eras have also been found here.
In 1517, the village was included in theOttoman Empire with the rest ofPalestine, and in the 1596tax-records it appeared as 'Aylut, located in theNahiya ofTabariyya of theLiwa ofSafad. The population was 9 households, allMuslim. They paid a tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 200Akçe.[8][9] A map fromNapoleon's invasion of 1799 byPierre Jacotin showed the place as an unnamed village.[10]
In 1838, it was noted as a Muslim and Greek Christian village in the Nazareth district.[11]
In 1859, the village had a population of 180 souls.[12]
In 1875Victor Guérin found it to have no more than 200 inhabitants. The village was situated in a valley and on the lower flanks of a mound. Some gardens surrounded it, planted with fig and olive trees and surrounded by a cactus hedge. He further noticed, near aOualy, the site of an oldchurch which had been completely razed. There were only five or six sections of limestonecolumns lying on the ground. As for the Oualy, it seemed to have been built with materials from the church. The Moslems there worshipped inside it a tomb dedicated to NebyLouth; the same person whose tomb was found inBani Na'im.[13]
A population list from about 1887 showed thatAilut had about 350 Muslim inhabitants.[14]
At the time of the1922 census of PalestineʿAilut had a population of 501, allMuslims,[15] increasing in the1931 census to 834, still all Muslims, in a total of 165 houses.[16]
In the1945 statistics the population was 1,310, allMuslims,[17] while the total land area was 17,557dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 370 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 7,501 for cereals,[19] while 30 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[20]
In 2013, an archaeological survey of the southernmost part of the site was conducted by Edna Amos on behalf of theIsrael Antiquities Authority (IAA).[21]
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