Esdraelon
   the Greek form of the Hebrew "Jezreel," the name of the great
   plain (called by the natives Merj Ibn Amer; i.e., "the meadow of
   the son of Amer") which stretches across Central Palestine from
   the Jordan to the Mediterraanean, separating the mountain ranges
   of Carmel and Samaria from those of Galilee, extending about 14
   miles from north to south, and 9 miles from east to west. It is
   drained by "that ancient river" the Kishon, which flows westward
   to the Mediterranean. From the foot of Mount Tabor it branches
   out into three valleys, that on the north passing between Tabor
   and Little Hermon (Judg. 4:14); that on the south between Mount
   Gilboa and En-gannim (2 Kings 9:27); while the central portion,
   the "valley of Jezreel" proper, runs into the Jordan valley
   (which is about 1,000 feet lower than Esdraelon) by Bethshean.
   Here Gideon gained his great victory over the Midianites (Judg.
   7:1-25). Here also Barak defeated Sisera, and Saul's army was
   defeated by the Philistines, and king Josiah, while fighting in
   disguise against Necho, king of Egypt, was slain (2 Chr.
   35:20-27; 2 Kings 23-29). This plain has been well called the
   "battle-field of Palestine." "It has been a chosen place for
   encampment in every contest carried on in this country, from the
   days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, in the history of
   whose wars with Arphaxad it is mentioned as the Great Plain of
   Esdraelon, until the disastrous march of Napoleon Bonaparte from
   Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Crusaders,
   Frenchmen, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs,
   warriors out of every nation which is under heaven, have pitched
   their tents in the plain, and have beheld the various banners of
   their nations wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon" (Dr.
   Clark).