Adummim () is a place-name mentioned in the biblical Book of Joshua in connection with the ascent of Adummim.
Location
Adummim was apparently on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho in the Judaean desert, today in the West Bank. It is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (, ) as being "on the south side of the stream", which Matthew Easton (1897) identified with Wadi Kelt, and across from Gilgal or/and Geliloth. Easton claimed that it was nearly halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho, and now bears the name of Tal'at ed-Dumm.
The "ascent of Adummim" is a very important historical road that leads up from Jericho towards Jerusalem, following the top of a ridge that forms the southern bank of Wadi Qelt and separates it from Wadi Tal'at ad-Damm.
Name
The name Adummim is related to , the Hebrew word for "red", and can be translated as "red places", which may refer to the reddish streaks found in the stone of the area. The red-brown hills of the area on the road descending from Jerusalem to Jericho are made of iron-oxide-tinged limestone. The Ascent of Adummim was known as the "Ascent of Blood" by the Crusaders. The so-called Inn of the Good Samaritan has been named based on this assumption.
Archaeological sites
St George's Monastery (Wadi Qelt)
thumb|St George's Monastery on the southern side of Wadi Qelt
A lavra established in the 420s in Wadi Qelt and reorganised as a monastery around the year 500 became known as St George's Monastery. Rebuilt since the 19th century, it hangs spectacularly from the cliffs on the south side of the wadi, across from the ridge rising from the Plain of Jericho towards Jerusalem and known as the "ascent of Adummim".
Inn of the Good Samaritan (Khan al-Hatruri)
thumb|The Good Samaritan Inn (Khan al-Hatruri, seldom: Khan al-Ahmar)
Another khan built along the Ascent of Adummim, the Good Samaritan Inn, known in Arabic both as Khan al-Hatruri, and sometimes, quite confusingly (see the other khan mentioned above), as Khan al-Ahmar, stands east of the Highway 1-Route 417 junction. Eusebius mentions the Late Roman fort of Maledomni, whose traces have disappeared under the Templar castle of Maldoim (see below).
In the Early Byzantine period, there seems to have been a fortress at the site (4th-5th century), replaced in the 6th century by a square-shaped hostel, erected around a central courtyard, providing Christian pilgrims with rooms, water from a central cistern, and a large church for worship.
Templar castle of Maldoim
Across the modern highway from the Inn of the Good Samaritan/Khan al-Hatruri, are the archaeological remains of a medieval castle known to the Crusaders as Maldoim, Adumim, or Rouge Cisterne / Cisterna Rubea (Red Cistern), among other names.
Maldoim was built by the Templars before 1169/72, probably at the site of a Late Roman fort, to protect the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. It stands at the top of the "Ascent of Blood", as the Ascent of Adummim was known to the Crusaders. The 2025 discovery of a mosaic under the castle floor suggests the presence of a Byzantine structure there.