Batanea

Batanaea or Batanea was an area often mentioned between the first century BCE and the fourth century CE. It is often mixed with the biblical Bashan, the part of the Biblical Holy Land, northeast of the Jordan River, as its Latinized form.

Bashan was, in biblical context, the whole region east of the Jordan, above Gadara and Abila until the Jabal al-Druze, the old Hauran (Bashan) mountains.

History

Bataneaea was one of the four post-exile divisions of the area of Bashan. Today, as it was during Greco-Roman times, Batanaea is more commonly considered to be the area east of the Leja.

The region south of the Leja and west of the Hauran (Auranitis) called Nuqrah to the southwestern edge of the Leja is sometimes falsely called Batanaea. This is because of the permanent mix with the name of the Basan/Bashan region. The biblical Bashan/Basan was the whole area from Adra (Deraa) at its ancient capital to the Hauran mountains. Its highest peak may be the Hill of Basan referenced in .

In the 1st century BCE, the land was acquired by Herod the Great, who established a community of Jews from Babylon who were brought to Batanaea for the purpose of maintaining order against the banditry of the Trachonites.Paneas/Caesarea Philippi and the World of the Gospels, John Francis Wilson
/ref> Upon Herod's death in 4 BCE, Batanaea passed to his son Philip as part of his inheritance. In some sources, Philip is referred to as the "Tetrarch of Batanea" with the capital at Caesarea Philippi, although his lands were more extensive than this.

On Philip's death in 34 AD, Batanea briefly became part of the Roman province of Syria, but in 37 AD it was established as a kingdom and passed to king Herod Agrippa I, and then in 53 AD to his son, king Herod Agrippa II. Following his death in 100 AD, it was once again annexed to the Roman province of Syria.

New Testament

D. A. Carson, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, says that the " Bethany across the Jordan" of is actually Batanaea, transliterated from Aramaic to Greek. It is thus distinct from the other, more prominent Bethany in the gospels. This contradicts the general consensus, which is that Bethany across the Jordan is situated on the Jordan River near Jericho, on either the east or west bank of the river.

Maps

File:Trachonitis.jpg
File:1889 Palestine, physical.jpg
File:Palestine in the time of Jesus.jpg, Theological map
File:Near east lrg.jpg
File:00-kiepert-HAURAN-1860-k.jpg, The regions east of Damascus, by Kiepert after Consul Wetzstein, 1860
File:02-Map of Palestine K-v-Raumer 1868 - beni israel hermije---pal1110-copyright by jewish national library.jpg, Map of Palestine, 1868, by K.v. Raumer
File:The Decapolis at the time of Plinus t.E. and before 106 A.D..jpg, Map with the regions of the Decapolis between the first century BC and the late first century AD
File:07-english map of 1938-detail- nla.obj-2969362830-1.jpg, 1938 English topographic map (detail)
File:06-english map of 1915-detail- nla.obj-234275744.jpg, English topographic map with Batanea (Beteniye) and Nukra marked
File:04-french map L-Thuillier um 1880 -detail-copyright by the jewish national and univercity library.jpg, alt=
File:05-Karte des Ostjordanlandes uebersicht-Deutscher Palaestina Verein-Leipzig 1908-Detail.jpg, 1908 German map (detail)

References

{{Reflist

Further reading

''Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal''

Former kingdoms
Hebrew Bible regions
Hebrew Bible mountains
New Testament places
Geography of Syria
Herod Agrippa
Herod the Great
Philip the Tetrarch