ARGOB (ar-gob), (Heb. -0 ar-gobe').
I. A district in Basilan, east of the Lake of Gennesareth, which was given to the half-tribe of Manasseh (Deut. 13; s Kings iv:t3; 2 Kings xv:25).
(1) Description. It is named only four times in the Bible. It is about 3o miles long by 20 miles wide, chiefly a field of basalt (black rock), ele vated about 3o feet above the surrounding plain, and bordered by a rocky rampart of broken cliffs. It once contained 6o strong and fortified cities, the ruins of many of them being still to be seen. It is now called the Lejah.
(2) History. Jair took 6o of its cities (Deut. iii :4, 5. 14). Absalom fled thither (2 Sam. xili :38). Solomon placed an officer over its 60 great cities with brazen walls (I Kings iv :13). Porter describes this region as "literally crowded with towns and large villages; and though a vast majority of them are deserted, they are not ruined. I have more than once entered a de serted city in the evening, taken possession of a comfortable house, and spent the night in peace.
Many of the houses in the ancient cities of Bashan are perfect as if only finished yesterday. The walls are sound, the roofs unbroken, and even the window-shutters in their places. These ancient cities of Bashan probably contain the very oldest specimens of domestic architecture in the world." (See Giant Cities of Bashan.) But these ruins are now ascertained to belong to the Roman period, and after the Christian era. The American Palestine Exploration Society has ex plored that East Jordan region and taken photo graphs of ruins of theaters, palaces, and temples (Schaff, Bib. Diet.).
2. The capital of the region of Argob. Eusebius says that Argob was fifteen miles west from Gerasa. It is probably the same as Ragab, or Ragabah, mentioned in the Mishna, in Menachoth (1 hi :3), and in Josephus (Antiy. lib. xiii, cap. 23). The Samaritan translation, instead of Argob, gen erally puts Rigobah.