ITT:IRMA (Tt'u-r'a or re'd), (Gr. 'Froupctict, ee too-nzh'yah), a district in. the northeast of Pales tine, forming the tetrarchy of Philip.
The name is supposed to have originated with yet-oor", or Jetzt); enclosure, nomadic camp, one of Ishrnael's sons (I Chron. i :31). In Chron. v :19, this name is given as that of a tribe or na tion with which Reuben (beyond the Jordan) warred ; and from its being joined with the names of other of Ishmael's sons it is evident that a tribe descended from his son Jetur is intimated.
During the exile this and other border coun tries were taken possession of by various tribes, whom, although they are called after the original names, as occupants of the countries which had received those names, we are not bound to regard as descendants of the original possessors. These new Iturmans were eventually subdued by King Aristobulus (B. C. too) ; by whom they were con strained to embrace the Jewish religion, and were at the same time incorporated with the state (Jo seph. Antiq. xiii. it. 3). Nevertheless the Iturx ans were still recognizable as a distinct people in the time of Pliny (Hist. Nat. v. 23). As al ready intimated, Herod the Great, in dividing his dominions among his sons, bequeathed Iturma to Philip, as part of a tetrarehy composed, according to Luke, of Trachonitis and Iturma; and as Jo sephus (Antiq. xvii : 8. 8) mentions his territory
as composed of Auranitis, Trachonitis-, and Bata nwa, it would appear as if the Evangelist re gard Auranitis and Paneas as comprehended un der Iturma. The name is indeed so loosely ap plied by ancient writers that it is difficult to fix its boundaries with precision. Perhaps it may suf fice for general purposes to describe it as a dis trict of indeterminate extent, traversed by a line drawn from the Lake of Tiberias to Damascus; and by different writers, and under different cir cumstances, mentioned with extensions in various directions, beyond the proper limits of the name. The present Jedur probably comprehends the whole or greater part of the proper Iturt-ea. This is described by Burckhardt (Syria, p. 286) as 'lying south of Jebelkessoue, east of Jebel es Sheik (Mount Hermon), and west of the Hadj road.' He adds that it now contains only twenty inhabited villages. By the help of these lights we tnay discover that Iturtea was a plain country, about thirty miles long from north to south, and twenty-four front east to west, having on the north Abilene and the Damascene district ; on the south Auranitis and part of Bashan ; on the east the stony region of Trachonitis; and on the west the hill country of Basilan.