EDREI ; Sept. 'ESpacts.), one of the ancient capitals of Bashan, and the residence of Og, the last of its giant kings (Deut. i. 4 ; Josh. xii. 4). Beside it Og assembled his forces to oppose the Israelites, and there his army was defeated, and he himself slain (Deut. s). Edrei, with the other cities of Bashan then fell into the hands of the Israelites (ver. so), and was allotted to the half tribe of Manasseh (Josh. xiii. 12, 31). It is doubt ful whether it was ever occupied by the conquerors, at least for any lengthened period, as there is not a single reference to it in their subsequent history. Its singular position may probably account for this.
There are two ancient towns in Bashan which now claim the honour of being the representatives of Edrei. The one is called Edhra (t_ NI) and is situated on the south-west angle of the rocky district of Lejah, the Argob of the Hebrews, and the Trachonitis of the Greeks. The other is called Dera ,,±), and stands in a shallow wady in the open plain of Hauran, about fourteen miles south of Edhra. Most modern geographers have assumed, apparently without much investiga tion, that Dera marks the real site of Edrei (Reland, Pal., p. 547 ; Ritter, Pal. and Syr. ii. 834 ; Burckhardt and Leake, in Travels in Syria, pp. 12, and 241). The writer has been led to form a different opinion, and it may be necessary to state the grounds for it.
1. The name Edrei, which signifies `strength,' and the fact that it was the capital of an ancient and warlike nation, naturally lead to the belief that it was a very strong city. Ancient cities were al ways, when possible, built on the tops of hills, or in rocky fastnesses, so as to be easily defended. Edhra stands on a ridge of jagged rocks, and is so encompassed with cliffs and defiles as to be almost inaccessible. Dera, on the contrary, is in the open plain, and has no traces of old fortifications (G. Robinson, Travels in Palestine, ii. 168).
2. Dera has neither well nor fountain to attract ancient colonists to an undefended site. Its supply of water was brought by an aqueduct from a great distance (Ritter, Pal. and Syr. ii. 3. The ruins of Edhra are more ancient, more important, and much more extensive than those of Dera. None of the buildings in the latter seem older than the Roman period (Dr. Smith in Robin son's B. R. iii. app. 152, 1st cd.) The identification of Dera and Edrei can be traced back to Eusebius. He says Edrci is now called Adara ('Asap:), and is a noted city of Arabia, twenty-four miles from Bostra (Ono»zast. s. v. Esdrai). In another place he gives the dis tance at twenty-five miles (Id. s. v. Astaroth). Adara is laid down in the Peutinger Tables as here indicated (Reland, Pal.) There can be no doubt that the city thus referred to is the modern Dera ; but the statement of Eusebius is not sufficient to counterbalance the other evidence in favour of Edhra. Dera was probably better known to him
as lying on a great road leading to the metropolis of the province ; and the similarity in name gave rise to the error which has since been propa gated.
The ruins of Edhra arc among the most exten sive in Hauran. The site is a strange one. It is a rocky promontory projecting from the Lejah (TuAcHONITts), having an elevation of some thirty feet above the plain which spreads out beyond it smooth as a sea, and of unrivalled fertility. The ruins are nearly three miles in circuit, and riaave strange wild look, rising up in black shattered masses, from the midst of black rocks. A number of the ancient houses still remain, though half buried beneath heaps of more modern ruins. Their walls, roofs, and doors are all of stone ; they are low, massive, and simple in plan ; and they bear the marks of the most remote antiquity. Some of them are doubtless as old as the time of the Re phaim ; and they are thus specimens of primeval architecture such as no other country could pro duce. At a later period Edhra was adorned with many public edifices, now mostly in ruins. A large church still stands at the northern end of the town. A Greek inscription over the door informs us that it was originally a heathen temple, was con verted into a church, and dedicated to St. Georgc in A.D. 516. There are the walls of another church of St. Elias ; and, in the centre of the town, a cloistered quadrangle, which appears to have been at first attached to a forum, and after wards to a cathedral. On the public buildings and private houses are many Greek inscriptions. Some were copied by Burckhardt, and some by the writer of this article. These shew that Edhra was a most important place from the time of the Roman conquest ; and that it, and not Dera, was the epis copal city referred to by Epiphanius, and in the Notitia Eccleszastica•, as ranking next to Bostra (Reland, Pal. pp. 219, 223, 548 ; St. Paul's Geogr. Sac. p. 295). It was still a strong place at the time of the Crusades (Geste Del per Frances, pp. 895, 896, 1031) ; and was one of the capitals of Hauran in the days of Abulfeda (Tabula Syr., p. 97). When visited by the writer in 1854 it contained about fifty families, a few of which were Christian, and worshipped in the old church of St. George. An account of the ruins will be found in the writer's Damascus, ii. 219 ; Handbook for S. and P. ,532 ; Burckhardt's SyrM, 57 sq.; Ritter, zit supra.
2. A town in the mountains of Naphtali, near Kedcsh (Josh. xix. 37). About three miles south of the ruins of Kedesh is a conical hill called A7iuraibeli, the ruin,' which was anciently occu pied by a small fortified town. This may perhaps mark the site of Edrei. (Handbook far S. and P. 442.)—J. L. P.