ITURAEA Provpala), a district of Syria on the northern border of Bashan, which formed part of the tetrarchy of Philip the brother of Herod (Luke iii. 1). Strabo mentions the country of the lturaeans as adjoining the territory of Chalcis on the one side and Trachonitis on the other, and he says it is a mountainous and rugged region, in habited by bands of freebooters who prey upon their neighbours (xvi. 2). According to Pliny it formed part of Coelesyria (H. N. v. 19); but the latter name was often used in a very wide significa tion. The true position of Ituraea is described incidentally by William of Tyre, Secus mare viam carpentes, Phoenicem Lybanicam ingressi, Paneadem, qux est Caesarea Philippi, a dextris praetereuntes, Ituraeam ingredientes,' etc. (De Bello Sacra, in Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 770. Lightfoot (Opp. ii. 475), Reland (Palaestina, p. to6, seq.), and others who follow their authority (Alford, on Luke iii. 1), have supposed that because in Luke we read that Philip was tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis,' whereas Josephus says his tetrarchy was composed of Trachonitis, Batanaea, and Auranitis (Aneig. xv. to. and I. 4 ; Bell. yud. ii. 6. 3), therefore Batanaea and Auranitis were the same as Ituraea. A survey of the country soon convinced the writer that this uiew is wholly erroneous. The dis tricts mentioned by Luke and Josephus were dis tinct ; but neither of these historians gives a full list of all the little provinces in the tetrarchy of Philip. Each probably gave the names of such as were of most importance in connection with the events he was about to relate. Both Batanaea and Aumaitis appear to have been included in the region of Trachonitis' (T paxcepirtaos xth pas); and as Josephus mentions a part of the House of Zenodorus' which was given to Philip, it unques tionably embraced Ituraea (Antig. xv. to. 3).
The sacred historian states that Ishmael's sons gave their names to the tribes they founded and the territories they occupied. One of them was jetur (11V.; Gen. XXV. 15, 16). At a subsequent period the tribes of Reuben and Gad made war with the Hagarites or Ishmaelites, namely, with yetur, Nephesh, and Nodab, conquered their terri tories, and dwelt in their land. And in immediate connection with the latter statement it is said that tbe children of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land, and thty increased J.rant Bashan unto
Eaal-hermon, and Senir, and Mount Hermon' (1 Chron. v. 19-23). Now this indicates the district occupied by Jetur, and proves its identity with the Greelc Ituraea and the modern year. It lies between Hermon and Bashan (Porter's Dam ascus, ii. 272, seq.) The old inhabitants were not annihilated, they took. refuge in the mountain fast nesses, and returned again to the lowlands at the captivity. In the second century B. C. Aristobulus conquered Ituraea, and gave the inhabitants their choice eithcr to cmbrace the Jewish faith or leave the country. They chose the former, and we find them still there in the time of Strabo and Pliny (Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 3; Strabo, 1. c.) Ituraea was bounded on the south by Auranitis, on the east hy Trachouitis, on the north by Damascus, and on the west by the ridge of Her mon. It probably embraced the eastern slopes of the latter. In name and extent it corresponds ex actly with the modern province of Jedfir The greater part of the province is table land, like Bashan. The soil is in general rich, the pasture excellent, and water abundant ; yet portions of its surface near the mountains are covered with rugged fields of basalt, while conical and cup-shaped hills of the same material occur at intervals. Most of the ancient towns and villages are now mere heaps of ruins, and not one-tcnth of the soil is under cultivation. The settled inhabitants live partly in old houses, built, like those of Bashan, of massive blocks of basalt, and partly in modern hovels con structed of old materials. Several small nomad tribes, perhaps descendants of the ancient Ituraeans, pitch their tents on its rich plains and among its rocky fastnesses. In early spring the vast flocks of the desert Bedawin cover the country like locusts ; the settled inhabitants pay them black mail, and the local nomads retire before them to the mountains. (Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 286 ; Handbook for S. and P., p. 463 ; Miinter, De Rebus Ituraeorum ; Robinson, Bibl. Res., iii. App. p. 149, 1st ed.; Yournal of Sacrea' Literature, July 1854, p. 310.—J. L. P.