Celesyria

CELESYRIA (Greek Kaílē Syría = "Hollow Syria"). - Name given by the Greeks, after the conquest of Alexander the Great, to the region between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. It is currently called by the Arabs el-Beqa' ("the valley"). In Joshua (11:17; 12:7) there is mention of a valley or plain of Lebanon (Biq'ath hal-Lēbhānōn), which seems to correspond to C. in the strict sense. In the area of Baalbek, ca. 1176 m. above sea level, the rivers Nahr el-'Asī (Orontes) and Nahr el-Liṭānī (Leontes) have their source, and they traverse C. respectively toward the northeast and toward the southwest.

This region was the object of bitter disputes between the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt. When Antiochus III, to settle the quarrels, gave his daughter Cleopatra in marriage to the king of Egypt Ptolemy V Epiphanes, the Egyptians demanded that she bring as dowry C. and the neighboring regions (Judea, Samaria, Phoenicia). From the time the Ptolemies became masters of most of Syria (192 B.C.), the name of C. was extended also to those southern regions. In the books of Maccabees, however, C. always seems distinct from Phoenicia (1 Macc. 10:69; 2 Macc. 3:5-8; 4:4; 8:8; 10:11).

After the Roman conquest (64 B.C.), Phoenicia and Samaria were separated from C., to which Iturea, Trachonitis, Damascene and the Decapolis still belonged.

Pietro De Ambroggi