JUDEA. - An appellation (Gr. Ἰουδαία, Lat. Iudaea) used absolutely or with γῆ (Jn. 3:22) or χώρα (Mk. 1:5), in use from the earliest Hellenistic times (F.-M. Abel [v. bibl.], I, p. 314 ff.) in pagan writings, in the books of Maccabees, in Flavius Josephus, in the New
Testament (Mt. 2:1, 5, 12, etc.; Lk. 1:65; etc.), to indicate the region west of the Jordan, comprising the territories of the ancient tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Dan and part of Ephraim (cf. Pliny, Hist. natur., V, 14). In a broader sense, the whole of Palestine was called J., according to Roman usage (Lk. 1:5; 4:44; etc.; cf. Tacitus, Hist., II, 78; V, 9; Suetonius, Claud., 28).
J. properly so called lay between Idumea to the south (following a line that, starting from the sea between Ashdod and Ascalon, runs through Bethzur and ends at Engaddi), Samaria to the north, and between the Jordan and the Mediterranean.
It is a region for the most part mountainous (cf. Lk. 1:65), between 700 and 1000 m. above sea level; rugged, with ravines; it slopes down gradually toward the west, with the fertile plain known by the term Išphelāh. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, which often descend precipitously to the Dead Sea, from el-'Aṣūr to its southern extremity (about 80 km.), passing near Ephrem, Bethel, Jericho and Bethlehem, constitute the "desert of Judah" (Mt. 3:1), of about 1700 sq. km. (F.-M. Abel, I, pp. 104 ff., 436).
On the return from the Exile, the approximately 50,000 repatriates, almost all of the tribe of Judah (whence the appellation "Jew," which only Jeremiah used, but as a simple synonym for "people of Israel" [Jer. 31:12] and in opposition to the Moabites [ibid. 40:11 f.], the Chaldeans [ibid. 38:19; 41:1], and the Egyptians [ibid. 44:1]), concentrated within a radius of about 20 km. around Jerusalem, with the exception of Lydda about 44 km. northwest of Jerusalem, Jericho and Senaah (on the strong position of Hirbet el-'Awğā el-Fōqah: cf. F.-M. Abel, II, p. 455) to the east. To the south, in fact, they reached Nefūrah, about 7 km. below Bethlehem; while to the southeast they stopped at Hebron. To the north, after Anathoth, Ramah, and the four cities of the Gibeonite confederation, namely Gibeon (el-Ĝib), Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah (Kefīrah), Beeroth, they reached Bethel (Bejūn) with nearby Ai (Ezra 2:20-25).
The reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah eliminated the contaminations of foreign elements, and J. with Jerusalem always remained the true hearth of Judaism; the center of religious and national life. There dwelt the richest and most illustrious families, the priestly and lay aristocracy. At the time of Jesus it is found almost entirely populated by Israelites by race and religion, who feel their superiority as such; they are exclusivist and rigid observers of the Law and the traditions; harsh and severe, like their region; of narrow and quarrelsome spirit, suspicious toward others (L. Szczepanski [v. bibl.], p. 218).
Nothing is known of the territorial development of the reborn nation until the glorious Maccabean insurrection. The valiant Judas led his warriors into Idumea and against other neighbors (cf. I Macc. 5:3-6, 65; II Macc. 10:16), only to liberate or avenge the persecuted Yahwists. Jonathan was able to annex to J. the three districts of Ephraim, Lydda and Ramatham, on the border with Samaria (I Macc. 11:34), and that of Accaron (ibid. 57; cf. 10:89). The fortunate John Hyrcanus (135-104 B.C.) in 126 B.C. conquered Idumea and forced its last inhabitants to merge with the Jews; in 109 Samaria was destroyed and Scythopolis (Bejsān) conquered, whose possession gave Hyrcanus dominion over the plain of Esdrelon and access to Galilee (Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 250-80). The impetuous Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 B.C.) annexed a broad strip of Transjordan as far as above the lake of Tiberias and conquered Galilee.
When therefore Herod (37-4 B.C.) conquered the Kingdom given to him by the Romans, it already extended from Idumea to Galilee. In 30 B.C. he received from Augustus the cities of Jericho, Gadara, Hippo, Samaria, Anhedon, Joppa, Turris Stratonis (= Caesarea of Palestine); in 23 B.C. he received Trachonitis, Batanea (with the annexed regions); in 20 B.C. the tetrarchy of Zenodorus north of the lake of Gennesaret. His Kingdom (J. in the broad sense: Lk. 1:5) thus embraced the whole of cis-Jordanian Palestine (except the districts of Ascalon and Scythopolis); and to the north it reached as far as the Wādī el-Karn, from where toward the east the border reached Bānijās. In Transjordan, it had the whole region between Hermon and the Jarnūk; plus Perea (from the city of Pella to the Arnon). It thus comprised 6 regions: Idumea, J., Samaria, Galilee, Batanea, Perea.
At the death of Herod, Archelaus (4 B.C.-6 A.D.) received the first three, with the title of ethnarch; Herod Antipas (4 B.C.-39 A.D.) Galilee and Perea, with the title of tetrarch; Philip (4 B.C.-34 A.D.), as tetrarch, received Batanea (with Trachonitis, Auranitis, Gaulanitis, and Ulatha, that is the Iturea of Lk. 3:1). Salome (4 B.C.-10 A.D.) received the cities: Ashdod, Jamnia, Archelais, Phasaelis. After Archelaus was deposed, the province Iudaea was constituted from his territories, a district dependent on the imperial province of Syria, but governed directly by the Roman procurators (v.) (6-41, 44-66 A.D.). Herod Agrippa I, with the title of king (37-44 A.D.), received Batanea (from 37), Galilee and Perea (from 39) and finally Idumea, J. and Samaria with all the maritime cities (from 41); he thus had the whole kingdom of Herod, but for only a few years.
From the death of Herod Agrippa I (44 A.D.) onward, the whole territory passed to the Roman procurators, except Chalcis, given to Herod, brother of the preceding (41-48 A.D.), and then to Agrippa II (50-100 A.D.), who from 53 until his death also had Batanea with Abilene. After the Jewish insurrection and the victory of Titus (66-70 A.D.), the province of J., made independent of Syria, was governed by a legatus Augusti pro praetore of the senatorial order (cf. Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Ind., XIII-XVII). - See pl. LI.
