PEREA. - Region east of the Jordan, which remained Jewish after the conquest and the new organization of Syria carried out by Pompey in 64-65 B.C. P. extended from the fortress of Machaerus ([v.] Hirbet el-Mukaver) in the south, as far as Pella ([v.] Hirbet Fahil) in the north, and from the Jordan and part of the Dead Sea in the west as far as the territory of the cities of Gerasa and Philadelphia and the Kingdom of the Nabataeans in the east (Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., III, 3, 3). The expression "beyond the Jordan" πέραν τοῦ Ἰωδῆνου is used as an indeclinable proper name in the enumeration together with Galilee and Judea, whose peoples flocked to hear the preaching of Jesus (Mt. 4, 15, 25; Mk. 3, 78). The region, also called "Judea beyond the Jordan" (Mt. 19, 1), was visited by Jesus, and twice as far as Bethany of Transjordan (Jn. 1, 28; 3, 26; 10, 40).
The name Περσίᾳ appears for the first time in Flavius Josephus (Bell. Iud., II, 43), in Pliny (Nat. hist., V, 14) and in Ptolemy (Geogr., V, 15, 6).
Governed by a sanhedrin, resident at Amathus (= Tell 'Ammatā) in the administrative distribution established by Sabinus (57-55 B.C.), then entrusted by Augustus to Pheroras, brother of Herod (Antiq. Iud., XV, 10, 3), incorporated into the Kingdom of Herod, at the latter's death (4 B.C.) it formed part of the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas (4-39), who in honor of the Emperor's wife gave the name of Livia to the city of Rammatha (Tell er-Rāmeh) in the Jordan valley. The Emperor Nero united it with the Kingdom of Agrippa II.
"P. of Palestine" was the official name in the established Roman province of Palestine (cf. Eusebius, Onom., 104, 14). In Byzantine times, amputated of its southern part, it continued to be divided into a region (Amathus, Gadara and Livia). The metropolis of P. (Bell. Iud., IV, 414) was Gadara, today Tell Gādūr, 6 km. south of es-Salt.
Bibliography2 works
Donato Baldi