TRACHONITIS (Gr. Hē Trachōnítēs Chōra). - Territory east of the Jordan, which together with that of Iturea formed the tetrarchy of Philip (v.), son of Herod the Great (Lk. 3:1).
It was situated south of Damascus (Strabo, XVI, 2,20), and its center consisted of the region covered with lava flows, today el-Leğā. According to Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Jud., XVI, 9,1) the Τραχών extended west as far as Ulatha and Paneas and south to the edges of Batanea and of Gebel Hawrān (ibid., XV, 10,3; XVII, 2,1).
Its history begins with the appearance of the Greek name Τραχών ("rough place"); it was held by the Nabateans when Pompey the Great in 65 B.C. with his legions annihilated every Jewish and Arab power in the Hawrān in favor of the Greek cities. In 15 B.C. it was in the power of a certain Zenodorus who, in order to increase his revenues, practiced brigandage there (Flavius Josephus, op. cit., XV, 10,1, 2). At the request of the residents, Varro, governor of Syria, dispossessed Zenodorus of it and gave it to Herod the Great, who restored peace and security there. At his death it passed into the domain of his son Philip and in 34 A.D. it was included in the province of Syria until 37, when Caligula gave it to Herod Agrippa II. It then formed part of the Roman province of Arabia.
Donato Baldi