TRACONITIDE (Gr. ἡ Τραχωνίτης χώρα). - Territory east of the Jordan which, together with that of Iturea, formed the tetrarchy of Philip (v.), son of Herod the Great (Lc. 3, 1).
It was situated south of Damascus (Strabo, XVI, 2,20), and its centre consisted of the region covered by lava flows, today el-Leğā. According to Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Lud., XVI, 9,1), the Τραχών extended westward as far as Ulatta and Paneas, and southward to the borders of Batanea and 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 Nabataeans when Pompey the Great, in 65 B.C., with his legions destroyed every Jewish and Arab power in the Hawrān in favour of the Greek cities. In 15 B.C. it was in the power of a certain Zenodorus who, in order to increase his revenues, practised brigandage there (Flavius Josephus, op. cit., XV, 10,1, 2). At the request of the inhabitants, 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 dominion of his son Philip, and in A.D. 34 it was included in the province of Syria until 37, when Caligula gave it to Herod Agrippa II. It subsequently formed part of the Roman province of Arabia. Donato Baldi