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'''Iturea''' is the [[Greek language|Greek]] name of a region in the Levant during the Late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It is mentioned only once in the [[Christian Bible]],<ref>[[Book of Luke|Luke]] iii. 1.</ref> while in historical sources the name of the people, the Itureans (Greek: {{lang|grc|Ἰτουραῖοι}} or {{lang|grc|Ἰτυραῖοι}}), occurs. The latter are first mentioned by [[Eupolemus]] – as one of the tribes conquered by [[David]]<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Præparatio Evangelica]]'', ix. 30.</ref> – and subsequently by [[Strabo]], [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Josephus]], and others, and they designate Itureans as an Ismaelite people. They were known to the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] as a predatory people,<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Philippics,'' ii. 112.</ref> and were appreciated by them for their great skill in archery.<ref>[[Julius Caesar|Cæsar]], ''Bellum Africanum,'' 20.</ref> A southern branch of the Itureans |
'''Iturea''' is the [[Greek language|Greek]] name of a region in the Levant during the Late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It is mentioned only once in the [[Christian Bible]],<ref>[[Book of Luke|Luke]] iii. 1.</ref> while in historical sources the name of the people, the Itureans (Greek: {{lang|grc|Ἰτουραῖοι}} or {{lang|grc|Ἰτυραῖοι}}), occurs. The latter are first mentioned by [[Eupolemus]] – as one of the tribes conquered by [[David]]<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Præparatio Evangelica]]'', ix. 30.</ref> – and subsequently by [[Strabo]], [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Josephus]], and others, and they designate Itureans as an Ismaelite people. They were known to the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] as a predatory people,<ref>[[Cicero]], ''Philippics,'' ii. 112.</ref> and were appreciated by them for their great skill in archery.<ref>[[Julius Caesar|Cæsar]], ''Bellum Africanum,'' 20.</ref> They played a nmotable role in the defence of Jerusalem. A southern branch of the Itureans dwelt in Galilee but were conquered by the Hasmonean king [[Alexander Jannaeus]] and, according to Josephus, forcefully converted to Judaism.<ref>Flavius Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews, in Flavii Iosephi opera'', ed. B. Niese, Weidmann, Berlin, 1892, book 13, 9:1</ref><ref>Sean Freyne, 'Galilean Styudies: Old Issues and New Questions,' in Jürgen Zangenberg, Harold W. Attridge, Dale B. Martin, (eds.)''Religion, Ethnicity, and Identity in Ancient Galilee: A Region in Transition |
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,'' Mohr Siebeck, 2007 pp.13-32, p.25.</ref> |
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Many [[Christian]] theologians, among them Eusebius,<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Onomasticon ''Onomasticon''], ed. Lagarde, pp. 268, 298.</ref> taking into consideration the above-cited passage of Luke, place Iturea near [[Trachonitis]]; but this seems contrary to all the historical sources. According to Josephus,<ref>''Ant.'' xiii. 11, § 3.</ref> the Iturean kingdom lay north of [[Galilee]], and in [[105 BCE]] [[Aristobulus I]], |
Many [[Christian]] theologians, among them Eusebius,<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Onomasticon ''Onomasticon''], ed. Lagarde, pp. 268, 298.</ref> taking into consideration the above-cited passage of Luke, place Iturea near [[Trachonitis]]; but this seems contrary to all the historical sources. According to Josephus,<ref>''Ant.'' xiii. 11, § 3.</ref> the Iturean kingdom, and lay north of [[Galilee]], and in [[105 BCE]] [[Aristobulus I]], made war against Iturea, added a great part of it to Judea annexing the Galilee to the [[Hasmonean kingdom]], and forced its Iturean population undergo circumcision and observe [[Judaism|Jewish law]]. [[Strabo]] (xvi. 2, § 10, p. 753): Aristobulus 'very serviceable to the Jews, for he added a country to them, and obtained a part of the nation of the Itureans for them, and bound to them by the bond of the circumcision of their genitals.<ref>Cited Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews,'' 13,11.</ref><ref>Shlomo Sand,''The Invention of the Jewish People,'' Verso 2009 p.159.</ref>. The Iturean kingdom had its centre in the kingdom of [[Ptolemy (son of Mennaeus)|Ptolemy]], son of [[Mennaeus]] (Mennæus), whose residence was at [[Chalcis, Syria|Chalcis]](?) and who reigned [[85 BCE|85]]-[[40 BCE]]. Ptolemy was succeeded by his son [[Lysanias]], called by [[Dio Cassius]] (xlix. 32) "king of the Itureans." About [[23 BCE]] Iturea with the adjacent provinces fell into the hands of a chief named [[Zenodorus son of Lysanias|Zenodorus]] (Josephus, ''l.c.'' xv. 10, § 1; ''idem'', ''B. J.'' i. 20, § 4). Three years later, at the death of Zenodorus, [[Augustus]] gave Iturea to [[Herod the Great]], who in turn bequeathed it to his son [[Herod Philip II|Philip]] (Josephus, ''Ant.'' xv. 10, § 3). |
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That |
That Itureans dwelt in the region of Mount Lebanon is confirmed by an inscription of about the year [[6|6 CE]] (''Ephemeris Epigraphica,'' 1881, pp. 537–542), in which [[Q. Æmilius Secundus]] relates that he was sent by [[Quirinius]] against the Itureans in Mount Lebanon. In [[38]] [[Caligula]] gave Iturea to a certain [[Soemus]], who is called by Dio Cassius (lix. 12) and by [[Tacitus]] (''Annals'', xii. 23) "king of the Itureans." After the death of Soemus ([[49]]) his kingdom was incorporated into the province of [[Syria]] (Tacitus, ''l.c.''). After this incorporation the Itureans furnished soldiers for the Roman army; and the designations "Ala I. Augusta Ituræorum" and "Cohors I. Augusta Ituræorum" are met with in the inscriptions (''Ephemeris Epigraphica,'' 1884, p. 194). |
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==Ethnicity== |
==Ethnicity== |
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Scholars believe that the Itureans were either an [[Arab]] or [[Aramaeans|Aramaic]] people.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=27nq65cZUIgC&pg=PA249&dq=itureans&hl=en&ei=ry4WTZ3TDJGbOvqwiIQJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=itureans&f=false|title=Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land|author=Avraham Negev, Shimon Gibson|edition=Paperback|publisher=Continuum|year=2005|isbn=0-8264-8571-5|page=249}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5I8zfmwEjjUC&pg=PA207&dq=itureans+arabs&hl=en&ei=NTEWTZFcips6geGNqgk&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism)|author=Zuleika Rodgers, Margaret Daly-Denton, Anne Fitzpatrick-McKinley|edition=Hardcover|publisher=Brill|year=2009|isbn=90-04-17355-2|page=207}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=st06Jr7DJ_MC&pg=PA44&dq=ancinet+arabs+in+golan&hl=en&ei=Gi4WTf-sD8-bOr7tzLEJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Myth of a Gentile Galilee (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)|author=Mark A. Chancey|edition=Hardcover|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=0-521-81487-1|page=44}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1pkPt0uD708C&pg=PA7&dq=itureans&hl=en&ei=ry4WTZ3TDJGbOvqwiIQJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=itureans&f=false|title=Caesarea Philippi: Banias, The Lost City of Pan|author=John Wilson|edition=Hardcover|publisher=I. B. Tauris|year=2004|isbn=1-85043-440-9|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=e3jnUBqapi0C&pg=PA54&dq=itureans+arabs&hl=en&ei=NTEWTZFcips6geGNqgk&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=itureans%20arabs&f=false|title=Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus|author=Steve Mason|edition=Paperback|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|year=2003|isbn=0-391-04205-X|page=54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gnAWwn7HOvwC&pg=PA66&dq=itureans+arabs&hl=en&ei=IDEWTdLnMorsOeKQ2PoI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=itureans%20arabs&f=false|title=The Land of Israel As a Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature: Recourse to History in a Second Century B.C. Claims to the Holy Land (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum)|author=Doron Mendels|edition=Hardcover|publisher=J.C.B. Mohr|year=1987|isbn=3-16-145147-3|page=66}}</ref> |
Scholars believe that the Itureans were either an [[Arab]], Phoenician or [[Aramaeans|Aramaic]] people, or admixture of all three.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=27nq65cZUIgC&pg=PA249&dq=itureans&hl=en&ei=ry4WTZ3TDJGbOvqwiIQJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=itureans&f=false|title=Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land|author=Avraham Negev, Shimon Gibson|edition=Paperback|publisher=Continuum|year=2005|isbn=0-8264-8571-5|page=249}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5I8zfmwEjjUC&pg=PA207&dq=itureans+arabs&hl=en&ei=NTEWTZFcips6geGNqgk&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism)|author=Zuleika Rodgers, Margaret Daly-Denton, Anne Fitzpatrick-McKinley|edition=Hardcover|publisher=Brill|year=2009|isbn=90-04-17355-2|page=207}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=st06Jr7DJ_MC&pg=PA44&dq=ancinet+arabs+in+golan&hl=en&ei=Gi4WTf-sD8-bOr7tzLEJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Myth of a Gentile Galilee (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)|author=Mark A. Chancey|edition=Hardcover|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=0-521-81487-1|page=44}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1pkPt0uD708C&pg=PA7&dq=itureans&hl=en&ei=ry4WTZ3TDJGbOvqwiIQJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=itureans&f=false|title=Caesarea Philippi: Banias, The Lost City of Pan|author=John Wilson|edition=Hardcover|publisher=I. B. Tauris|year=2004|isbn=1-85043-440-9|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=e3jnUBqapi0C&pg=PA54&dq=itureans+arabs&hl=en&ei=NTEWTZFcips6geGNqgk&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=itureans%20arabs&f=false|title=Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus|author=Steve Mason|edition=Paperback|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|year=2003|isbn=0-391-04205-X|page=54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gnAWwn7HOvwC&pg=PA66&dq=itureans+arabs&hl=en&ei=IDEWTdLnMorsOeKQ2PoI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=itureans%20arabs&f=false|title=The Land of Israel As a Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature: Recourse to History in a Second Century B.C. Claims to the Holy Land (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum)|author=Doron Mendels|edition=Hardcover|publisher=J.C.B. Mohr|year=1987|isbn=3-16-145147-3|page=66}}</ref> |
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==Etymology== |
==Etymology== |
Revision as of 10:14, 5 August 2012
Iturea is the Greek name of a region in the Levant during the Late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It is mentioned only once in the Christian Bible,[1] while in historical sources the name of the people, the Itureans (Greek: Ἰτουραῖοι or Ἰτυραῖοι), occurs. The latter are first mentioned by Eupolemus – as one of the tribes conquered by David[2] – and subsequently by Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Josephus, and others, and they designate Itureans as an Ismaelite people. They were known to the Romans as a predatory people,[3] and were appreciated by them for their great skill in archery.[4] They played a nmotable role in the defence of Jerusalem. A southern branch of the Itureans dwelt in Galilee but were conquered by the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus and, according to Josephus, forcefully converted to Judaism.[5][6]
Many Christian theologians, among them Eusebius,[7] taking into consideration the above-cited passage of Luke, place Iturea near Trachonitis; but this seems contrary to all the historical sources. According to Josephus,[8] the Iturean kingdom, and lay north of Galilee, and in 105 BCE Aristobulus I, made war against Iturea, added a great part of it to Judea annexing the Galilee to the Hasmonean kingdom, and forced its Iturean population undergo circumcision and observe Jewish law. Strabo (xvi. 2, § 10, p. 753): Aristobulus 'very serviceable to the Jews, for he added a country to them, and obtained a part of the nation of the Itureans for them, and bound to them by the bond of the circumcision of their genitals.[9][10]. The Iturean kingdom had its centre in the kingdom of Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus (Mennæus), whose residence was at Chalcis(?) and who reigned 85-40 BCE. Ptolemy was succeeded by his son Lysanias, called by Dio Cassius (xlix. 32) "king of the Itureans." About 23 BCE Iturea with the adjacent provinces fell into the hands of a chief named Zenodorus (Josephus, l.c. xv. 10, § 1; idem, B. J. i. 20, § 4). Three years later, at the death of Zenodorus, Augustus gave Iturea to Herod the Great, who in turn bequeathed it to his son Philip (Josephus, Ant. xv. 10, § 3).
That Itureans dwelt in the region of Mount Lebanon is confirmed by an inscription of about the year 6 CE (Ephemeris Epigraphica, 1881, pp. 537–542), in which Q. Æmilius Secundus relates that he was sent by Quirinius against the Itureans in Mount Lebanon. In 38 Caligula gave Iturea to a certain Soemus, who is called by Dio Cassius (lix. 12) and by Tacitus (Annals, xii. 23) "king of the Itureans." After the death of Soemus (49) his kingdom was incorporated into the province of Syria (Tacitus, l.c.). After this incorporation the Itureans furnished soldiers for the Roman army; and the designations "Ala I. Augusta Ituræorum" and "Cohors I. Augusta Ituræorum" are met with in the inscriptions (Ephemeris Epigraphica, 1884, p. 194).
Ethnicity
Scholars believe that the Itureans were either an Arab, Phoenician or Aramaic people, or admixture of all three.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
Etymology
Several etymologies have been proposed for the name Iturea:
John Lightfoot considered possible derivation from the words hittur (wealth), chitture (diggings) or the word for "crowning" (i.e. `ittur) or for "ten" (i.e. the root `-th-r) relating to Decapolis ("ten cities"). He considered the last to be the least likely and favoured the derivation from chitture noting the descriptions of the landscape.[17]
William Muir suggested that the name might be a derived from Jetur (Hebrew Yetur) one of the former Hagrite encampments that had been conquered by the Israelites in the days of Saul,[18] however in Josephus where both names are mentioned, Jetur (Ietour-) is rendered differently in Greek to Iturea (Itour-).
Smith's Bible Dictionary attempts to equate the modern Arabic region name Jedur with both Jetur and Iturea however the Arabic j corresponds to Hebrew g and not y, nor does the Arabic d correspond to Hebrew or Greek t and the mainstream view is that Jedur corresponds to the Biblical Gedor.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
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(help) - E. A. Myers, The Ituraeans and the Roman Near East (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010).
- D. Herman, Catalogue of the Iturean coins. Israel Numismatic Review 1:51-72.
- Said, Salah, "Two New Greek Inscriptions with the name ϒTWR from Umm al-Jimāl," Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 138,2 (2006), 125-132.
Notes
- ^ Luke iii. 1.
- ^ Eusebius, Præparatio Evangelica, ix. 30.
- ^ Cicero, Philippics, ii. 112.
- ^ Cæsar, Bellum Africanum, 20.
- ^ Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, in Flavii Iosephi opera, ed. B. Niese, Weidmann, Berlin, 1892, book 13, 9:1
- ^ Sean Freyne, 'Galilean Styudies: Old Issues and New Questions,' in Jürgen Zangenberg, Harold W. Attridge, Dale B. Martin, (eds.)Religion, Ethnicity, and Identity in Ancient Galilee: A Region in Transition , Mohr Siebeck, 2007 pp.13-32, p.25.
- ^ Onomasticon, ed. Lagarde, pp. 268, 298.
- ^ Ant. xiii. 11, § 3.
- ^ Cited Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13,11.
- ^ Shlomo Sand,The Invention of the Jewish People, Verso 2009 p.159.
- ^ Avraham Negev, Shimon Gibson (2005). Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (Paperback ed.). Continuum. p. 249. ISBN 0-8264-8571-5.
- ^ Zuleika Rodgers, Margaret Daly-Denton, Anne Fitzpatrick-McKinley (2009). A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism) (Hardcover ed.). Brill. p. 207. ISBN 90-04-17355-2.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Mark A. Chancey (2002). The Myth of a Gentile Galilee (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series) (Hardcover ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-521-81487-1.
- ^ John Wilson (2004). Caesarea Philippi: Banias, The Lost City of Pan (Hardcover ed.). I. B. Tauris. p. 7. ISBN 1-85043-440-9.
- ^ Steve Mason (2003). Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus (Paperback ed.). Brill Academic Publishers. p. 54. ISBN 0-391-04205-X.
- ^ Doron Mendels (1987). The Land of Israel As a Political Concept in Hasmonean Literature: Recourse to History in a Second Century B.C. Claims to the Holy Land (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum) (Hardcover ed.). J.C.B. Mohr. p. 66. ISBN 3-16-145147-3.
- ^ 'John Lightfoot, 'A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, Cambridge and London, 1658-1674, Chorographical Notes, Chapter 1: Of the places mentioned in Luke 3, Iturea
- ^ William Muir, Esq., The Life of Mohamet, 4 volumes, Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1861