Iturea

Iturea, also written Ituræa, is a historical region in the eastern Levant named for the Ituraeans, a Semitic-speaking population that inhabited parts of the area in antiquity. In classical geography the term Ituraea designates a frontier district east of the Jordan River and is often cited together with Gaulanitis as the combined district Gaulanitis et Ituraea. The precise boundaries shifted over time, but the region generally lay on the eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon mountains, extending into the Hauran and surrounding Jordanian basins and touching adjacent areas such as Batanea, Trachonitis, and sometimes Damascus in broader descriptions.

History and administration: Ituraea is attested in Hellenistic and early Roman sources. The Ituraeans were an indigenous population with ties to pastoral and urban communities in the region. During the Hasmonean and Herodian periods, portions of Ituraea were integrated into Roman provincial structures or client-state arrangements, and the area functioned as a frontier zone subject to shifting allegiances and administrative reorganizations within Syria and its border districts. Roman roads and trade networks facilitated connections between the Levant interior and the Damascus corridor, influencing settlement and economic activity.

Demographics and culture: The population is associated with the Ituraeans, who likely spoke Semitic languages and maintained cultural links to neighboring Aramaic-speaking communities. Over time, the region experienced cultural and demographic blending as Greco-Roman influence spread through administration and settlement.

Legacy: In modern scholarly geography, Iturea is used to describe this eastern Levantine zone, roughly corresponding to parts of present-day southern Syria, northern Jordan, and the Golan region. The term waned as Roman provincial divisions evolved.