Judean

Judean refers to anything pertaining to Judea, the historical region in the southern part of the ancient Land of Israel. As a noun, a Judean is an inhabitant of Judea; as an adjective, it describes things associated with the region or its people. The term derives from the Hebrew Yehudah (Judah) and from the Latin Iudaea and the Greek Ioudaia, ultimately from the biblical Kingdom of Judah.

Geographically, Judea encompassed the hills around Jerusalem and its southern environs. In biblical times it was one of the core territories of the Kingdom of Judah. After the Babylonian exile and the return, Judea continued as a geographic term; under the Hasmoneans and Herodians it functioned as a defined political area. Following the 6 CE destruction of the Second Temple, Judea became a Roman province (Iudaea), with Jerusalem as a principal city. The population was predominantly Jewish, with various Greek-speaking and Samaritan communities nearby, and the region was central to early Christianity.

In modern usage, Judean is primarily encountered in historical, archaeological, or religious contexts. In contemporary Israeli and Palestinian discourse, the term is used selectively to denote the historic geographic area rather than a current political entity. The everyday demonym for residents of Israel is Israeli, and Judean is usually reserved for scholarly or literary references. The term remains common in biblical studies, archaeology, and theological writings to designate the ancient heartland of the Jews and the locus of significant events in Judaism, Christianity, and early Islam.