Judea
יְהוּדָה | |
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Coordinates: 31°40′N 35°00′E / 31.667°N 35.000°E | |
Location | Southern Levant |
Part of | |
Native name | יְהוּדָה |
Highest elevation | 1,020 m or 3,350 ft |
Judea or Judaea (/dʒuːˈdiːə, dʒuːˈdeɪə/;[1] Hebrew: יהודה, Modern: Yehuda, Tiberian: Yəhūḏā; Greek: Ἰουδαία, Ioudaía; Latin: Iudaea) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians (the Yehud province), the Persians (the Yehud province), the Greeks (the Hasmonean Kingdom), and the Romans (the Herodian Kingdom and the Judaea province).[2] Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than Judea of earlier periods. In 132 CE, the Roman province of Judaea was merged with Galilee to form the enlarged province of Syria Palaestina.[3][4][5]
The term Judea was used by English speakers for the hilly internal part of Mandatory Palestine until the Jordanian rule of the area in 1948.[6][7] Most of the region of Judea was incorporated into what the Jordanians called ad-difa'a al-gharbiya (translated into English as the "West Bank"),[8] though "Yehuda" is the Hebrew term used for the area in modern Israel since the region was captured and occupied by Israel in 1967.[9] The Israeli government in the 20th century used the term Judea as part of the Israeli administrative district name "Judea and Samaria Area" for the territory that is generally referred to as the West Bank.[10]
The Babylonians translated the Hebrew name [Judah] into Aramaic as Yehud Medinata ('the province of Judah') or simply 'Yehud' and made it a new Babylonian province. This was inherited by the Persians. Under the Greeks, Yehud was translated as Judaea and this was taken over by the Romans. After the Jewish rebellion of 135 CE, the Romans renamed the area Syria Palaestina or simply Palestine. The area described by these land titles differed to some extent in the different periods.
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