Where Is Judea?

Question

Where Is Judea?

2 Answers

Answer Question

Answer 1

Judea is a historical name referring to the southern part of ancient Israel an area lying in the south of present day Israel, Palestine and Jordan; the region described as Judea has under gone various changes in its extent and originally the entire lands of Palestine or the Levant as it is known were known as Judea.

The ancient Kingdom of Judah existed in the region from the 9th century BC to 5th century BC becoming a part of the Roman Empire (1st century BC) who referred to the province as Judea. Judea (Yehudah) today can be considered to be the region lying in the south of the present day nation of Israel and comprising of the lower parts of the West Bank or the district of Judea and Samaratia.

The extent of Judea in ancient times was believed to be from Beth-Horon (Beit your al Fawka) in the north to Bethsur (Hebron) in the south and from the Jordan River in the east to Latrun Emaus (Latrun) to the west. The important cities and towns lying in the region are Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Efrat, Hebron and Jericho, believed to be the oldest city in the World; much of the region is today semi arid in nature.

Answer 2

Hello,

Contributor Rajesh Shri's answer is misleading because it omits mention of the existence of the independent Kingdom of Judea (situated in part of modern day Israel) from Biblical times. His answer also omits mention of the later independent Kingdom of Israel prior to Roman times.

The following information may assist you:

The last "indigenous" state
(meaning run by the natives rather than by a foreign power) that comprised
the area now called Israel
and Palestine, before the formation of the State
of Israel, was the Jewish Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea with its capital at Jerusalem (now referred
to as “East Jerusalem”
also “the Old City”).

You can view the position of the Jewish
Kingdom of Judea, here:

http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/kingdoms-of-judah-and-israel.html

and view the position of the
Jewish Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea, here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_dynasty

You can read how the Jewish Hasmonean
Kingdom of Judea
re-gained its independence from the Greek Seleucid empire, by viewing the
following two sources (for best viewing use the download option):

Extract from “Josephus - “Antiquities of
the Jews”, Book 13, part of Paragraph 11 of Chapter 5, to end of Chapter
7.

(PDF file comprising introduction and then one paragraph
to each page, total 16 pages):

https://www.mediafire.com/?kgex1rg9z4ha62f

Extract from “1 Maccabees”, Chapters 14 to
16 inclusive.

(PDF file comprising introduction and then
10 verses to each page, total 13 pages):

https://www.mediafire.com/?cbexfh6uewax5a9

You can view coins from the Jewish Hasmonean
Kingdom of Judea, here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_coinage

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Robert.