Abilene, a region north of Damascus, ruled by the tetrarch Lysanias.
Abilene was a region located north of Damascus, Syria, mentioned in Luke 3:1 as being under the rule of Lysanias the tetrarch when John the Baptist began his ministry. The name Abilene is derived from its capital city, Abila. Inscriptions found near Abila refer to a Lysanias as tetrarch and mention the "Abilenians," confirming the existence of this region. The exact boundaries of Abilene are unclear, but it was situated in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, likely in the area of the modern village of Suk Wady Barada. Abilene is only mentioned in passing in the Bible as a geographical reference point for the beginning of John's ministry.
Approximate location: 33.587, 36.092 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
A plain, a district lying on the east slope of the Anti-Lebanon range; so called from its chief town, Abila (Luke 3:1), which stood in the Suk Wady Barada, between Heliopolis (Baalbec) and Damascus, 38 miles from the former and 18 from the latter. Lysanias was governor or tetrarch of this province.
(land of meadows), (Luke 3:1) a city situated on the eastern slope of Antilibanus, in a district fertilized by the river Barada (Abana). The city was 18 miles from Damascus, and stood in a remarkable gorge called Suk Wady Barada .
the father of mourning
ABILE'NE (from Abila), a small district of Palestine on the eastern slopes of Anti-Libanus, of which Abila on the river Barada was the capital. It was governed by Lysanias in the time of John the Baptist. Luke 3:1.
ABILE'NE (from Abila), a small district of Palestine on the eastern slopes of Anti-Libanus, of which Abila on the river Barada was the capital. It was governed by Lysanias in the time of John the Baptist. Luke 3:1.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G0009
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.