Ituraea

Ituraea was a district northeast of Palestine in the region of Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, associated with the Iturean people — possibly descendants of Jetur, a son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15; 1 Chronicles 1:31). By the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, the Itureans were known as skilled archers and mountain warriors. Luke 3:1 identifies Ituraea as part of the tetrarchy of Philip son of Herod the Great: "Philip being tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis." Philip's combined territory covered the largely Gentile regions northeast of the Sea of Galilee and east of the Jordan headwaters.

The exact boundaries of Ituraea in the first century are uncertain; it is generally located in the Bekaa Valley and the slopes of Mount Lebanon. The region's inclusion in Philip's tetrarchy placed it under Roman-supervised Herodian administration from 4 BC until Philip's death in AD 34, after which it was incorporated into the Roman province of Syria. Ituraea's sole New Testament mention serves to date the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry and thus the inauguration of the gospel narrative.