Trachonitis

Trachonitis (Greek, meaning "rugged" or "rocky country") was a volcanic basalt plateau lying north-east of the Jordan, corresponding roughly to the Old Testament region of Argob. It appears in the New Testament only in Luke 3:1, which identifies Philip the tetrarch as ruler of "Ituraea and the region of Trachonitis" at the time John the Baptist began his ministry. The region is characterised by extensive lava fields riddled with caves and fissures, which historically made it a refuge for outlaws and robbers. The Romans, particularly Herod the Great and subsequently his son Philip, made sustained efforts to pacify and settle Trachonitis, bringing in colonists from Babylon. The area corresponds broadly to the modern Leja region of southern Syria. Its precise borders in the first century are uncertain, but it lay between Damascus to the north and Gaulanitis to the west.