Bible Dictionary
Judaea, Or Judea
Judaea was the region associated with Judah after the exile and, under Roman rule, the southern division of Palestine. In the New Testament the name could also be used more broadly for the land of the Jews.
Definition
Judaea, or Judea, was the territorial division associated with Judah after the captivities. In the stricter sense it was the district west of the Jordan and south of Samaria; in a broader sense the name could refer to the land of the Jews or even the wider country of Canaan.
Biblical Usage
Judea is frequently named in the New Testament as the land and region in which Jewish communities lived and in which events of the Gospel occurred. The expression could also extend beyond the Jordan.
Historical Background
After Archelaus was deposed in A.D. 6, Judea became part of the Roman province of Syria and was governed by a procurator subject to the governor of Syria.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(from Judah), a territorial division which succeeded to the overthrow of the ancient landmarks of the tribes of Israel and Judah in their respective captivities. The word first occurs (Daniel 5:13) Authorized Version “Jewry,” and the first mention of the “province of Judea” is in the book of Ezra, (Ezra 5:8) It is alluded to in (Nehemiah 11:3) (Authorized Version “Judah”). In the apocryphal books the word “province” is dropped, and throughout them and the New Testament the expressions are “the land of Judea,” “Judea.” In a wide and more improper sense, the term Judea was sometimes extended to the whole country of the Canaanites, its ancient inhabitants; and even in the Gospels we read of the coasts of Judea “beyond Jordan.” (Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1) Judea was, in strict language, the name of the third district, west of the Jordan and south of Samaria. It was made a portion of the Roman province of Syria upon the deposition of Archelaus, the ethnarch of Judea, in A.D. 6, and was governed by a procurator, who was subject to the governor of Syria.