Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Stony (Heb. marg. “Amanah,” perennial), the chief river of Damascus (2 Kings 5:12). Its modern name is Barada, the Chrysorrhoas, or “golden stream,” of the Greeks. It rises in a cleft of the Anti-Lebanon range, about 23 miles north-west of Damascus, and after flowing southward for a little way parts into three smaller streams, the central one flowing through Damascus, and the other two on each side of the city, diffusing beauty and fertility where otherwise there would be barrenness.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
” (2 Kings 5:12) The Barada and the Awaj are now the chief streams of Damascus, the former representing the Abana and the latter the Pharpar of the text. The Barada (Abana) rises in the Antilibanus, at about 23 miles from the city, after flowing through which it runs across the plain, of whose fertility it is the chief source, till it loses itself in the lake or marsh Bahret-el-Kibliyeh.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
AB'ANA (stony), a river of Damascus, 2 Kgs 5:12, and supposed to be identical with the Amana of Song of Solomon 4:8. Probably the modern Barada, which the Greeks called the Chrysorrhoas (golden stream). It rises in the mountains of Anti-Libanus, about 23 miles N. W. " The river is a clear, limpid, copious, and perennial stream, and is the chief source of the fertility of the plain of Damascus, making it a garden in the desert. It falls 1149 feet, and waters 800 square miles of territory containing about 14 villages.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
made of stone; a building