Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Cave-land, mentioned only in Ezek. 47:16, 18. ), and lay on the south-east of Gaulanitis or the Jaulan, and on the south of Lejah, extending from the Arnon to the Hieromax. It was the most fertile region in Syria, and to this day abounds in the ruins of towns, many of which have stone doors and massive walls. It retains its ancient name.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(caverns), a province of Palestine twice mentioned by Ezekiel. (Ezekiel 47:16,17) There can be little doubt that it is identical with the well-known Greek province of Auranitis and the modern Hauran east of the Sea of Galilee, on the borders of the desert, in the tetrarchy of Philip.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
HAU'RAN (caves, caverns), a country east of the Jordan; the north-eastern boundary of Palestine, Eze 47:16, Eze 47:18, and the Auranitis of the Greeks, and now known as the Hauran. For situation of the country see Map at end of this volume. History. — Little was known of the Hauran previous to 1854. The works of Porter, 1855, Graham, 1858, Wetzstein, 1860, Burton and Drake, 1872, and Selah Merrill of the Am. Pal. Explor. , 1877, have thrown much light on its extent, nature, and history, but a thorough exploration of the country yet remains to be made.
When the Israelites conquered the land, the whole of this region appears to have been subject to Og, the king of Bashan, Num 21:33-35; Deut 3:1-5, and a large portion of it was allotted to Manasseh. The district would then include the Argob, the slope of the Hauran Mountains, where the Israelites found 60 fortified cities with walls and gates and a fertile tract. See Bashan. In the Roman period the country was divided into 5 provinces, Ituraea, Gaulanitis, Batanaea (applied also to the whole region), Trachonitis, and Auranitis.
The ruins scattered over the region are very extensive and remarkable; those built in the caverns are regarded by Wetzstein as the most ancient, and possibly reaching back to the times of the Rephaim, Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20, and Deut 3:11. The villages are chiefly of stone houses, having gates and doors of large slabs of dolerite; the gateways of the larger buildings are ornamented with sculptured vines and inscriptions.
The Arabs, according to Wetzstein, from near Yemen settled in the Hauran at about the beginning of the Christian era; later, a second immigration from south Arabia took place, and these controlled the country for five centuries, and they probably erected most of the stone buildings now in so good a state of preservation. A large number of inscriptions in various characters are yet to be deciphered, which will throw much light, no doubt, upon the ancient history of this wild region.
Wetzstein states that the eastern section of the Lejah and the slopes of the Hauran Mountains contain at least 300 ruined cities and towns. Selah Merrill says that an important ruin is found in every half hour of travel, and that among these ruins he has himself visited and examined 60 ruined churches, and eleven of thirteen theatres, including one vast naumachia where mock sea-fights were held. And he concludes a paper read before the American Geographical Society in New York, Nov. 8, 1877 (Bulletin, No. d.
635 — running clear back to the time of the giants — this land has been thickly inhabited, generally by intelligent and wealthy people. T. " See also Argob, Bashan, and Gilead.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
a hole; liberty; whiteness
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
HAU'RAN (caves, caverns), a country east of the Jordan; the north-eastern boundary of Palestine, Eze 47:16, Eze 47:18, and the Auranitis of the Greeks, and now known as the Hauran. For situation of the country see Map at end of this volume. History. — Little was known of the Hauran previous to 1854. The works of Porter, 1855, Graham, 1858, Wetzstein, 1860, Burton and Drake, 1872, and Selah Merrill of the Am. Pal. Explor. , 1877, have thrown much light on its extent, nature, and history, but a thorough exploration of the country yet remains to be made.
When the Israelites conquered the land, the whole of this region appears to have been subject to Og, the king of Bashan, Num 21:33-35; Deut 3:1-5, and a large portion of it was allotted to Manasseh. The district would then include the Argob, the slope of the Hauran Mountains, where the Israelites found 60 fortified cities with walls and gates and a fertile tract. See Bashan. In the Roman period the country was divided into 5 provinces, Ituraea, Gaulanitis, Batanaea (applied also to the whole region), Trachonitis, and Auranitis.
The ruins scattered over the region are very extensive and remarkable; those built in the caverns are regarded by Wetzstein as the most ancient, and possibly reaching back to the times of the Rephaim, Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20, and Deut 3:11. The villages are chiefly of stone houses, having gates and doors of large slabs of dolerite; the gateways of the larger buildings are ornamented with sculptured vines and inscriptions.
The Arabs, according to Wetzstein, from near Yemen settled in the Hauran at about the beginning of the Christian era; later, a second immigration from south Arabia took place, and these controlled the country for five centuries, and they probably erected most of the stone buildings now in so good a state of preservation. A large number of inscriptions in various characters are yet to be deciphered, which will throw much light, no doubt, upon the ancient history of this wild region.
Wetzstein states that the eastern section of the Lejah and the slopes of the Hauran Mountains contain at least 300 ruined cities and towns. Selah Merrill says that an important ruin is found in every half hour of travel, and that among these ruins he has himself visited and examined 60 ruined churches, and eleven of thirteen theatres, including one vast naumachia where mock sea-fights were held. And he concludes a paper read before the American Geographical Society in New York, Nov. 8, 1877 (Bulletin, No. d.
635 — running clear back to the time of the giants — this land has been thickly inhabited, generally by intelligent and wealthy people. T. " See also Argob, Bashan, and Gilead. HAV'ILAH. A son of Cush, Gen 10:7. A son of Joktan, Gen 10:29.