Abilene (ancient)

Abilene (Ancient Greek: Ἀβιληνή) or simply Abila (Ancient Greek: Ἄβιλα) was a plain, a district in Coele-Syria, of which the chief town was Abila Lysaniou (Ἄβιλα Λυσανίου). The limits of this region are nowhere exactly defined, but it seems to have included the eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon range, and to have extended south and southeast of Damascus as far as the borders of Galilaea, Batanaea, and Trachonitis. According to Flavius Josephus, Abilene was a separate Iturean kingdom until 37 AD.