A´BILA(Ἄβιλα: Eth. Ἀβιληνός). It would appear that there were several towns bearing this appellation in the districts which border upon Palestine. The most important of these was a place of strength in Coele-Syria, now Nebi Abel, situated between Heliopolis and Damascus, in lat. 33° 38′ N., long. 36° 18′ W. It was the chief town of the tetrarchy of ABILENE and is frequently termed, by way of distinction, Abila Lysaniae (Ἄβιλα ἐπικαλουμένη Λυσανίου). [ABILENE]
Belleye has written a dissertation in the Transactions of the Academy of Belles Lettres to prove that this Abilais the same with Leucason the river Chrysorrhoas, which at one period assumed the name of Claudiopolis, as we learn from some coins described by Eckhel. The question is much complicated by the circumstance that medals have been preserved of a town in Coele-Syria called Abila Leucas, which, as can be demonstrated from the pieces themselves, must have been different from Abila Lysaniae. (Eckhel, vol. iii. pp. 337, 345; Ptol. 5.15.22; Plin. Nat. 5.18; Antonin. Itiner. pp. 198, 199, ed. Wessel.)
[W.R]