BATANAEA(Βαταναία), a district to the NE. of Palestine, situated between Gaulonitis (which bounded Galilee on the east, and extended from the Sea of Tiberias to the sources of the Jordan) and Ituraea or Auranitis, having Trachonitis on the north. (Reland, Palaest. p. 108.) It was added to the kingdom of Herod the Great by Augustus (J. AJ), and afterwards comprehended with Ituraea (or Aulonitis) and Trachonitis, in the tetrarchy of Philip (17.13.4; comp. St. Luke, 3.1; Reland, pp. 108, 202.) It is reckoned to Syria by Ptolemy (Ptol. 5.15.25).
[G.W]