'The rough country' — the Lajat, a broken plateau of black basalt south of Damascus, full of clefts and caves. Josephus describes it as a haunt of robbers, and says Augustus gave it to Herod the Great to put them down; at Herod's death it passed to his son Philip. ⚠ Named once in the New Testament, in the date of Luke 3:1, where Philip is tetrarch 'of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis'.
📍 Trachonitis — modern-day The Lajat (Leja), a basalt lava field south of Damascus, Syria
🗺️ No ancient-world overlay on the shelf yet for this site — a period map
showing how the region actually looked in the biblical world gets added here as Mr. Librarian curates one,
the same way the encyclopedia's film shelf grows.
▶ No films on the shelf yet — archaeology and geography videos get added here as Mr. Librarian finds good ones.