Coele-Syria

Quick Facts: Who was Coele-Syria?

Subject:

Coele-Syria

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Ancient Greek term for a region encompassing much of modern Syria and Lebanon.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

Coele-Syria (Ancient Greek: Κοίλη Συρία, romanized: Koílē Syría, lit. 'Hollow Syria') was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. The term originally referred to the "hollow" Beqaa Valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, but sometimes it was applied to a broader area of the region of Syria. The area is now part of modern-day Syria and Lebanon. It is widely accepted that the term Coele is a transcription of the Semitic (Aramaic: ܟܠ) kul 'all, the entire', such that the term originally identified all of Syria, the region between the Euphrates, Mediterranean, and Taurus.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

The word "Coele", with κοῖλος (koĩlos), fem. κοίλη (koílē) literally meaning 'hollow' in Ancient and Koine Greek, is thought to have come about via a folk-etymological reinterpretation referring to the "hollow" Beqaa Valley between Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. However, the term Coele-Syria was also used in a wider sense to indicate 'all Syria' or 'all Syria except Phoenicia', by the writers Pliny, Arrian, Ptolemy and also Diodorus Siculus, who indicated Coele-Syria to at least stretch as far south as Joppa, while Polybius stated that the border between Egypt and Coele-Syria lay between the towns of Rhinocolara and Rhaphia. The first and only official use of the term was during the period of Seleucid rule of the region, between c. 200 BCE and 64 BCE. During this period, the term Coele Syria and Phoenicia or Coele Syria was also used in a narrower sense to refer to the former Ptolemaic territory which the Seleucids now controlled, being the area south of the river Eleutherus.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

This usage was adopted by Strabo and the Books of the Maccabees. Later during the Roman period c. 350 CE, Eunapius wrote that the capital of Coele-Syria was the Seleucid city of Antioch, north of the Eleutherus. According to Polybius, a former officer of the Ptolemaic Empire named Ptolemy Thrasea, having fought in the 217 BCE Battle of Raphia, defected to the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great. Antiochus gave him the title "Strategos and Archiereus of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia". Some scholars speculate that this title may have been used previously by the Ptolemies, but no direct evidence exists to support this.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Coele-Syria

True or False: “The original meaning of the term Coele-Syria was exclusively limited to the Beqaa Valley.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): While it originally referred to the 'hollow' Beqaa Valley, the term was often used more broadly by writers like Pliny and Arrian to indicate all of Syria or 'all Syria except Phoenicia'.

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