principality · Anatolia and the Levant
Ituraea
Origins
The Ituraeans, an Arab people, took control of the Beqaa valley and parts of Mount Lebanon and the Hermon in the late 2nd century BCE, as the Seleucid Empire declined. Their ruler Ptolemy son of Mennaeus governed from Chalcis and extended power towards Damascus and the coast.
Rule and society
Ituraean rulers were also high priests of a local cult, and their warriors were renowned archers later serving in Roman armies. Strabo describes them as brigands raiding the caravan routes. Ptolemy made peace with Pompey in 64 BCE and kept his principality as a Roman client.
Decline and legacy
Ptolemy's son Lysanias was executed by Mark Antony in 36 BCE. Augustus took lands from the tetrarch Zenodorus and gave them to the Herodian Kingdom of Judea in 20 BCE, and Ituraea was divided among neighbours.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Ituraea was a vassal of Roman Republic64 BCE – 27 BCE
- Ituraea was conquered by Herodian Kingdom of Judea20 BCE
More states of Anatolia and the Levant →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ituraea. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ituraea
- MLA
- “Ituraea.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ituraea. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Ituraea.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ituraea.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ituraea’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ituraea (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻