Editing Bashan (section)

{{Short description|Historical region in the Levant mentioned in the Bible}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}[[File:الجولان-_سوريا.jpg|thumb|View from [[Mount Bental/Tal Al-Gharam|Mount Bental]]]]'''Bashan''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|eɪ|ʃ|ə|n}}; {{langx|he|הַבָּשָׁן|translit=ha-Bashan}}; {{langx|la|Basan}} or ''Basanitis'')<ref>''[[Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World]]''. See [http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/678054/basanitis].</ref> is the ancient, [[Hebrew Bible|biblical]] name used for the northernmost region of [[Transjordan in the Bible|Transjordan]] during the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Lipiński2006">{{cite book|author=Edward Lipiński|title=On the Skirts of Canaan in the Iron Age: Historical and Topographical Researches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=837DDbYsxAoC&pg=PA225|year=2006|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-429-1798-9|page=225}}</ref> It is situated in modern-day [[Jordan]] and [[Syria]]. Its western part, nowadays known as the [[Golan Heights]], was occupied by [[Israel]] during the 1967 [[Six-Day War|Six Day War]].

Bashan has been inhabited since at least the fourth millennium BCE. Its earliest mention is found in a [[Sumerian texts|Sumerian text]] dating back to the third millennium BCE. During the Late Bronze Age, Bashan is recorded in Egyptian sources as being under the control of [[New Kingdom of Egypt|their empire]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Lemche |first=Niels Peter |title=Historical dictionary of ancient Israel |date=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-4848-1 |series=Historical dictionaries of ancient civilizations and historical eras |location=Lanham, Md. |pages=77 |quote=}}</ref> Biblical tradition holds that an [[Amorites|Amorite]] kingdom in Bashan was conquered by the [[Israelites]] during the reign of [[Og|King Og]]. Throughout the monarchic period, Bashan was contested between the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]] and [[Aram-Damascus]]. [[Tiglath-Pileser III|Tiglath-pileser III]] of [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyria]] eventually intervened, removing Bashan from Israel's control.<ref name=":02" />

Bashan is mentioned 59 times in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. It is the location of [[Ashteroth Karnaim|Ashtaroth Karnaim]] and Edrei (modern-day [[Daraa]]), as well as the city of [[Golan]], which gave its name to the modern Golan Heights.<ref name=":02" /> The name Bashan fell out of use in [[classical antiquity]], in which the region was divided into four districts: [[Batanaea]], Gaulanitis, [[Lajat|Trachonitis]] and [[Hauran|Auranitis]].