Editing Bashan

{{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]].

== History ==

=== Hebrew Bible ===
[[File:Capture of Astartu-1.jpg|thumb|The capture of the city of "Astartu" (thought to be [[Ashteroth Karnaim|Ashteroth]] in the land of king [[Og]] of Bashan, east of the [[Jordan River]]), by the Assyrian king [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] about 730–727 BCE, as depicted on a palace relief now kept on display at the British Museum.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Clifford M. |title=Old Testament Illustrations |date=1971 |publisher=CUP Archive |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8w7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA77 |language=en}}</ref>]]
The [[Book of Numbers]] tells that King Og of Bashan came out against the [[Israelites]] led by [[Moses]] at the time of their entrance into the [[Promised Land]], but was vanquished in battle ({{bible verse|Numbers|21:33–35|KJV}}; {{bible verse|Deuteronomy|3:1–7|KJV}}).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Bashan|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/54886/Bashan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=7 February 2014}}</ref> {{bible verse|Deuteronomy|3:1–7|KJV}} states:<blockquote>Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at [[Daraa|Edrei]]. And the {{Lord}} said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto [[Sihon]] king of the Amorites, which dwelt at [[Heshbon]]. So the {{Lord}} our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.</blockquote>[[File:Ostjordanische Amoriterreiche.png|thumb]]
Along with the half of [[Gilead]], it was given to the half-[[tribe of Manasseh]] ({{bible verse|Joshua|13:29–31|KJV}}). According to the [[Book of Joshua]], [[Golan]], one of its cities, became a [[Levitical city]] and a [[Cities of Refuge|city of refuge]] ({{bible verse|Joshua|21:27|KJV}}). [[Argob]], in Bashan, was one of [[Solomon]]'s commissariat districts ({{bible verse|1|Kings|4:13|KJV}}).

In the late-9th century BCE, the cities of Bashan were taken by [[Hazael]], monarch of the Syrian kingdom of Aram-Damascus ({{bible verse|2|Kings|10:33|KJV}}), but were soon after reconquered by [[Jehoash of Israel|Jehoash]] ({{bible verse|2|Kings|13:25|KJV}}) who overcame the [[History of Syria|Syrians]] in three battles, according to the prophecy of [[Elisha]] ({{bible verse|2|Kings|13:19|KJV}}).

From this time, Bashan almost disappears from history, although there are biblical references to the wild [[cattle]] of its rich [[pasture]]s (see {{bible verse|Ezekiel|39:18|KJV}}, {{bible verse|Psalm|22:12|KJV}} and [[Amos 4#Verse 1|Amos 4:1]]), the [[oak]]s of its forests ({{bible verse|Isaiah|2:13|KJV}}; {{bible verse|Ezekiel|27:6|KJV}}; {{bible verse|Zechariah|11:2|KJV}}), the beauty of its extensive plains (also in Amos 4:1),<ref>{{cite web|title=BibleHub - Amos 4:1|url=http://biblehub.com/amos/4-1.htm|access-date=7 February 2014}}</ref> {{bible verse|Jeremiah|50:19|KJV}}), and the rugged majesty of its mountains ({{bible verse|Psalm|68:15|KJV}}). Bashan is also mentioned in {{bible verse|1 Chronicles|5:16|KJV}}: "[The [[Tribe of Gad|Gadites]]] lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its outlying villages, and on all the pasturelands of Sharon as far as they extended."

=== Later periods ===
The Bashan was ultimately conquered and pillaged by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], which held onto it from 732 to 610 BCE. It later saw security and prosperity under the [[Achaemenid Empire]]; its settlements became better developed and culturally [[Arameans|Aramaized]].

=== Ugarit ===
In some Semitic languages bashan ''(bšn)'' means serpent. In Ugaritic, masculine and feminine forms are available, ''bashanim'' and ''bashanat'' are male and female snakes.<ref name="Lete 2013 x876">{{cite web | last=Lete | first=Gregorio Del Olmo | title=2011-KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous Incantation/Anti-Witchcraft Text against Snakebite in Ugaritic | website=Academia.edu | date=2013-09-25 | url=https://www.academia.edu/4582116 | access-date=2024-02-12}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Aharoni|first=Yohanan|title=The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMtoyNxWw0UC&pg=PA36|date=1 January 1979|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-24266-4|pages=36–42|chapter=The Transjordanian Highlands}}
* {{cite book|last1=MacDonald|first1=Burton|editor1-last=Matthews|editor1-first=Victor|title=East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures|date=2000|publisher=[[American Schools of Oriental Research]]|chapter=Settlement of the Israelite Tribes East of the Jordan}}
* Porter, Rev. J. L. (1867). ''The Giant Cities of Bashan; and Syria's Holy Places''.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150316143250/http://www.bibleplaces.com/golanheights.htm Golan Heights (Biblical Bashan)] on ''Bibleplaces''

{{Ancient states and regions of the Levant |state=collapsed}}

[[Category:States and territories established in the 2nd millennium BC]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 8th century BC]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible regions]]
[[Category:Torah places]]
[[Category:Transjordan (region)]]
[[Category:Former kingdoms]]
[[Category:Regions of Syria]]