Eskiçağda Yahudiye Tarihi Coğrafyası
Historical Geography of Judea in the Ancient

Summary/Abstract: Judea is a geographical term generally used to mean the Jewish region or the Jewish country. The origin of the term is based on the name of the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The term mentioned, which is an ethnic term in origin, became a geographical and administrative term after the division of the Kingdom of Israel (United Monarchy) in about 930 BC. So that with the division of the Kingdom of Israel into two, the Kingdom of Judah (Mamleket Yehudah) was established on the lands that form the southern part of this state. Thus, the term, which is a tribal name, corresponds to a geographical and administrative usage. This name is mentioned as Ioudaia and Iudaea in Greek and Latin sources. This usage has continued in ancient history after the term Judea has turned into a term that corresponds to a geographical and administrative meaning. Even in the historical process, in continued to be used as a geographical term under the Persian (Achaemenid), Hellenistic and Roman administrations. In the 2nd century AD, under the Roman rule, the official use of this term was discontinued for political reasons. However the term of Judea, in 20th century, came to the fore again when the modern state of Israel started to use the name Judea and Samaria Area for the region called the West Bank. In this study, the emergence and use of the term Judea in ancient history, the boundaries of the geographical region covered by the term and the change of these borders are examined. In addition, this article tries to the important geographical and demographic characteristics of Judea, and try to explain the geopolitical advantages offered by the mentioned features of the region.

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