TRACONITE
“rocky.” At the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist, the Trachonites formed, with Iturea, the tetrarchy of Philip, brother of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee (Luke 3:1).
It extended south of Damascus (Strabo 16:2, 20), including the volcanic rocks that today are called al-Laja’; to the west it included Ulatha and Paneas; to the south, the borders of Batanea and Jebel Hauran (Ant. 15:10, 3; 17:2, 1 and 2).