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Coele-Syria (/ ˌ s iː l iː ˈ s ɪ r i ə /, Greek: Κοίλη Συρία, Koílē Syría, 'Hollow Syria') was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. The term originally referred to the "hollow" Beqaa Valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, but sometimes it was applied to a broader area of the region of Syria .
The term is defined by Herodotus (3:91) as the fifth satrapy of the Persian Kingdom, and would thus refer to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, from Cilicia to Egypt. Ptolemy Lagus referred to southern Syria as "Coele-Syria" as a means to claiming the rule of the whole of Syria.
Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into a tetrarchy in 4 BC, it was gradually absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea and Trachonitis. By the late 2nd century AD, the province was divided into Coele Syria and Syria Phoenice .
Coele Syria was further divided into Syria Prima and Syria Secunda around the end of the fourth century. It is widely accepted that the term Coele is a transcription of Aramaic kul, meaning "all, the entire", such that the term originally identified all of Syria.
It is also possible that coele renders the Aramaic word kul, “all”. This theory leaves unexplained why the ancients did not call Syria simply “Syria” and used the expression “all of Syria” to describe what was just a part of it. Nor does it explain why they did not use a Greek word.
Syria - Hellenistic, Roman, Empire: After Alexander’s death in 323 bce his marshals contended for control of the country until, after the Battle of Ipsus (301), Seleucus I Nicator gained the northern part and Ptolemy I Soter gained the southern (Coele Syria). This partition between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies was maintained for 100 years. Their administrative methods varied. In the south ...
Origins. The name Coele for the region is most likely derived from the Aramic word kul which means "all" or "the entire" and was used to identify the entire region of Syria which was previously occupied by the Arameans.
