Trachonitis

Trachonitis is a region northeast of the Sea of Galilee that appears once in scripture, as part of the tetrarchy of Philip in the synchronism that opens Luke 3.

Part of Philip's tetrarchy

The reference occurs in Luke's dating of the start of John the Baptist's ministry: "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene" (Lu 3:1). The verse pairs Trachonitis with Ituraea under the rule of Philip, locating it within the wider grid of Roman-era client jurisdictions east and north of Galilee. No further detail about the territory is given in the text.