Judeah

Judea or Judæa (Hebrew: יהודה, Standard Yəhuda Tiberian Yəhûḏāh, "praise God"; Greek: Ιουδαία; Latin: Iudaea) is the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael), an area now divided between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and, in a few geographical definitions of Judea, Jordan.

The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name "Judah" and originally implied the whole territories of the previous Jewish Kingdoms, but by the time of the New Testament it had been limited in scope to the south of the region. In Hebrew Yehudah refers to a large southern section of Israel and the West Bank, or in the combined term Judea and Samaria to refer specifically to the West Bank area south of Jerusalem.

The area was the site of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, the Hasmonean Kingdom, and the later Kingdom of Judea, a client kingdom of the Roman Empire.[1]