page_title: Coele-Syria
section_title: Nomenclatures of Syria
hierarchical_section_title: Coele-Syria / Nomenclatures of Syria
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the successor Kingdoms before the battle of Ipsus.
context_page_description: Coele-Syria alternatively Coelo-Syria or Coelosyria, was a region of Syria in classical antiquity. It probably derived from the Aramaic word for all of the region of Syria, but it was most often applied to the Beqaa Valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges. The area is now part of the modern-day Syria and Lebanon.
context_section_description: Judging from Arrian and The Anabasis of Alexander, the historians of Alexander the Great, as well as more ancient authors, gave the name of Syria to all the country comprehended between the Tigris and the Mediterranean. The part to the east of the Euphrates, afterwards named Mesopotamia was called "Syria between the rivers;" that to the west was called by the general name Coele-Syria, and although Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes separated from it. Yet, it was often comprehended as the whole country as far as Egypt.
  Circa 323 BCE Laomedon of Mytilene takes control of Coele-Syria (dissolving Eber-Nari).
  Circa 323 BCE The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax lists several cities on the Palestinian coast (Dor, Jaffa, Ascalon, and Acre) that are incorporated into Coele-Syria.
  In the Wars of the Diadochi, Coele-Syria came under the control of Antigonus I Monophthalmus. Then in 301 BCE, Ptolemy I Soter exploited events surrounding the Battle of Ipsus to take control of the region. The victors at Ipsus finalized the breakup of Alexander's empire. Coele-Syria was allocated to Ptolemy's former ally Seleucus I Nicator, who—having been previously aided by Ptolemy—took no military action to gain control of the region. Their successors, however, became embroiled in a series of conflicts over this issue.
  Wars over Coele-Syria given by Polybius c. 150 BCE
  Ptolemy, marching on Pelusium, made his first halt at that city, and after picking up stragglers and serving out rations to his men moved on marching through the desert and skirting Mount Casius and the marshes called Barathra. Reaching the spot he was bound for on the fifth day he encamped at a distance of fifty stades from Raphia, (Modern Rafah at the border of Egypt and Israel, north of Rhinocolara (El Arish)) which is the first city of Coele-Syria on the Egyptian side after Rhinocolura.
  Circa 120 BCE In the written work, 1 Maccabees ;
  And king Demetrius made Apollonius his general, who was governor of Celesyria: and he gathered together a great army, and came to Jamnia.
  Circa 100 BCE In the written work, 2 Maccabees ;
  And when he could not overcome Onias, he went to Apollonius, the son of Tharseas, who at that time was governor of Celesyria, and Phenicia.
  Boundaries of Egypt given by Diodorus Siculus c. 50 BCE
  Having spoken of the three boundaries of Egypt, by which it is distinguished from the rest of the continent, we now proceed to the next. The fourth side is nearly surrounded with a vast sea, without any harbours, being a very long and tedious voyage, and very difficult to find any place of landing. For from Parcetonium in Africa, to Joppa in Cœlo-Syria, for the space almost of five thousand furlongs, there is not one safe harbour to be found, except Pharus.
  Circa 25 BCE Livy in his written work, The History of Rome ;
  Antiochus was so incensed, ...He at once sent his fleet to Cyprus, and in the first days of spring set his army in motion for Egypt and advanced into Coelo-Syria. When near Rhinocolura he was met by envoys from Ptolemy, who ...begged him to say clearly what he wanted rather than to attack Ptolemy as an enemy—by force of arms—after previously being his friend.
caption: The Kingdoms of Antigonos and his rivals c. 303 BC.
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