Abila Lysaniou or Abila Lysaniae or Abila was an ancient city, on the Abana River and capital of ancient Abilene

Abilene (biblical)

Abilene or simply Abila was a plain, a district in Coele-Syria, of which the chief town was Abila Lysaniou...

, Coele-Syria

Coele-Syria

Coele-Syria , or Cœle-Syria or Celesyria, traditionally given the meaning 'hollow' Syria, was the region of southern Syria disputed between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty. Rather than limiting the Greek term to the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, it is often used to cover the entire area...

. The site is currently that of the village Suk Wadi Barada (called Abil-es-Suk by early Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 geographer

Geographer

A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

s), circa 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. The city's surname is derived from Lysanias

Lysanias

Lysanias was the ruler of a small realm on the western slopes of Mount Hermon, attested to by the Jewish writer Josephus and in coins from circa 40 BC. There is also mention of a Lysanias dated to 29 AD in the gospel of Luke. It has been debated whether these are the same person.- Lysanias in...

, a governor of the region.

The site contains ruins of a temple, aqueducts, and other remains, and inscriptions, on the banks of the river. Though the names Abel and Abila differ in derivation and in meaning, their similarity has given rise to the tradition that this was the place of Abel's burial. The city is mentioned in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 (Luke 3:1). The city remains a titular see

Titular see

A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....

 of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, Abilenus Lysaniae; the current bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 is Georges Kahhalé Zouhaïraty (since 1995). http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2a09.html

Abila is also written as "Abilant" or "Abelant," and in those forms appears as a castle or city, a character from that place (a princess, king, sultan, as in Rouge-Lion d'Abilant) or even a Saracen's formal name, in The Jerusalem Continuations: The London and Turin Redactions of the Old French Crusade cycle

Crusade cycle

The Crusade cycle is an Old French cycle of chansons de geste concerning the First Crusade and its aftermath.-History:The cycle contains a number of initially unrelated texts, collated into interconnected narratives by later redactors...

, Simon de Puille: Chanson de geste, Karlamagnús saga

Karlamagnús saga

The Karlamagnús saga, Karlamagnussaga or Karlamagnus-saga was a late 13th century Norse prose compilation and adaptation, made for Haakon V of Norway, of the Old French chansons de geste of the Matter of France dealing with Charlemagne and his paladins...

: The Saga of Charlemagne and His Heroes, and Gloriant

Gloriant

Gloriant is a Middle Dutch drama. It is one of the four abele spelen that are contained in the Hulthemse handschrift and consists of 1142 lines in rhymeThe other abele spelen are: Esmoreit, Lanseloet van Denemerken and Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer...

.

External links

• Hazlitt, Classical Gazetter "Abila"