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Abilene - a plain, a district lying on the east slope of the Anti-Lebanon range. It was so called from its chief town, Abila , a city of ancient Syria. According to Flavius Josephus, Abilene was a separate Iturean kingdom till A.D. 37, when in 52 Claudius granted it to Agrippa II. (See also Lysanias, who was governor or tetrarch of this province.)
The site of Abila is indicated by ruins of a temple, aqueducts, and other remains, and inscriptions. These are on the banks of the river Barada at Suk Wadi Barada, a village called by early Arab geographers Abil-es-Suk, between Baalbek (Heliopolis) and Damascus, 38 miles from the former and 18 from the latter. 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.
Abila was also a city in Perea, now Abil-ez-Zeit.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
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