Bashan (/ˈbeɪʃən/;Hebrew:הַבָּשָׁן,romanized: habBashan;Latin:Basan orBasanitis)[1] is the ancient,biblical name used for the northernmost region ofTransjordan during theIron Age.[2] It is situated in modern-dayJordan andSyria. Its western part, nowadays known as theGolan Heights, was occupied byIsrael during the 1967Six Day War.
Bashan has been inhabited since at least the fourth millennium BCE. Its earliest mention is found in aSumerian text dating back to the third millennium BCE. During the Late Bronze Age, Bashan is recorded in Egyptian sources as being under the control oftheir empire.[3] Biblical tradition holds that anAmorite kingdom in Bashan was conquered by theIsraelites during the reign ofKing Og. Throughout the monarchic period, Bashan was contested between the kingdoms ofIsrael andAram-Damascus.Tiglath-pileser III ofAssyria eventually intervened, removing Bashan from Israel's control.[3]
Bashan is mentioned 59 times in theHebrew Bible. It is the location ofAshtaroth Karnaim and Edrei (modern-dayDaraa), as well as the city ofGolan, which gave its name to the modern Golan Heights.[3] The name Bashan fell out of use inclassical antiquity, in which the region was divided into four districts:Batanaea, Gaulanitis,Trachonitis andAuranitis.
In some Semitic languages,bashan (Ugaritic:bšn) meant serpent.[4] These reflexes derive from a Proto-Semitic form *baṯan.[5]
TheBook of Numbers tells that King Og of Bashan came out against theIsraelites led byMoses at the time of their entrance into thePromised Land, but was vanquished in battle (Numbers 21:33–35;Deuteronomy 3:1–7).[7]Deuteronomy 3:1–7 states:
Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle atEdrei. And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst untoSihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt atHeshbon. So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
Along with the half ofGilead, it was given to the half-tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:29–31). According to theBook of Joshua,Golan, one of its cities, became aLevitical city and acity of refuge (Joshua 21:27).Argob, in Bashan, was one ofSolomon's commissariat districts (1 Kings 4:13).
In the late-9th century BCE, the cities of Bashan were taken byHazael, monarch of the Syrian kingdom of Aram-Damascus (2 Kings 10:33), but were soon after reconquered byJehoash (2 Kings 13:25) who overcame theSyrians in three battles, according to the prophecy ofElisha (2 Kings 13:19).
From this time, Bashan almost disappears from history, although there are biblical references to the wildcattle of its richpastures (seeEzekiel 39:18,Psalm 22:12 andAmos 4:1), theoaks of its forests (Isaiah 2:13;Ezekiel 27:6;Zechariah 11:2), the beauty of its extensive plains (also in Amos 4:1),[8]Jeremiah 50:19), and the rugged majesty of its mountains (Psalm 68:15). Bashan is also mentioned in1 Chronicles 5:16: "[TheGadites] lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its outlying villages, and on all the pasturelands of Sharon as far as they extended."
The Bashan was ultimately conquered and pillaged by theNeo-Assyrian Empire, which held onto it from 732 to 610 BCE. It later saw security and prosperity under theAchaemenid Empire; its settlements became better developed and culturallyAramaized.