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HAURAN (‘hollow land’).—The district S.E. from Mt. Hermon; in particular the fertile basin, about 50 miles square and 2000 feet above sea-level, between the Jaulân and Lejâ. Only in Eze_47:16; Eze_47:18 is the name mentioned, and there as the ideal border of Canaan on the east. The modern Arabs call essentially the same district el-Hauran. The name occurs also in the ancient inscriptions of Assyria. In Græco-Roman times the same general region was known as Auranitis; it was bounded on the N. by Trachonitis, and on the N.W. by Gaulanitis and Batanæa. All these districts belonged to Herod the Great. Upon his death they fell to Philip (Luk_3:1). Troglodytes doubtless once occupied the E. portion; it is now inhabited by Druzes. The entire territory is to-day practically treeless.
George L. Robinson.