Who is…
Lysanias
He is an ancient tetrarch of the province of Abilene (aka Abileze) located the eastern slope of Anti-Lebanon mountain range, near the city of Damascus. The center of Lysanias’s realm was northwest of Damascus. Abila was on the Abana River and was the capital of Abilene—which took its name from Abila.
Lysanias is mentioned in the Book of Luke as being the tetrarch of Abilene at the time when John the Baptist began his ministry.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene —Luke 3:1
Ancient coins depict him as “tetrarch and high priest.” The Jewish historian Josephus also mentions him.1
It is possible that there were two tetrarchs with the same name, one earlier and one younger and later, perhaps his son.
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14:126; 15:4.1; 15:92; 15:342-360.
Josephus, The Jewish War, 1:248; 1:398-400.
More information
- What is a tetrarch?
- What is Abilene in the Bible?
- Damascus in the Bible
- Abana River
- Who is Luke?
- What is the Book of Luke?
- Archaeological discovery: “The Complete Text of the Abila Inscription Concerning Lysanias,” Whole Stones Website (off-site)