Coele-Syria (Κοιλη Συρια, Koilē Syria). A geographical term that can refer to either the portion of the Great Rift Valley in Lebanon, or all of Syria.

Greeks in the 4th century bc called the valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges Coele-Syria. The Old Testament calls it the valley of Lebanon (Josh 11:17), and is now called the Beqaa. It is about 100 miles long, and extends upward from the Jordan Valley.

The name has also referred to larger areas:

• Strabo (Geography, 16.2) and Ptolemy (Geography, 5.15) use it to describe the fertile land between Jabal ash Sharqi and the desert near Damascus.

• In 1 Esdras 2:17 and 2 Macc 3:8, it indicates the country south and east of Mt. Lebanon.

• Coele-Syria and Phoenicia were the entire Seleucid dominions south of the Eleutherus river.

• Josephus includes in Coele-Syria the country east of the Jordan, along with Scythopolis on the west (Antiquities, 13.13.2). In 14.4.5 he extends it as far as the river Euphrates and Egypt.