Bosora

bos´ō̇ -ra ( Βοσορᾶ , Bosorá ): One of the strong cities of Gilead taken by Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc 5:26, 28). It is identical with the Roman Bostra, the city whose extensive ruins lie on the Southeast border of the Ḥaurān , on the old Roman road that runs between Ḍer‛ah and Ṣalkhad . The modern name is Bosra eski -Shām . It cannot be identified with BOZRAH either (1) or (2), as it lies much too far north. It appears for the first time in history in the passage noted above. The ruins show it to have been a pla ce of great strength and importance. In the time of Herod the Great it was in the hands of the Nabateans. When Aulus Cornelius Palma conquered these regions, Bostra was made capital of the province under the name of Nova Trajana Bostra, in honor of the emperor Trajan. This was in 105 ad, from which year the Bostrian era was reckoned. It was taken by the Moslems under Khalid - "the sword of God." It resisted the attack of Baldwin III. Later it fell on evil days. Now, if it be true, as the proverb says, that "the prosperity of Boṣra is the prosperity of the Ḥaurān ," the case of the latter is sad indeed.