Judea or Judaea (/dʒuːˈdiːə, dʒuːˈdeɪə/; Hebrew: יהודה, Modern: Yəhūda, Tiberian: Yehūḏā; Arabic: يهودا, Yahūdā; Greek: Ἰουδαία, Ioudaía; Latin: Iudaea) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Israel and the West Bank. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, the Hebrew name of the tribe, called Juda(h) in English. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, later known as 'Israel,' whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians (the Yehud province), the Persians (the Yehud province), during the Hellenistic period (Hasmonean Judea), and under the Romans (the Herodian Kingdom and the Provincia Iudaea, or Province of Judaea). Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than the Judea of earlier periods. In the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt (c. 132–136 CE), the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina.
The term Judea was used by English speakers for the hilly internal part of Mandatory Palestine. Judea roughly corresponds to the southern part of the West Bank (Arabic: الضِفَّة الغَرْبِيَّة, romanized: aḍ-ḍiffa al-gharbiya), a territory Israel has occupied since 1967 and administered as the "Judea and Samaria Area"(מחוז יהודה ושומרון, Makhoz Yehuda VeShomron). Usage of the term "Judea and Samaria" is associated with the right wing in Israeli politics.
