ABILENE . Mentioned in Luke 3:1 , and also in several references in Josephus, as a tetrarchy of Lysanias [wh. see]. It was situated in the Anti-Lebanon, and its capital was Abila, a town whose ruins are found to-day on the northern bank of the river Barada, near a village called Sûk Wady Barada . It is one of the most picturesque spots on the railroad to Damascus. The ancient name is to-day preserved in a Latin inscription on a deep rock-cutting high up above the railway. By a worthless Moslem tradition, Abel is said to have been buried here.
E. W. G. Masterman.