Ar´vad, or, as it might be spelt, Aruad, whence the present name Ruad, a small island and city on the coast of Syria, called by the Greeks Aradus, by which name it is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 15:23. It is a small rocky island, opposite the mouth of the river Eleutherus, to the north of Tripolis, about one mile in circumference and two miles from the shore. Strabo describes it as a rock rising in the midst of the waves, and modern travelers state that it is steep on every side. Strabo also describes the houses as exceedingly lofty, and were doubtless so built, on account of the scantiness of the site: hence, for its size, it was exceedingly populous.