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Bible Encyclopedias
Bozrah
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Boz´rah, an ancient city, known also to the Greeks and Romans by the name of Bostra. In most of the passages of the Old Testament where it is mentioned, it appears as a chief city of the Edomites (Isaiah 34:6; Isaiah 63:1; Amos 1:12; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 49:22); but it appears to have been afterwards taken from them by the Moabites, who for a time retained it in their possession.
Bozrah lay southward from Edrei, one of the capitals of Bashan, and, according to Eusebius, 24 Roman miles distant from it. Alexander Severus made it the seat of a Roman colony. In the acts of the Nicene, Ephesian, and Chalcedonian councils mention is made of bishops of Bozrah, and at a later period it became an important seat of the Nestorians. Abulfeda makes it the capital of the Hauran, in which, according to Burckhardt, it is still one of the most important towns. It has recently been visited by various travelers, who give a very ample description of its ruins, the extent and importance of which are alone sufficient to evince the ancient consequence of the place. They are of various kinds, Greek, Roman, and Saracenic, with traces of the native works in the private dwellings.
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