CELESYRIA (ἡ κοίλη Συρία, the hollow Syria). This name, which is Grecian, and originated in the times of the Seleucidae, was first applied to the valley lying between the mountain-ranges of Libanus and Anti-Libanus. It was also used to denote the whole tract of country (with the exception of Judea and Phoenicia) reaching from Seleucia to Arabia and the confines of Egypt. In the time of David, Colesyria was probably included in "Syria of Damascus," which was conquered by that monarch, but recovered from Solomon by Rezon the son of Eliadah. The possession of it was an object of many struggles between the Seleucidae and the kings of Egypt. Bochart supposes that Syrophoenicia is the same as Colesyria. Scythopolis and Gadara are mentioned by Josephus as cities of Colesyria (Antiq. xiii. 13). The name frequently occurs in the Apocrypha. Under the Emperor Diocletian, Phoenice and Colesyria formed one province, called Phoenicia Libanica. Under the present Turkish government the western part of Colesyria is in the Pashalic of Saïde, and the eastern in that of Damascus.