Judaea or Judea [Lat. from Judah], region, Greco-Roman name for S Palestine. It varied in size in different periods. In the time of Jesus it was both part of the province of Syria and a kingdom ruled by the Herods. It was the southernmost of the Roman divisions of Palestine, the others being Galilee, Samaria, and Peraea. Idumaea was S of Judaea. A strip of Samaria lay between Judaea and the Mediterranean. The former region of Judaea was occupied by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war (see West Bank).