Perea or
Peraea (
Greek: Περαία, "the country beyond"), was the portion of the kingdom of
Herod the Great occupying the eastern side of the
Jordan River valley, from about one third the way down from the
Sea of Galilee to about one third the way down the eastern shore of the
Dead Sea; it did not extend too far to the east. Herod the Great's kingdom was bequeathed to four heirs, of which
Herod Antipas received both Perea and
Galilee. He dedicated the city
Livias in the north of the Dead Sea. In 39 CE, Perea and Galilee were transferred from disfavoured Antipas to
Agrippa I by
Caligula. With his death in 44 CE, Agrippa's merged territory was made province again, including
Judaea and for the first time, Perea. From that time Perea was part of the shifting Roman provinces to its west: Judaea, and later
Syria Palaestina, Palaestina and
Palaestina Prima. Attested mostly in
Josephus' books, the term was in rarer use in the late Roman period. It appears in
Eusebius' Greek language geographical work,
Onomasticon, but in the Latin translation by
Jerome,
Transjordan is used.