Edrei (Hastings' Dictionary)

Edrei was a city of Bashan (now the HaurAn, eastward of Lake Tiberias), where the Amorite king Gg was defeated and slain by the Israelites (Nu 21*, Dt 3', Jos 13'-). It was then given to Machir, the son of Manasseh (Jos 13", see Jg 5'), the district in which it was situated being known as Gilead (Nu 3289).

The Amorites do not seem to have been long in possession of it, as one of the letters of Tel el- Amama, about a century and a half before the Exodus, is from Artaiua-Samas,* the governor of Ziri-Basana, 'the field of Bashan.' Edrei is the Adraha of clas.sical geography, and in Christian times was the seat of a bishop. It has been identified with the modem Der'fit or Der'a, where there is a large reservoir, as well as an aqueduct and mausoleum.

About 10 miles to the north of it is Tell 'Ashtera, the supposed site of Ashtaroth, which is associated \vith Edrei, and in the time of Abraham was inhabited by the Rephaim (Gn 14'). In one of the Tel el-Aniama letters (B. M. 43. 10) it is (ailed Astartu, and the writer of the despatch accuses a certain Eiridasyi of taking the chariots out of it and ^ving them to the Bedawin. The neighbouring city of Buzruna (Bostra) was at the time under a kmg of its ovra. W. Ma.

\ Miiller identifies the city of Autar.l in the Kamak List of Thothmes III. (No. 91) with EdreL Philologically the names would corre-spond, but the identifica- tion is impossible, as Autarft is enumerated among the towns of southern Palestine. Astartu or Ashtaroth is in an earlier part of the list (No. 28). 2. Edrei is mentioned in Jos 19'' between Ka*lesh and En-hazor, in the tribe of NaphtalL The site of it is unknown. Literature.— Tomkins In BeconU of the Poet, New Series, t. p. 43 ff.

; Wetzstein, ReUeberxeht ilo. liauran, etc., 47, 77, 123 ; Porter, Giant CUiee o/ Boihan, 93 ff. ; Baedeker, Pal. 201 : Bchumachcr, Acrou the Jordan, 121-147 ; Dillmunn on Nu 21^3 and Dl 31" ; Driver on Dt 1* 3' 3">, and his art. Aijiitarotu in present vol. ; O. A. Smith, Hitt. Geog. 628 n., 676. A. H. Sayce.