Betharan, a city of the Amorrhites in the valley-plain east of the Jordan, about twelve miles from Jericho (Num., xxxii, 36; Jos., xiii, 27). It was rebuilt by the tribe of Gad and later fortified by Herod Antipas, who named it Livias in honour of the wife of Augustus. As she was later called Julia, Josephus speaks of the city as Julias. Having been burnt at the fall of Jerusalem, it was restored by the Christians and became a bishopric. The site is identified by some with Tell el Rameh, six miles east of the Jordan, by others with Beit Harran.
HEIDET in VIG., Dict. de la Bible; Riess, Bibel-A1las (2nd ed., 1887); MERRILL, Last of the Jordan, 383.
John Corbett.