'''Abana''' (or ''Amanah'', classical Chrysorrhoas) is the more important of the two rivers of [[Damascus, Syria]] mentioned by the ''[[Books of Kings|Book of Kings]]'' (2 Kings 5:12), and is now generally identified with the [[Barada]] (i.e. ''cold''). Together with its companion river, the [[Pharpar]], the stream runs from west to east across the plain of Damascus, which owes to them much of its fertility, and the stream loses itself in marshes, or ''Meadow lakes'', as they are called, on the borders of the great [[Arabia]]n desert. As the Barada rises in the [[Anti-Libanus]], and escapes from the mountains through a narrow gorge, its waters spread out fan-like, in canals or ''rivers'', the name of one of which, the [[Banias]] river, retains a trace of ''Abana''.

[[John MacGregor (sportsman)|John MacGregor]], who gives an interesting description of them in his ''Rob Roy on the [[Jordan River|Jordan]],'' affirmed that as a work of [[hydraulic engineering]], the system and construction of the canals, by which the Abana and Pharpar were used for irrigation, might be considered as one of the most complete and extensive in the world. In the [[Bible]], [[Naaman]] exclaims that the Abana and Pharpar are greater than all the waters of [[Kingdom of Israel|Israel]].

{{Wikisource1911Enc|Abana}}

==References==
*''From [[Gutenberg Encyclopedia]] ([[1911]])''
*{{JewishEncyclopedia}}

==See also==
* [[Amana (bible)]]
[[Category:Rivers of Syria]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible rivers]]
[[Category:Damascus]]

{{Syria-geo-stub}}

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