Syria is a unitary state, but for administrative purposes, it is divided into fourteen governorates, also called provinces or counties in English (Arabic muḥāfaẓāt, singular muḥāfaẓah).The governorates are divided into sixty districts (manāṭiq, singular minṭaqah), which are further divided into subdistricts (nawāḥī, singular nāḥiyah).

Syria was an early Roman province, annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War, following the defeat of Armenian King Tigranes the Great. The Roman province of Judea incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, and extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel. It was named …