Chalcis was a small ancient Iturean majority kingdom situated in the Beqaa Valley, named for and originally based from the
city of the same name. The ancient city of Chalcis (a.k.a. Chalcis sub Libanum, Chalcis of Coele-Syria was located midway
between Berytus and Damascus. It was founded by Ptolemaeus, son of Menneus, an Ituraean dynast in about 85 B.C. as Seleucid
influence diminished, but it became a Roman client-state ca. 60 B.C. under Pompey. It was absorbed into the Roman province
of Syria in A.D. 92.