Scholars are divided on the size of the Israelite empire
described in the Bible, with 'maximalist' and 'minimalist' views.
The 'maximalist' view says that it would have included Damascus.
Thus, Solomon's biblical empire could have included today's Israel,
Palestinian Territories, the southern parts of Syria and and
Lebanon, and west Jordan.
Modern archaeologists say otherwise - that there they can find
no evidence of a great Israelite empire during the tenth century
BCE. They say that in the tenth century, the Hebrew kingdoms
occupied an area not much larger than the modern West Bank
territory, and that the brief expansion of Israel only occurred
during the time of the Omrite kings. In fact, scholars believe
that, on the available evidence, Solomon probably did not really
exist.