Decapolis
Decapolis Δεκάπολις | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
63 BC–AD 106 | |||||||||||||
Common languages | Koine Greek,Aramaic,Arabic,Latin,Hebrew | ||||||||||||
Religion | Hellenistic religion,Imperial Cult | ||||||||||||
Government | Client state | ||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||
•Pompey's conquest of Syria | 63 BC | ||||||||||||
•Trajan's annexation ofArabia Petrea | AD 106 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Today part of | Israel Jordan Syria |
32°43′00″N35°48′00″E/ 32.7167°N 35.8000°E
TheDecapolis(Greek:Δεκάπολις,Dekápolis,'Ten Cities') was a group of tenHellenisticcities on the eastern frontier of theRoman Empirein theSouthern Levantin the first centuries BC and AD. Most of the cities were located to the east of theJordan Rift Valley,betweenJudaea,Iturea,Nabataea,andSyria.[1]
The Decapolis was a center ofHellenisticandRoman culturein a region which was otherwise populated byJews,ArabNabataeansandArameans.[2]The cities formed a group because of theirlanguage,culture,religion,location, and political status, with each functioning as an autonomouscity-statedependent on Rome. They are sometimes described as a league of cities, although some scholars[who?]believe that they were never formally organized as a political unit.
In the time of the EmperorTrajan,the cities were incorporated into the provinces ofSyriaandArabia Petraea;several cities were later placed inSyria PalaestinaandPalaestina Secunda.The Decapolis region is located in modern-dayJordan(Philadelphia, Gerasa, Pella and Gadara),Israel(Scythopolis and Hippos) andSyria(Raphana, Dion, Canatha and Damascus).
Cities
[edit]The names of the traditional ten cities of the Decapolis come fromPliny'sNatural History.[3]They are:
City | Comments | Location |
---|---|---|
Philadelphia | Capital of modern Jordan | Amman,Jordan |
Gerasa | Jerash,Jordan | |
Gadara | Umm Qais,Jordan | |
Pella | West ofIrbid | Tabaqat Fahl,Jordan |
Dion (Tell Ashari) | Sometimes also identified withAydoun | Tell Ashari, Syria |
Raphana | Usually identified also with Raepta and Arpha[4] | Ar-Rafi'ah, Syria |
Scythopolis | Only city west of theJordan River | Beit She'an,Israel |
Hippos | Mentioned by Pliny as Dio Hippos, usually this entity is divided into Dion and Hippos. The Aramaic name of Hippos wasSussita | Sussita,Israel |
Canatha | A city rich on water, at the north-western slope of theJebel Hauran(Mons Al-Sadamus,Jebel al-Druz) | Qanawat,Syria |
Damascus | Capital of modern Syria[5] | Damascus, Syria |
Pliny also mentions in his enumeration important regions around and between the cities | ||
Trachonitis | theLajat/Leja, including the surroundings fromAz (al) Sanamayn(west) until theArd of Batanea(Batanaea Plain) in the east of it. | el-Mushmije, Ezra, Khalkhale, Syria |
Paneas | The region aroundBanias/Caesarea Phillipi | Banias, Syria |
Abilene | The small realm ofLysanias,seeAbila Lysaniae | Souq Wadi Barada,Syria |
Arca | The western part around the See of Galilee withTarichaea(Greek:Ταριχαία or Ταριχέα) andPhiloteriaat its southern end. | Sinnabra,Yardenit,Israel |
Ampelloessa | Usually identified withAbilaalso known as "Abila Viniferos", 12 miles east of Gadara (seeOnomasticon) and Capitolias | Abila, Beit Ras, Ard el-Karm, Jordan |
Gabe | Region of Gabe, later also known asJabiyah | Muzeirib / Nawa, Syria |
Damascus was further north than the others and so is sometimes thought to have been an "honorary" member.Josephusstates that Scythopolis was the largest of the ten towns.[6]Biblical commentatorEdward Plumptresuggests that this is the reason why Damascus was not included in Josephus' list.[7]According to other sources, there may have been as many as 18 or 19 Greco-Roman cities counted as part of the Decapolis.
History
[edit]Hellenistic period
[edit]Except for Scythopolis, Damascus and Canatha, the Decapolis cities were by and large founded during theHellenistic period,between the death ofAlexander the Greatin 323 BC and the Roman conquest ofCoele-Syria,includingJudeain 63 BC. Some were established under thePtolemaic dynastywhich ruled Judea until 198 BC. Others were founded later, when theSeleucid Empireruled the region. Some of the cities included "Antiochia" or "Seleucia" in their official names (Antiochia Hippos,for example), which attest to Seleucid origins. The cities were Greek from their founding, modeling themselves on the Greekpolis.
In 63 BC, the Roman generalPompeyconquered the eastern Mediterranean. The people of the Hellenized cities, who were under the rule of the JewishHasmonean Kingdom,[8]welcomed Pompey as a liberator. When Pompey reorganized the region, he awarded a group of these cities with autonomy under Roman protection; this was the origin of the Decapolis. For centuries the cities based theircalendar eraon this conquest: 63 BC was the epochal year of thePompeian era,used to count the years throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods.
Autonomy under Rome
[edit]Under Roman rule, the cities of the Decapolis were not included in the territory of theHerodian kingdom,its successor states of theHerodian tetrarchy,or theRoman province of Judea.Instead, the cities were allowed considerable political autonomy under Roman protection. Each city functioned as a polis orcity-state,with jurisdiction over an area of the surrounding countryside. Each minted its own coins. Many coins from Decapolis cities identify their city as "autonomous," "free," "sovereign," or "sacred" —terms that imply some sort of self-governing status.[9]
The Romans left their cultural stamp on all of the cities. Each one was eventually rebuilt with a Roman-style grid of streets based around a centralcardoand/ordecumanus.The Romans sponsored and built numerous temples and other public buildings. Theimperial cult,the worship of the Roman emperor, was a very common practice throughout the Decapolis and was one of the features that linked the cities. A small open-air temple or façade, called akalybe,was unique to the region.[10]
The cities may also have enjoyed strong commercial ties, fostered by a network of newRoman roads.This has led to their common identification today as a "federation" or "league". The Decapolis was probably never an official political or economic union; most likely it signified the collection of city-states which enjoyed special autonomy during early Roman rule.[11][12]
TheNew Testamentgospels ofMatthew,Mark,andLukemention that the Decapolis region was a location of theministry of Jesus.According toMatthew 4:23–25the Decapolis was one of the areas from which Jesus drew his multitude ofdisciples,attracted by His "healing all kinds of sickness". The Decapolis was one of the few regions where Jesus travelled in whichGentileswere in the majority: most of Jesus' ministry focused on teaching to Jews.Mark 5:1-10emphasizes the Decapolis' gentile character when Jesus encounters a herd of pigs, an animal forbidden byKashrut,the Jewish dietary laws. Ademon-possessed manhealed by Jesus in this passage asks to be included among the disciples who traveled with Jesus; but Jesus does not permit him, as he wanted him to tell his friends what the Lord had done and instructs him to remain in the Decapolis region.[13]
Direct Roman rule
[edit]The Decapolis came under direct Roman rule in AD 106, whenArabia Petraeawas annexed during the reign of the emperorTrajan.The cities were divided between the new province and the provinces ofSyriaandJudea.[9]In the later Roman Empire, they were divided betweenArabiaandPalaestina Secunda,of which Scythopolis served as the provincial capital; while Damascus became part ofPhoenice Libanensis.The cities continued to be distinct from their neighbors within their provinces, distinguished for example by their use of thePompeian calendar eraand their continuing Hellenistic identities. However, the Decapolis was no longer a unit of administration.
The Roman andByzantineDecapolis region was influenced and gradually taken over byChristianity.Some cities were more receptive than others to the new religion. Pella was a base for some of the earliest church leaders (Eusebiusreports that theapostlesfled there to escape theFirst Jewish–Roman War). In other cities, paganism persisted long into the Byzantine era. Eventually, however, the region became almost entirely Christian, and most of the cities served as seats ofbishops.
Most of the cities continued into the late Roman and Byzantine periods. Some were abandoned in the years following Palestine's conquest by theRashidun Caliphatein 641, but other cities continued to be inhabited long into the Islamic period.
Evolution and excavation
[edit]Jerash (Gerasa) and Bet She'an (Scythopolis) survive as towns today, after periods of abandonment or serious decline. Damascus has never lost its prominent role throughout later history. Philadelphia was long abandoned but was revived in the 19th century and has become the capital city of Jordan under the nameAmman.Twentieth-century archaeology has identified most of the other cities on Pliny's list, and most have undergone or are undergoing considerable excavation.[14][15][16][17][18]
Culture
[edit]The Decapolis was a region where two cultures interacted: the culture of the Greek colonists and the indigenousJewishand Aramean cultures. There was some conflict. The Greek inhabitants were shocked by theJewish practice of circumcision,which was regarded as a cruel and barbaricgenital mutilation.[19]Various elements of Jewish dissent towards the dominant andassimilative nature of Hellenic civilizationarose gradually in the face of assimilation. At the same time,cultural blending and borrowingalso occurred in the Decapolis region.
The cities acted as centers for the diffusion of Hellenistic culture. Some local deities began to be called by the nameZeus,from the chief Greek god. Meanwhile, in some cities Greeks began worshipping these local "Zeus" deities alongside their own Zeus Olympios. There is evidence that the colonists adopted the worship of otherSemitic gods,includingPhoeniciandeities and the chief Nabatean god,Dushara(worshipped under his Hellenized name,Dusares). The worship of these Semitic gods is attested in coins and inscriptions from the cities.
See also
[edit]- Heptapolis(meaning seven cities)
- Doric hexapolis(six)
- Pentapolis(five)
- Tetrapolis(four)
- Tripolis(three)
References
[edit]- ^Rogers, Guy MacLean (2021).For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE.New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 536.ISBN978-0-300-24813-5.
- ^Kropp, Andreas; Mohammad, Qasim (2006)."Dion of the Decapolis: Tell al-Ash'arīin southern Syria in the light of ancient documents and recent discoveries".Levant.38(1): 125–144.doi:10.1179/lev.2006.38.1.125.ISSN0075-8914.S2CID162405924.
The Decapolis was a peculiar agglomeration of Hellenized cities placed between Jewish Palestine, Nabatean Arabia and the Hauran.
- ^Natural History, 5.16.74
- ^Kleb, Jens (2022)."Raphana of the Decapolis and its successor Arpha - The search for an eminent Greco-Roman City".Peer Community Journal(in French).2.doi:10.24072/pcjournal.201.ISSN2804-3871.S2CID254729593.
- ^"Decapolis - Ancient Greek League, Palestine".Encyclopædia Britannica Online Edition.
- ^Wars of the Jews, Book 3, chapter 9, section 7,accessed 6 December 2016
- ^Plumptre, E. H., inEllicott's Commentary for English Readerson Matthew 4, accessed 6 December 2016
- ^Millar, Fergus (1995). "For the moment it is enough to recall that when Pompey had acquired the area for Rome in the 60s, he had made a deliberate point of liberating all those cities in this area which had been under Jewish rule (following conquests by the Hasmoneans), and had made them part of the province of Syria.".The Roman Near East: 31 BC–AD 337.Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 39.ISBN978-0-674-77886-3.
- ^abMare, Harold W. (2000)."Decapolis".In Freedman, David Noel (ed.).Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible.William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company. pp.333–334.ISBN0-8028-2400-5.
- ^Segal, Arthur (2001). "The" Kalybe Structures ": Temples for the Imperial Cult in Hauran and Trachon: An Historical-architectural Analysis".Assaph: Studies in Art History.6.Tel Aviv University: 91–118.
- ^"Decapolis" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Ed. Eric M. Meyers, S. Thomas Parker. Oxford Biblical Studies Online. Nov 14, 2016.
- ^"oxfordbiblicalcstudies".ww1.oxfordbiblicalcstudies.Archived fromthe originalon 9 May 2019.Retrieved7 May2019.
- ^Mark 5:18–20
- ^Segal, Arthur."The 'Kalybe' Structures."Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University.
- ^Parker, S. Thomas (September 1999). "An Empire's New Holy Land: The Byzantine Period".Near Eastern Archaeology.62(3): 134–180.doi:10.2307/3210712.ISSN1094-2076.JSTOR3210712.S2CID164178042.
- ^Meyers, Eric M. (December 1996). "The Making of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East".The Biblical Archaeologist.59(4): 194–197.doi:10.2307/3210561.ISSN0006-0895.JSTOR3210561.S2CID165422294.
- ^Collins, Adela Yarbro (August 1996). "The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Ephraim Stern, Ayelet Lewinson-Gilboa, Joseph Aviram".History of Religions.36(1): 81–83.doi:10.1086/463453.ISSN0018-2710.
- ^Chancey, Mark Alan; Porter, Adam Lowry (December 2001). "The Archaeology of Roman Palestine".Near Eastern Archaeology.64(4): 164–203.doi:10.2307/3210829.ISSN1094-2076.JSTOR3210829.S2CID163466008.
- ^Hodges, Frederick M. (2001)."The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme"(PDF).Bulletin of the History of Medicine.75(Fall 2001).Johns Hopkins University Press:375–405.doi:10.1353/bhm.2001.0119.PMID11568485.S2CID29580193.Retrieved13 February2020.
External links
[edit]- The Decapolis on BibArchArchived5 February 2005 at theWayback Machine
- The Decapolis on the Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Decapolis a short overview
- Scholarly reviewof a 2003 book,Kulte und Kultur der Dekapolis (Cults and Culture of the Decapolis).The review contains information on the religious syncretism in the Hellenistic and Roman Decapolis. Contains some passages in German.
- "New Inscriptions in Roman city in Israel shed personal light on early Christians", Ha'aretz, Nov. 22, 2022
- Decapolis
- States and territories disestablished in the 2nd century
- Ptolemaic colonies
- Roman towns and cities in Israel
- Roman towns and cities in Jordan
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