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The Decapolis Again – Further Notes on the Meaning of the Term

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The Decapolis Again – Further Notes on the Meaning of the Term ARAM, 23 (2011) 1-10. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.23.0.2959648 THE DECAPOLIS AGAIN – FURTHER NOTES ON THE MEANING OF THE TERM Prof. YORAM TSAFRIR (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) It may seem that little can be added to the long-standing discussion of the term “Decapolis”. Still, I believe that there is now room for some reconsidera- tion. I began to deal with the Decapolis while attempting to write a history of Bet Shean, or Scythopolis, as reflected by the results of the Hebrew University’s excavations on the site.1 For the first time we have substantial, though limited, information on the plan and urban structure of Scythopolis in the early Roman period, before it was reshaped at the peak of the Pax Romana in the mid second century CE. It has become clear that the town was highly decorated, adorned by temples, a theatre and houses with mosaic pavements, even at that early stage of its foundation. The archaeological discoveries of our work were pre- sented by Benny Arubas at the ARAM meeting in November 2008.2 The most prominent renovation took place at some time after Gabinius (57-54 BCE) had returned the town to its former (Hellenic) citizens, when a new city centre and residential quarters were built in the basin of Nahal Amal (Arabic Wadi Asi) to the west, southwest and south of Tel Bet Shean. The ancient mound, once the site of the entire town of Bronze Age and Iron Age Bet Shean and of the early stages of Hellenistic Scythopolis, now became the acropolis of the newly built Scythopolis. The most important complex on the mound was the Temple of Zeus Akraios and its annexes.3 The civic centre, as well as most (if not all) of the residential buildings, were built in the valley below the acropolis (our stratum 8). 1 For the excavations see Y. Tsafrir and G. Foerster, “Urbanism at Scythopolis–Bet Shean in the Fourth to Seventh Centuries”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 51 (1997), pp. 85-146 and bibliography for previous excavations and preliminary reports. See also G. Mazor and A. Najjar, Bet Shean I: Nysa-Scythopolis – The Caesareum and the Odeum (Israel Antiquities Authority Reports 33), Jerusalem 2007, and bibliography there; G. Foerster, “Beth-Shean at the Foot of the Mound”, The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land 1, Jerusalem 1993, pp. 223- 35 and bibliography; G. Mazor, “The Hellenistic to Early Islamic Periods: The Israel Antiquities Authority Excavations”, ibid. 5 (supplementary volume 2008), pp. 1623-36; B. Arubas, G. Foerster and Y. Tsafrir, “The Hellenistic to Early Islamic Periods at the Foot of the Mound: The Hebrew University Excavations”, ibid. 1636-43 and bibliography. 2 B. Arubas, “Town Planning and Urban Development in Scythopolis During the Time of the Decapolis”, a lecture in the ARAM conference, Oxford 2008. 3 Y. Tsafrir, “Further Evidence of the Cult of Zeus Akraios at Beth Shean”, Israel Exploration Journal 39 (1989), pp. 76-78. 994097_ARAM_23_01_Tsafrir.indd4097_ARAM_23_01_Tsafrir.indd 1 88/02/13/02/13 115:375:37 2 THE DECAPOLIS AGAIN There are some general agreements about the Decapolis that have become a consensus. For several decades scholars have concurred that the term “Decapolis” does not define an organized political, administrative, military or economic confederation of the Ten Cities. Many agree that the term “Decapolis” also refers to a geographical area located today in southwestern Syria and northern Jordan, between Damascus and Philadelphia, within the enclave of Scythopolis west of the Jordan, today in Israel. This region was later referred to as Coele Syria, a rather problematic name in itself. This confusion is reflected by Ptolemy in his Geographia, composed in the mid second century CE. Ptolemy used in both his map (which has not been preserved) and his gazetteer the term “Cities of Coele Syria and the Decapolis”. This list appears under Syria, in the 4th table (pinax) of Asia, and contains 18 cities. The northernmost city is Heliopolis-Baalbek in the Syrian-African rift (today’s northern Lebanon) and the southernmost is Philadelphia (today’s Amman).4 Ptolemy is, inevitably, anachronistic. He knew the ancient terms “Coele Syria” (in Greek: Hollow Syria) and “Decapolis” from the writings of earlier historians and geographers, such as Pliny and Josephus, and had to give expression to the early sources in his own composition. However, while these terms were still alive in the second century CE, they never referred to admin- istrative units. The term “Coele Syria”, used as a general name for Syria even before the Hellenistic conquest, diminished in size and significance over time.5 This term was still in use in the second century CE, as we learn from inscriptions and coins of the second and third centuries from Scythopolis and other cities (see below), but not as an administrative term. Ptolemy was also acquainted with the term “Decapolis”. He could not omit it from his geographical map and gazetteer since it was used by his authoritative sources (Pliny and Josephus), although he did not know its exact meaning. The same was true for other anach- ronistic terms known from previous sources, such as “Galilee”, “Samaria”, “Idumaea” and even “Iudaea”. These terms were most probably used in Ptolemy’s day as local geographical names, mostly by indigenous populations using Semitic languages. They appear in Jewish sources, which always prefer ancient Biblical and local names to official names such as Palestine, Arabia or Aelia Capitolina. However, neither “Coele Syria” nor “Decapolis” had an administrative meaning in the mid second century CE. 4 C. Ptolemaeus, Geographia, V, 14, 18 (ed. C. Müller, Paris 1883-1900; also (with several changes) in the edition of C.F.A. Nobbe, Leipzig 1843-1845, V, 15, 22-23. 5 For “Coele Syria” in the Persian, Hellenistic and Early Roman periods, see a brief discus- sion with extensive bibliography in M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, I, Jerusalem 1976, p. 14 and passim (see index). See also E. Bickerman, “La Coele Syria; notes de géographie historique”, Revue Biblique 54 (1947), pp. 256-68. For the later period see, for example, F. Millar, The Roman Near East 31BC – AD 337, pp. 121-22, 423-24. Following his war against Pescenius Niger in the late second century, Septimius Severus divided the large province of Syria into two parts, the northern Syria Coele and the southern Syria Phoenice. 994097_ARAM_23_01_Tsafrir.indd4097_ARAM_23_01_Tsafrir.indd 2 88/02/13/02/13 115:375:37 Y. TSAFRIR 3 It is therefore noteworthy that in an inscription from Bet Shean, posted in Scythopolis in the days of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE), this city defines itself as a Hellenic (= Greek) city of Coele Syria.6 This inscription is backed up by an abbreviated legend on a medallion issued by Commodus in 175/6 CE, while he was co-regent with Marcus Aurelius, which mentions the city of Nysa- Scythopolis the Holy and Asylum, a Hellenic (i.e. Greek) city of Syria.7 Both the inscription and the medallion date from the period of peak activity of the Panhellenion. This, as we shall see below in more detail, was a koinon or league of cities, active mostly in Greece and Asia Minor in the second century. I believe that the lacunae in our knowledge of the Decapolis may, at least in part, be filled in by the analogy to the Panhellenion. As mentioned above, the tendency today is to strip the term Decapolis of almost all administrative and practical connotations. The common practice, with which I broadly agree, is to point to the cultural and religious domains; i.e., the Decapolis was a league, or koinon, of cities united by their pledge to preserve, develop and be faithful to the Greek legacy, language, cults, art and culture.8 As in the later Panhellenion, it was imperative to prove a noble Greek origin by showing that the city was founded by Greeks. These Greeks could be Mace- donian generals or more commonly Ptolemaic and Seleucid kings. Scythopolis was luckier than most cities: as shown by Rigsby, it was probably declared a polis by Antiochus IV, who called it Nysa after his daughter. This historical Nysa was later identified with the mythological Nysa, the nurse of Dionysus. Moreover, Nysa-Scythopolis claimed to be the resting place of Dionysus’ nurse and to have been founded by the god, who also settled his companions, the Scythians here. Scholars today tend to relate the fabrication of legends and traditions about the foundation of many (though of course not all) cities to the time of Hadrian, the great neo-classicist builder.9 The case of Nysa-Scythopolis, however, is 6 G. Foerster and Y. Tsafrir, “Nysa-Scythopolis – A New Inscription and the Titles of the City on Coins”, Israel Numismatic Journal 9 (1986-7), pp. 54-58. The inscription says: “With good fortune. Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, the lord of the people of Nysa also (called) the people of Scythopolis, the holy and of the right of sanctuary, one of the Greek Cities of Coele Syria. The city through the curator Theodorus son of Titus”. 7 A. Spijkerman, The Coins of the Decapolis and the Provincia Arabia, Jerusalem 1978, pp. 194-95; Y. Meshorer, City Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period, Jerusalem 1985, p. 41 (no. 107). For coins with a legend mentioning Coele Syria see Spijkerman (ibid.), 51-57 (Abila), 119-21 (Dium), 137-41 (Gadara), 191-93 (Scythopolis), 215-17 (Pella), 247-57 (Philadelphia). 8 See particularly S.T. Parker, “The Decapolis Reviewed”, Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975), pp.
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