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THE FOUNDATION of ROMAN CAPITOLIAS a Hypothesis

THE FOUNDATION of ROMAN CAPITOLIAS a Hypothesis

ARAM, 23 (2011) 35-62. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.23.0.2959651

THE FOUNDATION OF ROMAN CAPITOLIAS A Hypothesis

Mr. JULIAN M.C. BOWSHER1 (Museum of London Archaeology)

INTRODUCTION

The town of Beit Ras in northern is the site of the ancient city of Capitolias. The identification and geographical location of Capitolias was deter- mined in the 19th century. According to numismatic data, the city was “founded” in 97/98 AD. However, it remains an enigma since no one appears to have addressed the questions of why and when Capitolias, as a Roman city, came into being. This paper will concentrate on the Roman city of Capitolias, re-examining the known sources as well as analysing the broader geographic, economic, political, military, and religious elements. These factors will be brought together to produce a hypothesis covering the why and when. This introduction will begin with a review of early accounts of the site and the history of its identifica- tion with Capitolias, before examining its foundation.

Historiography The first known (western) description of the site of Beit Ras was by Ulrich Jasper Seetzen who was there in the spring of 1806. He noted that “… from some ancient remains of architecture [it] appears to have been once a consider- able town.” but he was unable to identify it.2 J.L. Burckhardt travelled in the area in 1812 and although he did not manage to visit the site, he was told that at Beit er Ras the “ruins were of large extent, that there were no columns standing, but that large ones were lying upon the ground”. Burckhardt did not have any idea of its identification either for he had in fact been searching for the site of Capitolias elsewhere.3 J.S. Buckingham passed by to the west of the site

1 This hypothesis has been in my mind for nearly 20 years and I am grateful to ARAM for finally providing an incentive to finish this paper. I am indebted to Cherie Lenzen for many early discussions on the site and an initial draft was kindly read by her, Philip Freeman and Rebecca Foote which resulted in many suggestions and corrections. At the ARAM conference in 2008 I benefitted from further fruitful discussions with Lucinda Dirwen. Andreas Kropp, Bernhard Lucke and Nadine Riedl. 2 Seetzen 1810, 29-30; 1854, I, 371-372. 3 Burckhardt 1822, 269, 266.

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in 1816 merely noting that it was an inhabited hamlet “where there are said to be considerable ruins and caverns.”4. The earliest identification of the site with Capitolias appears to have been made by Cornelius van de Velde during his travels in 1851-52.5 Selah Merrill visited the site for two hours in April 1876 and decided that “Beit er Ras, – “house of the head”, … no doubt corresponds to Capitolias in the Roman period.” He went on to describe its situation on “the slopes and summits of two or three low hills” and its extensive ruins: “The public buildings were numer- ous and imposing, but are now mere piles of ruins.” He described some of the ruins such as vaults with roads and architectural fragments as well as noting inscriptions in Nabataean and Greek.6 The first detailed description of the site was by Gottleib Schumacher in 18907 to whom I shall have recourse later. The two American explorers Libbey and Hoskins visited the site in 1902. They accepted the identification with Capitolias, but their short account is rather effusive in its description, speaking of “a huge arch” and “the mass of public buildings, whose wealth of columns, carved capitals, ornamental work, and massive walls speak eloquently of the ancient richness and influence of this incomparable site.”8. The identification of Beit Ras with Capitolias is not only made on the basis of the ruins and its possible etymology. The site clearly cor- responds with the position of Capitolias on the Tabula Peutingerana, marked with distances from other known sites.

Exploration

Tombs at the site were investigated by German scholars at the beginning of the 20th century.9 The American archaeologist C.C. McCown explored various areas around the site in the 1930s10 as did Nelson Glueck11 and later Siegfried Mittmann.12 Further tombs in the vicinity have been excavated over a number of years.13 A more comprehensive programme of survey and excavation was launched by Cherie Lenzen in 1984.14 The Department of Antiquities of Jordan

4 Buckingham 1821, 411. 5 van de Velde 1858a; 1858b, 302. 6 Merrill, S. 1881, Across the Jordan. London. pp. 296-8. An inscription found by Merrill at the site was published four years later; Allen 1885, 202, no.25. 7 Schumacher 1890, 154-168. 8 Libbey & Hoskins 1905, 172-173. 9 Thomsen 1910; Reuter 1911, 53-54. 10 McCown 1932; 1936. 11 Glueck 1951, 114-118. 12 Mittmann 1970, 169-173. 13 McCown 1942; Zayadine 1976; Melhem 1994; Ta’ani, H. 1995a. 14 See bibliographic entries for Lenzen in Lichtenberger 2003, 114-27. An important contri- bution to the historiography of the site are the oral sources collected by Lenzen 1995.

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began further investigations in 2000 and, in the spring of 2002 an ancient theatre was discovered on the north-western slopes of the site, hidden by many metres of hillwash.15

BEFORE THE CITY

Gilead, within which Beit Ras lies, has a long Biblical history, and survey work over the wider area has provided much evidence of early activity.16 The natural prominence of Beit Ras, within this terrain, has long attracted speculation on an ancient identity. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hölscher identified it with Mizpeh, the home of Jeptha (Judges 11:11, 29, 34) and thus at the centre of Jewish occupation in the area.17

Survey and excavation at the site itself has failed to produce any pre- Hellenistic material, and this identification is most unlikely.18 El-Meidan, a small site half a kilometre to the south-east of Beit Ras, has produced Early and Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery,19 but there are no other traces of early material within the immediate vicinity. Slightly farther afield, Mittman found pottery of Middle and Late Bronze Age and Iron Age date at es-Zafaran, Dabulya, Shris and Samuqa.20 The largest earlier site in the vicinity is, of course, , tentatively identified with the Biblical Beth Arbel (Hosea 10.14), which has revealed substantial Bronze Age and Iron Age remains.21 The highest point at Beit Ras, Tell el-Khudr at its western end, lies at 614 metres above mean sea level and extensively commands the surrounding terrain.22 Hellenistic pottery was found, albeit residually, on the surface23 and a watchtower here is a logical assumption. However, the archaeological results (to date) have not provided any evidence for any occupation earlier than Roman. No evidence for such a watchtower thesis exists but later Roman structures,

15 Karasneh & al-Rousan 2002. Lucke however, suggests that the hillwash covering was largely present in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, Lucke this volume. 16 Note the surveys of Glueck 1951, and Mittmann 1970. 17 Holscher 1906, 140. Mizpeh was almost certainly the same as Ramoth Mizpah of Josiah 13:26. The argument continued with the identification of Mizpeh – Mispa becoming the Maspha of I Maccabees 5.35 and even corrupting into Malle of Ant Jud XII.8.3(340). Neverthe- less, the identification with Beit Ras was cautiously accepted by Abel 1923, 516-7. 18 See Mittmann 1970, 217 where Mizpa is identified with el-Misrefe to the south. However he does not equate this with Ramath-Mizpa which he could not locate, pp. 235-42. 19 Glueck 1951, 116, no.43. 20 Mittman 1970, 26 no.54, 28 no.58, 28 no.59, 29 no.61. 21 Glueck 1951, 153-4; Lenzen & McQuitty 1988, 268; Lenzen & Knauf 1988. 22 El-Khudr is not, of course, a tell in the archaeological sense, but used locally to mean a ‘high point’. 23 Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 24; Lenzen & McQuitty 1988, 269.

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founded on bedrock,24 may have involved the clearance of earlier remains. Pos- sible Hellenistic watchtowers have been identified near Beit Ras25 and Hellenistic forts have been found on high points around Pella to the south-west.26 A garrison at to the south, has also been suggested.27 These, however, are sites with archaeologically attested settlement pre-dating the . Never- theless Henri Seyrig suggested that at Capitolias, like Gerasa, there may have been a Hellenistic presence associated with the activities of the Macedonian general Perdiccas, consolidating Gilead on the orders of .28 Well known coins minted in Capitolias in the late AD carry inscrip- tions describing Alexander as the genarches of the Capitolians.29 That is, he was regarded as the “ancestor” of the people, rather than the founder of the city as claimed on coins of nearby Gerasa.30 Nevertheless the second century AD was a period when many cities in the area proclaimed a Hellenistic ancestry, much of which may have been fictional, in order to express political and cul- tural loyalty to the Roman regime.31 The population of northern Gilead appears to have been mixed. A long- standing Jewish population was said to have withdrawn across the Jordan after the victories of in the 160s BC.32 There are also references to a Nabataean presence in the area, complemented now by archaeological material.33 A Nabataean funerary inscription has been found at Beit Ras but not in situ, and as its date is also disputed it can no longer be used to postulate a pre Roman Nabataean occupation at the site.34 However, similar inscriptions have been found at Umm Qeis () to the north-west, Dera’a (Adraha) to the east and Husn to the south.35 Graffiti at the nearby site of el-Meidan, thought by McCown to represent a typical Nabataean tomb has been rightly doubted by Sartre.36 Nevertheless, Meshorer has pointed out that the standing veiled Tyche depicted on 2nd century AD coins from Capitolias is reminiscent of representa- tions on Nabataean coins.37

24 Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 28. The Roman water systems may also have destroyed earlier tombs. 25 Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 24 n.10. 26 McNicoll, Smith & Hennessy 1982, 65-7; McNicoll 1992, 103-5. 27 Kraeling 1938, 29. 28 Seyrig, 1965, 26-7. 29 Spijkerman 1978, Capitolias nos.15, 20. 30 Seyrig 1965. 31 MacAdam, 1986, 77-78; Bowsher 1992, 271. 32 I Macc. 5: 9-54. 33 I Macc. 5.25; Josephus Ant Jud 13.1.2. For a survey of Nabataean evidence in the Decapolis area see Graf 1986; Wenning 1992. 34 Revue Biblique 1902, 589; CIS II.94; RES 1098; Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 27. 35 Wenning 1992, 87-88. 36 McCown 1936; Sartre 1982, 63, no.6. 37 Meshorer 1985, 86.

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The site that became Capitolias was virtually unoccupied until the Roman period. It was apparently only used for tombs and perhaps a watchtower sur- rounded by small farming communities, dominated – at least in the early period – by Arbela / Irbid. The foundation of a new city at Beit Ras appears therefore to have been a deliberate act. When built the brand new city of Tiberias in 18 AD, it was, according to Josephus, forcibly populated from the existing rural population of the immediate area.38 A similar measure may have filled the new city of Capitolias though such incentive was unlikely to have been as draconian.

THE “FOUNDATION” OF CAPITOLIAS

The only secure fact surrounding the “foundation” of Capitolias is the date, 97/98 AD, at which it began its localised era.39 Coins issued by the city, dating from the reigns of Marcus Aurelius to Elagabalus, are also inscribed with a local, or civic, date ranging from Year 69 to Year 122. ‘Capitolian’ coins minted under Macrinus are dated Year 120. Macrinus reigned from April 217 to June 218 AD, thus a subtraction from 217/218 AD brings us to a period between April 97 and June 98 AD covering the reigns of Nerva and . Nerva acceded to the purple after the assassination of Domitian on 18 Sept 96 AD and died on 26th January 98 AD, to be succeeded in turn by his adopted son Trajan. Older views suggested a “foundation” in the year 97 AD because it was the 850th anniversary of the foundation of Rome40 and a more plausible sugges- tion gave 98 AD to mark Trajan’s accession.41 Capitolias as a city was one of the smallest in the area although the creation of a physical environment must have taken time. Of the well known passage in Pausanias that defines monuments essential for the identification of a ‘city’,42 Beit Ras would seem to have a wall circuit,43 temple and a theatre44 – though no nymphaeum or gymnasium have yet been positively identified. Glueck identified two nearby quarries at el-Amawi and ed-Deiri, which he plausibly

38 Ant Jud XVIII.2.3 (36); Bell Jud II.9.1 (168). See also Avi-Yonah 1950. 39 The date was first worked out by Eckhel 1828, 328. 40 Mionnet 1837, 192. 41 de Saulcy 1874, 305. 42 Description of , X.4.1. Despite this, the Graeco-Roman notion of a ‘city’ was far more than its physical presence. 43 “datable to the Roman period” Lenzen 1992, 539. 44 Reuter noted a theatre here in 1901 (1911, 54) – although it is strange that such a monument escaped the notice of Schumacher – and there was a local tradition of a theatre that was dismantled for building material at the beginning of the 20th century, Lenzen pers. comm. Recent excavation has now almost fully revealed it, Karasneh, al-Rousan & Telfah 2002. However, its construction apparently into the city wall suggests it was a late addition to the amenities of the city.

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suggested were utilised in the construction of Capitolias.45 The bedrock at the site clearly has been levelled for construction of buildings as well as excavated for water systems which may have provided more building material. Further- more, the establishment of civic offices and administrative departments will also have taken some time to organise. The time taken to establish a city is well illustrated by Josephus who describes how the building of Caesarea by took ten, or twelve, years. More significantly, it was only at the end of this period that a festival was held to celebrate its foundation.46 I suggest that the adoption of a dating era was the last, crowning, element in the creation of a new city and that it is erroneous to ascribe the “foundation” of Capitolias to Nerva or Trajan. I will therefore attempt to argue that the city was planned by the last Flavian emperor, Domitian, a number of years before its era began.

ROMAN URBANISATION IN THE EAST

Although a process of urbanisation is often regarded as something fostered by the Romans, there is little evidence in this part of the empire for the crea- tion of brand new cities. This was an area where urban settlement had been established for centuries (and occasionally millennia). During the Hellenistic and Roman periods many existing settlements were ‘upgraded’ to the status of cities (poleis) and with the benefits of the pax romana many urban communi- ties were keen to enhance their status. From the third quarter of the first century AD there is in fact a history of Flavian regeneration of a number of cities in the area. When Vespasian launched his bid for the purple, he had been the governor of and commander of the Roman forces suppressing the First Jewish Revolt. Early Flavian favour is thus attested in new dynastic titles given to a number of Palestinian cities after the suppression of the Revolt. In the early the title Flavia was given to Caesarea, Joppa, Neapolis and Nicopolis. Farther afield, Flavian eras are attested at Samosata in Commagene and Flaviopolis in . During Domitian’s reign we find that Chalcis in northern Syria began a new era in 92 AD. Josephus’ statement that Vespasian founded no new ‘city’ settlements, in ,47 would appear to be correct for there is clear evidence that all of the afore mentioned cities were ancient establishments, rather than new foundations,

45 Glueck 1951, 114 no.46, 115 no.49a. There are actually traces of?ancient quarrying over a wider area around the site. 46 Ant Jud XVI.5.1 (136); Ant Jud XV.9.6 (341). 47 Bell Jud VII.6.6 (217).

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which received Flavian favour. Moreover, Isaac remarked in 1991 that the notion that after 70 AD Judea was surrounded by military sites in order to keep the peace has little backing in the available historical and archaeological evidence.48 Farther afield there was some civic development in southern Syria in the Flavian period. A new north-west gate was built at Gerasa under the governorship of the Elder Trajan and the large southern theatre there was built during the reign Domitian.49 Marcus Ulpius Traianus the Elder had had a distinguished record during the First Revolt, serving under Titus, as legate of the Legio X Fretensis50 and it may be noted that this service extended east of the Jordan, in the Peraea. Such was his conduct during the campaign that he was shortly afterwards rewarded with the governorship of Syria, from 73/74 to 77/78 AD. Bowersock has sug- gested that much of the early Flavian policy in Syria was due to the energies of the Elder Trajan.51 His son, the future emperor, had also known the east in his youth as a military serving in Syria during his father’s governorship,52 and they were both loyal to the Flavian regime. Although the establishment of a city within imperial provinces such as Syria would certainly have needed imperial sanction, the provincial legate will have undertaken the initial planning. The city was clearly begun well after the Syrian tenure of the Elder Trajan although it is useless to speculate under which gover- nor it was planned. Moreover, the identity of the governor of Syria at the “foun- dation” of Capitolias in 97/98 AD remains uncertain.53 It should also be noted that the few new (Herodian) foundations of the earlier AD in the area all had the Greek suffix -ias on imperial Latin names. Antipas founded Tiberias (18 AD) and (on the site of Betharampha but not a true city). Philip founded Caesarea Panias (2BC) and Julias (on site of Bethsaida and again not a true city). We may also note that Caesarea Panias was briefly renamed Neronias by Agrippa II.54 This etymology therefore, has an ancestry in royal foundations but it is unlikely that Capitolias was founded by such a dynast. It is more probable that the site was an imperial foundation from the outset but it is equally unlikely to have been conceived as Domitias (and certainly would not have survived as such) and it is probable that a theo- phoric name was determined from the outset.

48 Isaac 1991, 347-349. 49 Bowersock 1973, 138; Pouilloux 1977. 50 Bell Jud III.7.31(289-300), 9.8(458), 10.3(485); IV.8.1 (450). 51 Bowersock 1973, 140. 52 , Panegyricus. 14.1; 15.1-3. 53 On Syrian governors see Rey-Coquais 1978, 61-67 and on the problems of the identity of the governor of c.98-100 AD see Syme 1981, 139-142. 54 On the above mentioned foundations see Schurer 1978, II, §23.

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THE RELIGIOUS EVIDENCE

The name given to the new city was clearly related to the supreme deity of the Roman pantheon, that of Jupiter Capitolinus. Jupiter was, in general terms, equated to the Greek Zeus who also seems to have had a syncrestic relation to the paramount local deity of Baal Shamin.55 At the nearby city of Dion the Greek theophoric name was introduced into what may have been an established settlement where syncrestic tendencies are well attested on the city’s coinage.56 However, Capitolias has a distinctly western flavour – unique in civic nomen- clature in the area – that suggests the absence of a strong Semitic element in any previous designation. There is no surviving evidence associating the site with an indigenous cult centre although the connection with the “house of the head” – Beit Ras, may suggest some local adaption. It will be remembered that Capitoline Jupiter was directly linked to Judea through financial measures. After the Revolt, Vespasian instituted a special tax payable to a state department in Rome known as the Fiscus Iudaicus. A tax had been formerly paid by Jews towards the upkeep of the temple in . With the destruction of the temple in 70 AD this tax became redundant and Vespasian merely transformed it into a means of revenue – specifically ear- marked for the Capitol in Rome – that also served as an indemnity payable by the defeated Jews.57 Bruce has pointed out that such a revenue was an oppor- tune means of paying for imperial projects, such as the reconstruction of the Capitol which had burnt down in 70 AD.58 I might suggest therefore that these funds could also have contributed to the creation of a new eponymous city foundation. Jupiter Capitolinus was particularly adored by Domitian. He had sought sanctuary in the Capitol during the troubles of 69 AD. He rebuilt it, with mili- tary assistance, after it had burnt down again in 80 AD (perhaps with the funds noted above). He offered a laurel crown to Capitoline Jupiter after his Dacian campaigns. He was habitually accompanied by the priest of Capitoline Jupiter at games and even inaugurated Capitoline Games in 86 AD.59 It should be also noted that the major Jupitan monument in Syria, the great temple of Jupiter Damascenus, seems to have been finally completed under Domitian.60 The most obvious parallel to our city is the later renaming of Jerusalem as where built a temple dedicated

55 Bowsher 1987, 66; Lichtenberger 2003, 118-21; Riedl this volume; Dirven, this volume. 56 Augé 1988; Dion has now been identified with Tell el Ashari, Sartre 1992; Kropp 2006. 57 Josephus Bell. Jud. VII.6.6 (217). 58 Bruce 1964, 37-38. 59 Suetonius Dom. 4; Frears 1981, 78. 60 Seyrig 1950, 34.

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to Jupiter Capitolinus.61 This name clearly expresses a personal and imperial Roman stamp on the new city after its destruction some sixty years earlier, but we might look to the smaller Transjordanian city as a precursor in imperial policy. The distinctly Roman Capitoline triad was popular in Coloniae, but there is no evidence for any Latinisation at Capitolias – inscriptions and coin legends from the site are all in Greek. Nevertheless, Domitian particularly, may well have viewed Capitoline worship as akin to that of the Imperial Cult. In the Roman period, Coele Syria was a grouping of cities associated with the Imperial Cult with its metropolis at .62 The conspicuous absence of Capitolias – from the meagre evidence of coins and inscriptions – from this association may indicate alternative religious affiliations. This distinction was perhaps kept in the 2nd century when affiliation to Coele Syria (as such a koinon) was adopted by many neighbouring cities (see below, Capitolias within Coele Syria) at the same time that a Capitoline cult was established in the new Jerusalem. The physical manifestation of local worship may have been the series of columns at the western end of the site, later described as “evidence of a major Roman construction” by Lenzen and McQuitty who, like Schumacher, suggested was the site of a temple.63 Here, at the highest point, it would have faced east overlooking the city as was usual. Later coins minted in Capitolias show per- haps two different temple structures. The most important of these was clearly a temple set within a grandiose temenos or sacred precinct. Altars and the temple itself are seen behind the propylaea entrance to the temenos.64 Other coins reveal a temple alone.65 These latter may represent either two different temples or the facade and aedicula within the cella of the same building. Although the deities associated with these temples appear to represent Zeus, Helios and Tyche – possibly equated with the Capitoline triad – the buildings themselves reveal marked oriental details.66 Dionysus was also worshipped at the city and Seyrig suggested that the representation of Alexander on coins of the city also implied an eponymous cult there.67 The well known tomb paintings from Beit Ras itself, as well as those in nearby Marwa and Som, reveal that classical mythology was well known at

61 Dio LXIX.12.1. 62 Rey-Coquais 1981, 28; Sartre 1988; see now Dirven this volume. 63 Schumacher 1890, 164-5; Lenzen & Knauf 1988, 269 who found an altar in this vicinity. 64 Spijkerman 1978. Capitolias nos. 2, 11, 16, 21, 24. 65 Spijkerman ibid. nos. 3, 7, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25. 66 Seyrig, 1959, 62-66; Bowsher 1987, 63. 67 Spijkerman 1978. Capitolias nos. 10, 12; nos. 15, 20; Seyrig 1959 ibid. Alexander also appears to have been venerated at nearby – Seyrig 1959 ibid. 41. See also Lichtenberger 2003.

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the site.68 This might also be indicative of local acceptance of Roman cultural, as well as political, suzerainty.69 However votive material from one of the Beit Ras tombs also included “Egyptian statuettes” and an “Astarte figurine”70 reflecting wider cultic affiliations. Jupiter’s symbol, the eagle, is well attested amongst the sculptural motifs at the site of Beit Ras.71 Finally, it should be remembered that Jupiter Capitolinus was also regarded as the patron deity of the Roman army.

THE MILITARY EVIDENCE

The use of Syria as a source of military manpower is well known.72 Gn. Domitius Corbulo, when governor of Syria in 60-63 AD, evidently authorised the recruit- ment of locals into the auxilliary forces. Auxilliary discharge diplomas certifying twenty five years service reveal recruitment during his tenure.73 Roman citizen- ship would be granted on discharge and a new Latin name was then adopted. This name was usually taken from the original commander in charge of recruit- ment, thus the plethora of Domitii known in the area.74 The enfranchisement of provincials who enlisted in the legions was becoming common in the east in this period.75 Tacitus records recruitment of Syrians by Vespasian into the Roman legions during the First Revolt76 and veteran Flavii are also attested. Indeed, Flavian success during the civil wars after the death of was largely based on the loyalty of eastern troops; legions and auxilliary forces. Domitian himself was adored by the army. He had a martial (if not so suc- cesful) character and won great favour by raising legionnary pay, by a third, for the first time since Augustus. The army was upset by his murder and the Praetorians nearly mutinied at the accession of Nerva77 although it is not thought that the provincial armies were affected.

Capitolian soldiers

There is no evidence that Capitolias provided any auxilliary troops but a num- ber of legionnaries from the city are known from tombstones in the western

68 Zayadine 1976; McCown 1942; Vibert-Guigue & Barbet 1982, 67. 69 Bowsher 1987. 70 Thomsen 1910, 4. 71 Merrill 1881, 297; Schumacher 1890, 156-7. 72 See, for example, Kennedy 1989. 73 cf. Roxan 1979 no.3; CIL XVI.35. 74 Sartre 1992, 328. 75 Brunt 1974, 96. 76 Tacitus Hist. 2.82.1, 2.84.1. 77 Dio Cassius 67.5, 68.3; Suet. Dom. 23.

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half of the empire. This may be an accident of epigraphic survival and Capito- lias may have provided no more military personnel than other cities in the area but they form a significant number of citizens known from there: C. Annius Valens, a soldier in a vexillation of Legio III Augusta, 116 AD. Although this legion was stationed in , Valens clearly joined the vexillation that was recruited in Syria and Judea for Trajan’s Parthian campaign.78 M. Domitius Capetolinus a centurion, died in whilst serving with the Legio XI Claudia in the 2nd century AD. However, a detachment of this legion was in Judea in the first half of the century at which time Capeto- linus may have joined it.79 Flavius Agrippa, tribu Quirina, Legio VI Ferrata, 2nd century AD.80 This legion had been based in Syria, then briefly in Arabia, before settling in Judea from about 125 AD. L. Domitius Valerius, also joined the Legio VI Ferrata and then became a praetorian at Rome in the early AD.81 All of these soldiers gave their origo as Capitolias, but a fifth may probably be added: T. Flavius Pudens, a veteran of Legio X Fretensis was buried with a commemo- rative bilingual inscription in Greek and Latin at Som, a village 4.5 km west of Capitolias probably in the 2nd century AD.82 The proximity of this village suggests that it was within Capitolian territory and I suggest that Pudens came from the area that he retired to.

Capitolian Citizens

Funerary inscriptions nearer home provide information on other Capitolians, although the first possibility comes from nearby Irbid/Arbela: An inscription from the tomb of one Lucius Domitius Maior is dated to the “the 15th year after the construction of the city”.83 The stone was clearly not in situ and Abel suggested that it referred to, or originated from, Capitolias on account of the numerous (military) Domitii known from there.84 Thus a Capitolian date would be 112/113 AD.

78 CIL VIII.18084.19; Mann 1983, 13. 79 CIL III.771; Isaac 1990, 433. 80 CIL X.532. 81 CIL VI.210. 82 Zayadine 1976, 294; Mittman 1970, 173 no.10. 83 Allen 1885, 203 no26; Revue Biblique 1894, 623; Revue Biblique 1901, 156. 84 Abel 1928, 427.

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Another inscription from the site of Beit Ras itself, using the same formula, is dated to the 25th year of the city – 122-123 AD. Admittedly the editor, Allen, suggested that the second line, containing the year and a name – Lucius Valerius Valens, was an addition to the original text indicating a reuse of the tomb. However if this inscription, as seems most probable, does refer to Capitolias, then the reuse of it within a maximum of 25 years seems improbable.85 The stone does not appear to have survived so no fresh reading is possible. Another inscription from Beit Ras, dated to the reign of Commodus (180- 192 AD), records two brothers; Julius Antoninus Valens and Marcus Arrius Sabinus, sons of Abdaios.86 The father has a typical local name but the tria nomina of his sons indicates citizen status. A later inscription, probably from the 3rd century, commemorates one Gaius Julius Isidorus.87 The evidence suggests a military element in the population of the city. Domi- tian’s edict on the rights of veterans of 88 AD granting veterans an immunity from tax88 may also be seen as an incentive for the establishment of a new city. Military veterans enjoyed an honoured place in society.89 It should be stressed that there is no question that Capitolias was ever a Colonia, in the military sense of a veteran settlement, the place was too small and insignifi- cant. However we may see a parallel at Emmaus in Judea where Vespasian settled 800 veterans90 despite its not being a Colonia, although it was an existant settlement. The predominance of Domitii in Capitolias would suggest descendants from those families who owed a military citizenship to Corbulo.91 The cognomen Valens was also a common military one but Capetolinus may be only a fortui- tous link with the city for the similar Capitolinus is also well known,92 even though it may also have had military connotations.93 The “civil” Capitolians attested by funerary inscriptions all had the tria nomina of and they probably came from families with a military ancestry if they were not indeed veterans themselves.

85 Allen 1885, n.7. However, this raises the interesting question of whether tombs were com- missioned or bought. 86 Mittmann 1970, 169-71, no.6. 87 Mittman 1970, 172; McCown 1932, 15. It is just as likely that this name postdates the enfranchisement of provincials under the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212 AD and no military ancestry can be proven. 88 Cf Lewis & Rheinhold 1966, 527 no.156. 89 Brunt 1974, 112. 90 Josephus Bell Jud VII.6.6 (216). 91 However, Domitian himself is also known to have awarded citizenship to Syrian auxillary units – Holder 1980, 33. On Corbulo see Syme 1970. 92 Kajanto 1965, 66,247, and 50,183. 93 cf. Sartre 1982a, no.9035 Lucius Aquilia Capitolinus, primus pilus of Leg III , from Bostra.

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Roman citizenship would also be accompanied by affiliation into one of the Roman voting tribes, again, often that of the granting authority; legate or emperor. Isaac has noted the predominance of tribu Collina in the area and suggested that it might be a local trend. However, the only Capitolian attesta- tion of tribal affinity is Quirina. This is significant because it was not only Corbulo’s tribe but also the one that was usually bestowed on new citizens by the Flavian emperors.94

THE PROVINCE

There seems no doubt that the region in which later Capitolias lay was incorporated into the new of Syria by in 64/63 BC. Modern consensus suggests however, that after the creation of the Province of Arabia by Trajan in 106 AD the western part of lay in the prov- ince of Judea.95 Judea was renamed by Hadrian and Palaestina Secunda by the beginning of the 4th century. Provincial affiliation may also be gauged from recruitment. The known Capitolian soldiers served with legions based in, or temporarily associ- ated with, Judea in the second century. Later sources appear to be unequivocal about Capitolias and these have been used to argue a retrospective provincial affiliation. In the early 4th century the Bishops of , Capitolias and Gadara were listed under Palaestina Secunda at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.96 , in the same period, stated that Pella was a city of and that her territory stretched as far north-east as Arbela/Irbid.97 In the mid 5th century Capitolias was amongst other cities of Palaestina Secunda, including Pella, Gadara and Scythopolis, in sending its Bishop to the Councils at Chalcedon,98 and in the 6th century, to Constantinople.99 Hierokles in the early 6th century described Capitolias, along with Pella, Gadara, Abila and (and others west of the Jordan) in Palestina Secunda. Excepting Hippos, the same cities are described in the same manner by Georgios Cyprios in c.575 AD.100

94 Isaac 1981, 73. 95 Sartre 1982, 45; Bowersock 1983, 91; Millar 1994, 96. 96 Sartre 1982b, 70; Millar 1994, 214; see also the table of references in Brunnow & Domasze- wski 1909, III, 260. 97 XIV.19. 98 Cited in Smith 1973, 63 text 68g. 99 Abel 1928, 128. 100 Smith 1973, texts no.72 and 75.

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Arbela/Irbid

One important aspect of provincial demarcation concerns Arbela (Irbid) which lies just 5 kilometers to the south of Capitolias. There appears to be conflicting evidence as to its provincial affiliation. An inscription often cited as being from Irbid mentions M. Domitius Valerianus, a known governor of Arabia, dated to 238 AD.101 This would imply its inclusion within Arabia in the 3rd century. In the early 4th century however, as we have seen, Eusebius states: “Arbela. Eastern boundary of Judea. Arbela is a certain village on the other side of the Jordan within the boundaries of Pella, a city of Palestine.”102 This would sug- gest that the site was in Palaestina Secunda in the 4th century! Nevertheless, there are flaws in both pieces of evidence. First, the stone. This was recorded as being found “in the , near the town of Irbid”, in 1904. It was found not far below the surface whilst agents for an antiquities dealer were looking for tombs – to loot.103 Irbid was the largest town in the area at this time, being the seat of a local governor since 1875104 and the designation “near” may well imply any reasonable distance. The con- tent of the inscription records municipal work conducted by the authorities of a polis. However, the stone had been recut and no civic name remains, and there is no evidence that Arbela itself ever had the status of polis. It is possible that this inscription was found just to the east and relates to Adraha (mod. Deraa) 25 kilometers north-east of Irbid. Thus in an attempt to position Arbela within Adrahan (Arabian) territory Steven Moors suggests that the earlier Irbid inscription naming L. Domitius Maior is related to Adraha and dated by the Arabian provincial era of 106 AD thus, 120/121 AD.105 Another Domitius is known from Adraha106 and McCown suggested that the C. Julius Isidorus from Capitolias might be the same Julius Isidorus attested at Adraha in 263 AD.107 Without an exact provenance for the Domitius Valerianus inscription there can be no proof that Arbela lay within Adrahan (or Arabian) territory. As already noted, there are compelling reasons to relate Domitius Major to Capitolias and no one would deny contact between the two cities, especially after the construc- tion of a major road linking the two in the 160s AD (see below). Civic or even provincial boundaries would have had little effect on private citizens and the

101 Sartre 1982b, 92. 102 Onomasticon XIV.19. 103 Whicher, 1906, 289. 104 Schumacher 1890, 149; Libbey & Hoskins 1905, 173; Lenzen & Knauf 1988, 242. 105 Moors 1992, 221. 106 Allen 1885, 206, no.38. 107 McCown 1932, 15; Brunnow & Domaszewski 1905, I, 258 no.1.

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designation of Decapolis in the 2nd century spread across three provinces (see below), although the latter will have had a distinct effect on the military. Little is known about Adraha before 106 AD when it appears to have received city status, again based on epigraphic and numismatic evidence. This would suggest that its elevation or even creation was associated with the new province of Arabia.108 Its importance clearly began when it was linked to the imperial road network in the AD.109 Turning to the evidence of Eusebius however, it should first be noted that the Onomasticon’s omission of Capitolias does not necessarily reflect any ignorance of the site. Eusebius was only interested in a Biblical topography and if anything, the omission of Capitolias further shows us that the site was unknown in earlier times.110 Nevertheless, he may have been ignorant of the site and was using out of date information that revealed that Arbela had belonged to Pella at an earlier period. There is no reason to question that Eusebius was mistaken on the basis that Pellene territory could not have extended 25 kilom- eters to the north-east.111 A number of known civic territories in the east were of these dimensions.

Capitolias and the Decapolis

It is often assumed, but without any direct evidence, that the Decapolis as an entity had been created by Pompey as part of his eastern settlement which placed it in the establishment of the province of Syria in 63 BC. Such a view largely rests on the dating eras expressed on Decapolitan coins beginning at this time. It is possible, however, that these eras merely commemorate the replace- ment of local Hellenistic rule by incorporation into the as well as expressing gratitude to Pompey for their liberation from, in the area of Beit Ras, Hasmonaean domination.112 The earliest references to the Decapolis are from the 2nd half of the 1st cen- tury AD, in the writings of and Josephus, and the Gospel accounts are probably of similar date.113 Certainly by c. 90 AD we find an equestrian officer as hegemon of the “Decapolis in Syria”.114 Isaac has suggested therefore

108 Sartre 1992b, 151-154. 109 Isaac 1990, 121. 110 See the important discussion of the Biblical and contemporary criteria used by Eusebius in Isaac 1996. 111 As did Lenzen & Knauf 1988, 244. Pella could hardly have had lands to the west. 112 Parker 1975, 440. As this second ARAM volume on the Decapolis testifies, the bibliogra- phy on the subject is now immense. 113 Matt. 4.24-25; Mark 5.18-20; 7.31. Nevertheless, all these accounts clearly reflect a geo- graphical usage and thus used by Parker (ibid) to deny any organisational grouping. 114 Isaac 1981.

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that the Decapolis, as an administrative unit attached to the Province of Syria, may have been a Flavian creation. Pliny the Elder stated that the Decapolis lay in Syria but Capitolias does not, of course, appear in his list of the cities. To be sure it is not one of the “most frequently named members”.115 Indeed, attempts to identify the city as the Raphana listed by Pliny, 116 I believe to be fruitless for the one fact we have, noted above, is that Capitolias was only “founded” in 97/8 AD. Pliny, who died in 79 AD would not, therefore, have known of it. The geographical position of Capitolias within the Decapolis – which in this area mostly formed a contiguous block – cannot be ignored but its first attested association dates to the 2nd century. Claudius Ptolemy lists Capitolias amongst the cities of the Decapolis and Coele Syria117 though it does not seem to have belonged to Coele Syria (see below, Capitolias within Coele Syria). The absence of Capitolias from the list of Pliny suggests that it was not a ‘founda- tion member’ but joined whatever the Decapolis represented at least by the time of its “foundation” in 97/98 AD, in a period when the historical and epigraphic sources are silent. Another seemingly late addition to the Decapolis was Abila – though cer- tainly an ancient foundation – only 10km almost due north of Capitolias. It does not appear in the list of Pliny118 but only in the 2nd century list of Ptolemy. In addition, an inscription from near Palmyra attests its membership by 133 AD.119 However, it may be noted that although Abila’s dating era began in 63 BC, it did not, like Capitolias, begin minting its own coins until the reign of Marcus Aurelius a privilege which may reflect its late inclusion as a mem- ber of the Decapolis. Again it is assumed that any formal association that the Decapolis may have had, came to an end with the new provincial arrangements of 106 AD. From this time its constituent cities found themselves in three different prov- inces – Syria, Judea and now Arabia. Nevertheless, apart from Ptolemy’s list, the Decapolis is mentioned in two second century inscriptions; the Abilene inscrip- tion noted above, and another referring to Gadara of the Syrian Decapolis.120 Thus the designation continued to be used now, perhaps, referring to a cultural grouping.

115 Hist Nat V.18.74. 116 Jones 1971, 457. On Raphana see now Sartre 1992b, 146-149. 117 Geog. V.7.14. 118 The Abila mentioned at the end of Pliny’s discussion was the tetrarchic city of the Peraea, cf Jones 1971, 275. This was also the city of the Zenon archives, Durand 1997, 63, 86. 119 CIG 4501. 120 Gatier 1990, 204-206. The designation Syrian must be geographical in its widest sense, rather than strictly provincial – as may have been Pliny’s use of the term.

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Indeed the designation Decapolis continued to be used, albeit perhaps with less precision, throughout the 4th to 6th centuries. Capitolias, Scythopolis and Gadara are referred to as belonging to the Decapolis (as well as Palaestina) at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and in sources equating it with the Peraea (see below).

Capitolias and Coele Syria

Ptolemy’s list of the cities of the Decapolis and Coele Syria certainly includes all the Decapolis cities mentioned by Pliny (with the exception of Raphana), but along with nine other cities as far afield as Phoenicia. Indeed, numismatic evidence reveals that Abila, Dion, Gadara, Pella, Philadelphia and Scythopolis counted themselves within Coele Syria.121 Such a designation is entirely absent from the coins and meagre inscriptions of Capitolias even though the site was surrounded by these cities. I have already suggested therefore that the absence of Capitolias from this koinon was due to alternative imperial affiliations (see above The Religious Evidence). A recently discovered inscription at the site of Abila, purports to show a link between that city, Capitolias and Emmatha. 122 The inscription is fragmen- tary and was found in a secondary context. The few lines have been restored as “Abila and….. Emmatha and Capitolias… honour…”. The last two sites in particular rest upon restoration. A link between Abila and Capitolias is, as we have seen, of historical plausibility. Even Emmatha, a suburb of the city of Gadara was linked to these first two by the second century road, though it was not a polis! The inscription may have adorned a public building, honouring one or more individuals, but why, and why by three such communities must remain one of the many enigmas that bedevil any study of Capitolias.

Capitolias and the Peraea

The name Peraea is merely the Greek for geographically ‘beyond’, and used to mean Transjordan in the Gospels.123 However, it was also a Herodian tetrarchy, even referred to by Pliny.124 Thus there was a difference between the exact Jew- ish territory and a wider geographical meaning. The extent defined by Josephus was perhaps somewhere between the two: Its width was “from to Pella; its breadth is from Philadelphia to the Jordan. On the north it is bounded by the aforesaid Pella; on the west, by

121 Spijkerman 1978, 300-302. On Coele-Syria see now Sartre 1988, 15-40. Macadam 1986, 76-77. 122 Wineland 2001, 75-76. 123 .1; .40. 124 Nat. Hist. V.xv 70.

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the Jordan; on the south, by Moabitis; and on the east, by Arabia and Heshbo- nitis ending at the territories of Philadelphia and Gerasa”.125 In a later period the extent of the area was more fluid: In 4th century accounts of the flight of Christians from Jerusalem to Pella just before the First Revolt in 66AD, that city was clearly placed in the Peraea. 126 Although such a desig- nation at this time may have been anachronistic it must have reflected a certain demarcation. However Eusebius also describes Hippos, Pella and Gadara (north and south of Capitolias) as being the Decapolis and the Peraea,127 and it is possible that the site of Capitolias may have lain within whatever the Peraea represented.

THE CITY AND ITS TERRITORY

City Status

As noted above, the coin evidence reveals that Capitolias came into being in c.98 AD. By the first half of the second century Claudius Ptolemy described it as a polis. The inscription of the brothers Valens and Sabinus referrred to their city as kuria patridi. This informal “motherland” designation was used in other nearby cities throughout the 2nd and early 3rd centuries AD.128 No doubt further civic details would have been furnished on the gate or arch at Beit Ras whose inscription was unfortunately illegible to Schumacher.129 However it must be stressed that to date, there is no evidence, epigraphic or otherwise, for any civic apparatus; no civic titles or local magistracies are known. The privilege of minting its own coins was awarded in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. From this time other civic grants can be noted. The rights of ieros, asylos and autonomos are recorded on coins of 165/166 AD. These rights of sanctity, sanctuary and autonomy are common on eastern Roman civic numis- matic designation from the 2nd century AD. However, other coins of the same year record only asylos and autonomos whilst issues of 166/167 record only ieros.130 The numismatic and archaeological evidence reveal an architectural develop- ment in the third quarter of the 2nd century. The first coins minted by the city

125 Bell Jud III.3.3 (46-7). 126 Eusebius, Eccl. Hist III.5.3; Epiphanes Adv. Haer. 29.7.7; 30.2.7; Treatise on Weights etc. 81; cited in Smith 1973, 42,44,47. 127 Eusebius Onomasticon 251. 128 cf. eg. Gerasa, Welles 1938, nos. 15, 119, 121, 122, 134, 137. 129 Schumacher 1890, 156. There may be epigraphic clues amongst the stones of the newly discovered theatre. 130 Spijkerman 1978, 99-107.

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illustrate the temples noted above, representations which continued to feature on coins into the 3rd century. There are a number of moulded architectural fragments, of probable 2nd and 3rd century date, at the site whose rich decora- tion suggests that they adorned public monuments. A programme of public building is attested throughout the Decapolis area at this time. This construction boom, albeit associated with economic prosperity, was clearly part of a local rivalry. However, the importance of Capitolias in the 160s AD was also enhanced by new communication routes (see below, The road system). Whatever, within a century of its existence, the city was thriving.

The Territory

It would seem that as a new settlement, the territory of Capitolias would have been created at the expense of adjacent city territories. In the absence of boundary markers such realignments can only be guessed at. However, the description of Arbela just to the south – notwithstanding the caution expressed above – as a 4th century village in Pellene territory, immediately suggests land acquired from that city. The most likely explanation of the passage in Eusebius is that he was using out of date information and that Arbela had previously been Pellene – it would certainly have been at the north-easternmost extent of Pellene lands – but had become Capitolian. The only evidence for Roman structural remains in Irbid seem to be funerary, particularly on its western side, although this may have been an accident of survival.131 It is entirely possible that Capitolian officials lived at – or had interests in – villages surrounding the city. An obvious candidate would be L. Domitius Maior being a Capitolian citizen buried in Irbid. Nevertheless any lands taken would surely have been disagreeable to Pella and can only further emphasise imperial intervention in the foundation of Capi- tolias. One issue that Domitian may have found distasteful about Pella is that it harboured a Christian community, one that fled from Jerusalem to there in 66 AD and perhaps remained there until Hadrianic times.132 Domitian appears to have indulged in a persecution of Christians (although probably exaggerated by Eusebius) but two factors would seem to negate any imperial disfavour. Firstly, as noted above, the Christian community in Pella seems to have out- lasted Domitian by a number of years and secondly, the local Pellene mint produced a number of coins in Domitians reign.133 It is interesting to note that

131 Schumacher 1890, 150-154; Abel 1938, 267-8; Glueck 1951, 153-154; Lenzen & McQuitty 1988, 269. 132 See n.126 above. 133 Spijkerman 1978, 244; There are no Domitianic issues from any other nearby city, only from Hippos and Canatha, north of the Yarmouk and Philadelphia well to the south.

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despite the archaeological evidence for a thriving Roman city at Pella, there remains no evidence for Pellenes amongst the armies of the empire. It is pos- sible therefore that if Capitoline territory was created out of Pellene lands many of the new inhabitants were originally from Pella, perhaps even ex military ones! It is pointless to speculate on any other early territorial realignments at this time although other nearby candidates could include Abila with which Capito- lias shared a number of characteristics. The geographical location of the site may have had a bearing on the foundation of the city of Capitolias. The absence of Hellenistic remains (on present evidence) at Arbela suggests that it had lost any politico-economic importance that it might have had up to a millennium before.134 Such a position indicates that Capitolias would indeed have filled a geo-economic void. Capitolias lies at the centre of a well watered rolling plateau and although its administrative boundaries are unknown, surrounding natural features might provide some parameters for discussion. The plateau stretches out to the east, albeit broken by the Wadi Shellaleh 7km away after which the land becomes more arid. The river Jordan lies 25km to the west but the terrain starts to drop down to the Jordan valley only eight kilometers west of the city. To the north the plain undulates towards the valley of the Yarmouk (ancient Hieromices) 15 kilometers away. To the south higher ground begins at some 15km. Major settlements within this area were distinctly on the edge of the plain, however the nearest two to the south, Arbela/Irbid 5km away and tell el-Husn 13km away were ancient tell sites that had probably dwindled into villages by the 1st century AD.135 Contemporary cities therefore were even farther away; Gadara 18 kilometers to the north-west, Abila 10km to the north, Pella 30km to the south-west, Gerasa 35km to the south and – if contemporary – Adraha 25km to the east. Such a position admirably fits the central place theory of market centres based on flat agricultural plains. In local terms the model proposed by Hopkins for Roman Palestine notes the difference between official city territorium and the natural (economic) boundary of a region. Such a distance from major cen- tres lessened “competition both politically and commercially … and there was therefore more scope for lesser city development… where commercial forces were at work to raise peripheral villages to a higher status”.136

134 According to Lenzen & Knauf 1988, 240, archaeological excavation revealed no evidence of occupation from c. 1100 BC to the 1st century AD! 135 On Irbid see above; on Husn see Glueck 1951, 162-165, it was once thought to be the site of Dium (Bietenhardt 1977, 223) though no excavations have taken place there. 136 Hopkins 1980, 22, 30.

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Douglas Baird’s study of the amount of land required to support a given settlement – the ‘sustaining area’ – provides a number of hypothetical yields. As he points out, population density is a key issue and estimates for settlements in the area range from 100 to 200 persons per hectare, but the suggestion that 2.2ha were needed to support a single individual did not work in his case study – of the Konya Plain in .137 Schumacher recorded a wall circuit at Beit Ras of about 680 metres138 covering some 20 hectares. Even the higher estimate of 200 persons per ha within the city would only require 8,800 ha of cultivatable lands. The area within the physical boundaries noted above – notwithstanding the absence of known administrative or economic boundaries and the true extent of cultivable land – could be as much as 30,000 or even 40,000 hectares. Any assessment of putative Capitolian territory might therefore suggest an economically rich area with production in excess of any local sustainability. The rolling hills of Gilead have always been proverbially fertile139 and Bern- hard Lucke’s soil studies have suggested that agriculture in the area around Beit Ras during the Roman period improved its fertility through organic manuring.140 Furthermore, the well known and large cisterns at Beit Ras, and others at a number of smaller sites nearby,141 suggests that there was probably an increase in land irrigation at this time. It is possible that its importance at this time may have lain with the viticulture whose fame is attested at a much later date.142 Dionysius pouring wine appears on late 2nd century coins of the city and grape clusters adorn the funerary inscrip- tion of Julius Isidorus.143 Indeed, grapes and vines form part of the architec- tural decoration (most probably friezes from the scaena frons) of the recently uncovered theatre. Viticulture in the Roman period is known in southern Syria, the and later around Abila to the north.144 Archaeological evidence for viticulture has now been attested in the uplands around Pella as well as near Capitolias itself.145

137 Baird 2004, 236-242. 138 Schumacher 1890, map opposite p.155, see also the work on the walls by Lenzen 1992, 538-539. 139 cf Jeremiah 22:6 on fertility; Numbers 32:1 on pasturage. Note the recent assessment of Roman and Byzantine fertility in the area by el-Khoury 2007. 140 Lucke this volume. 141 Glueck 1951, 114-119. 142 For a discussion of the Isamic sources see Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 35-37. 143 Spijkerman 1978, 101 nos, 10, 12; Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 30-31 who merely equate them with Jewish symbolism. 144 Pliny Nat Hist 15.15,32; 23.96; Josephus Bell Jud 3.3.3(45); Eusebius Onomasticon. Abila; for the region generally see Heichelheim 1938, 137-138. 145 Watson 1996, 71-72; Ta’ani 1995, 21-28.

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The Road system

There were clearly a number of minor roads in the vicinity but few details are known.146 It was not until the mid 2nd century that an official road, that is one maintained by the state and marked with milestones, linked Capitolias with its neighbouring cities. It is noteworthy that this was the time when the city started minting coins, perhaps a mark of its improved status now on a major highway. The Tabula Peutingeriana depicts a road running west from Bostra and thence through Adraa, Capitolias and Gadara to Tiberias.147 Mile- stones on this road are dated to the 160s AD.148 The increased diversity of the road system in this land locked area may have mitigated the notoriously high costs of inland transport. This road is that that entered Capitolias on the east and continued west form- ing the “cardo” of the city. It would then have turned north through a gate in the city wall149 from where it almost certainly led to Abila before turning west to Gadara thus following the natural topography. Abila is not marked on the Tabula Peutingeriana or noted in the Antonine Itinerary but it is recorded on this stretch in the Theodosian Itinerary.150

THE CAPITOLIAN ERA

If it is accepted that the authorisation and planning of this new city took many years it is time to look at the commencement of its official era. Avi Yonah noted that civic “foundation” festivities were often linked with a pro- pitious moment in the Imperial calendar.151 Such a moment, in the years 97 or 98 AD, must be established as to when the “foundation” festivities of Capitolias took place. With a Domitianic background in mind it should be noted that the Capito- line Games, which certainly continued after the death of Domitian, were to be held every four years, and so their fourth occasion was in 98 AD. Also, because the cult of Capitoline Jupiter was clearly associated with Domitian it was stu- diously rejected by Nerva. However, it was resumed by Trajan.152 The absence of any Ulpian titles in the designation would infer earlier origins to the city, though the year of Trajan’s accession was, therefore, an opportune moment in which to celebrate the formal ‘foundation’ of this new city.

146 Schumacher 1890 map; Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 25. 147 Cuntz 1929, 27; See also the discussion in Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 34 and in Kropp and Mohammed 2006, 134. 148 See the discussion, with references, in Macadam 1986, 23-27. 149 Lenzen 1992, 539 “in all likelihood the main northern entrance to Beit Ras/Capitolias”. 150 Lenzen & Knauf 1987, 34. 151 Avi Yonah 1950, 160-69. 152 Frears 1981, 74-81.

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CONCLUSION

Notions that the site was an ancient one, like Mispa, are highly unlikely. Such ideas were based on topographical considerations but archaeological survey and excavation at and around Beit Ras, has so far failed to reveal any definitive traces of any pre Roman settlement. The other theory that Capitolias was perhaps a Hellenistic city merely renamed and refounded in 97/98 AD does not hold either: The Alexander legend is a late one and refers to Alexander being the ancestor of the people as opposed to being the founder of the city. The idea that Raphana from Pliny’s list was renamed Capitolias by the time Ptolemy listed cities can also be dismissed: enough is now known about Raphana to distinguish it from Capitolias. The idea that the site of Capitolias was created de novo as a successor to the nearby site of Arbela/Irbid is more plausible. Whichever province Arbela lay in, it had lost any former importance and declined into a village. In the Roman period new or newly developed cities were usually situated next to rather than over ancient settlements.153 However, in this case it is Beit Ras that is at a higher, natural, elevation to even the artificial tell that dominates Irbid emphasising per- haps its strategic position. Even though Capitolias was a polis, the paucity of epigraphic and contem- porary documentary evidence – to date – suggests that it was a minor city. The growing archaeological evidence reveals that the city was flourishing by the late 2nd century at least but its grandeur appears to have been modest. Nevertheless, why was Capitolias founded? The evidence, circumstantial and archaeological, outlined above may provide proactive reasons. Baird concluded his study of settlement patterns by noting that site loca- tions were probably more influenced by a variety of functions, as much administrative as any other roles.154 Thus evidence for various factors associ- ated with Capitolias have been examined. Economically, we have seen that in an area of rural farmsteads in a fertile environment and as a probable succes- sor to earlier larger settlements such as Arbela/Irbid there was certainly scope for development as a market centre. The theophoric name of the city is prob- ably fortuitous but possibly related to a military role as much as imperial ideology. The military aspect remains the most attractive. The rural population may have provided a ready supply of manpower for a new civic settlement as well as military recruitment. It is equally possible that the new settlement was populated by veterans, perhaps auxillary troops,155 from farther afield whose

153 For example Scythopolis at and around the base of Tell Beth Shan and Neapolis even farther from ancient Schechem. 154 Baird 2004, 240-1. 155 An analysis of military discharges at this date would be useful.

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enfranchised descendants provided a steady pool of recruits for the imperial forces as well as providing a bulwark against what may have been regarded as the still volatile territory across the river.156 Thus the known Capitoline legion- aries of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD were probably descendants of families who comprised the original settlers of the new city, indicating a military element in its establishment. Moreover, the army was the largest group expressing devo- tion to the Imperial Cult (and of Jupiter) and they – and their descendants – would have promoted a focus of cultural and economic “Romanisation”. We might note that the wall circuit around the city may have been part of its original construction, and perhaps perceived of military necessity rather than as civic pomp.

When was Capitolias planned?

Frankfort suggested that local disturbances in 85 AD led Domitian to rein- corporate the Peraea back into Syria from the realm of Agrippa II.157 Though this notion of unrest in Judea in 85 AD has been questioned,158 there is no dispute that after the death of Agrippa II in about 93 AD the rest of his varied territories were incorporated into the empire. If the site that became Capitolias had lain in Agrippa’s domains it is an attractive idea therefore to suggest that Domitian took this opportunity to establish a city in this area, at a strategic position in order to keep the peace. It is hard to deny that the establishment of a city in the late 1st century AD at this location was unconnected to a concern for security. Our hypothesis therefore, is that Capitolias was planned well before 97/ 98 AD, almost certainly under Domitian at some time in the or early AD. It is possible that the emergence of Capitolias was part of a much wider reorganisation and that it was earmarked for strategic, economic and perhaps cultic development. Its territory was created out of nearby civic ter- ritoria and was populated by the existing rural population and military veter- ans – who may have been the same, as a reward for loyalty to the Flavian regime. The establishment of Capitolias itself may also have been financed by Imperial (Capitoline) funds with the further incentive of tax indemnities for veterans. Its foundation and dating era was finally completed by Trajan in 98 AD.

156 There might also have been a perceived threat on the east bank, cf. Josephus Bell Jud 18.1.5 (478-480) on Jewish communities in the territories of Gadara and Gerasa before the First Revolt. 157 Frankfort 1962. 158 Schurer, vol.I, 1973, 515,528; Mor 1986, 583-584.

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