Chapter 11 An Approach to Herodian Peraea

Nikos Kokkinos*

As director of excavations, Prof. Rachel Hachlili’s career began in Jericho in the period of 1975–1978. Since then, her significant contribution to the study of ancient Jewish art and archaeology (see Hachlili’s list of publications in this volume) owes a lot precisely to the experience she gained at Jericho, where a Jewish cemetery of the Second Temple period was uncovered. As I am one of those who was taught archaeology of the Holy Land by Peter Parr (who worked in Jericho under pioneering Dame Kathleen Kenyon); has visited Jericho on different occasions and participated in the digging of a Hellenistic tomb by the hippodrome of Herod (in collaboration with Herodian expert Ehud Netzer); and most importantly, has gazed at the Jericho hills not only from the west bank of the , but also from the “other side”, I think that a chapter—no matter how introductory—examining the area opposite Jericho, “beyond the Jordan,” would fit as a contribution to Rachel’s much deserved festschrift.1 In the Greco-Roman period, the narrow strip of land east of the Jordan, extending from Wadi Yabis in the north (at the borders of Pella) to Wadi Mujib in the south (the Arnon, beyond the fortress of Machaerus), and from the Jordan in the west, through the valley to some way up the foothills in the east toward (Philadelphia), was called Peraea (Fig. 11.1). Josephus specifies that to the north of the Peraean boundary lay the territory of Pella, a

* Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London, United Kingdom, [email protected]. 1 This chapter began as a lecture given at Wolfson College in Oxford on 1 May 2001, called for by a reconnaissance journey I made to Jordan during the first two weeks of October 2000, which was reported in ADAJ (Kokkinos 2001). The work undertaken was meant to be a step toward setting up a project on Herodian Peraea, which would have involved an archaeological sur- vey of the area, followed by the excavation of at least one representative site. Unfortunately, the future was not kind to me. Serious illness, in combination with the political adversity in the Near East since 9/11 and the failure to raise the appropriate funds, resulted in a halt. No further work is currently planned. I would like to extend my thanks to the Council for British Research in the Levant, the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, and the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. I am also grateful to my colleague Dr. Konstantinos Politis of the British Museum, and to the late Mr. Frank Domingo, who always helped with maps and anything artistic.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi ��.��63/9789004306592_012 272 Kokkinos city of the Decapolis; to the east that of Gerasa and Philadelphia, also of the Decapolis, and that of ; and to the south lay the land of the Moabites, where the southernmost Peraean fortress was Machaerus ( J.W. 3.46–47). It covered an area of about 2,625 sq km (ca. 105 × 25 km), and thus Josephus ( J.W. 3.44) is absolutely right in claiming that Peraea was larger in size than Galilee, about 2,200 sq km (ca. 55 × 40 km). We can also believe Josephus when he says that in his time Peraea was for the most part “desert” and “rugged,” with some finely cultivated areas, though this is now being dramatically changed by intense works of irrigation. But to picture the geomorphological reality, a few words must be said about the contemporary “Peraean” land. Jordan is divided into three main units: the Rift Valley, the Transjordanian Plateau, and the desert.2 The Dead Sea Rift Valley, the great depression, extends about 360 km from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Sea of Galilee, and averages 15 km in width. The deepest point by the Dead Sea is 410 m below sea level. If we add to this the maximum depth of the sea itself, some 330 m north of the Lisan Peninsula, we reach about 740 m below sea level—the lowest point on earth. With temperatures averaging from 13 to 35°C, and closer to 45°C in certain months, this is a difficult area to live and work. The and its course (the so-called al-Ghor), which is 105 km long, rises in elevation from 410 m below sea level by the Dead Sea to 210 m below sea level by the Lake of Tiberias. The most significant feature of the area is the famous, if narrow, river itself. From the foot of Mount Hermon in a southern direction, it enters and exits the Sea of Galilee and continues southward where it empties into the Dead Sea. The river is joined along its course on its eastern side by two major and many minor tributaries, most of which however are now trapped in irrigation dams. This has denied the river of its natural replenishment, with the consequence of its water contracting. Also the level of the Dead Sea, which receives water not only from the Jordan but also from other tributaries that enter from the east, has dropped by over 10 m in the last century. The average annual rainfall is only about 250 mm south of Lake Tiberias and less than 100 around the Dead Sea—compared, for example, to over 600 mm in the United Kingdom. Most rain falls between December and March, and thus water is a major problem in this area. Any inspection over the entire length and width of Peraea, and a little beyond in the north and south, will profit from looking down from some major vantage points. From the Yarmuk, by which point one ascends to the city of Gadara (Umm Qays), the view of Gaulanitis and Batanaea in the north and

2 See the introductory material with bibliography on the natural environment of Jordan in MacDonald 2000, 21–43 and Kennedy 2000, 27–32.