Hippos is an archaeological site located in Israel on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The Sea of Galilee, also Sea of Genneseret, Lake Kinneret or Lake Tiberias (Hebrew ים כנרת) (Arabic بحيرة طبريا) Between the third century BC and the seventh century AD, Hippos was the site of a Greco-Roman city. Besides the fortified city itself, Hippos controlled a small port facility on the lake and an area of the surrounding countryside. Hippos was part of the Decapolis, or Ten Cities, a group of cities in Roman Palestine that were culturally tied more closely to Greece and Rome than to the Middle East. The Decapolis ( Greek: deka, ten polis, city was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Jordan The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία
From above, the plateau on which Hippos is built very vaguely resembles the head and neck of a horse. This is why early Greek settlers named it after the Greek word for horse, Hippos. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The local Aramaic and Hebrew name, Sussita, also means horse, and the Arabic name, Qal'at el-Husn, means "Fortress of the Horse. Aramaic is a Semitic language with Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language " Other names include the alternate spelling Hippus and the Latinized version of the Greek name: Hippum. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.
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Location
Hippos was built on a flat-topped foothill of the Golan Plateau 350 meters above sea level and 2 kilometers east of the Sea of Galilee, near modern Kibbutz Ein Gev. Borders of Israel The Golan Heights ( الجولان al-Jawlān, הגולן ha-Golan) is a strategic Plateau and mountainous Ein Gev (עין גב lit Cistern Spring) is a Kibbutz located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. The site is just on the Israeli side of the 1949 UN-demarcated border between Syria and Israel. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The surrounding Golan Heights have been under Israeli control since 1967. Borders of Israel The Golan Heights ( الجولان al-Jawlān, הגולן ha-Golan) is a strategic Plateau and mountainous Today Hippos is part of a demilitarized zone between the Golan Heights and Israel proper. (See this CIA map of the region. )
History
Hellenistic period
It is possible that Mount Sussita was occupied before Hellenistic times, but the city of Hippos itself was built by Greek colonists, most likely in the mid-200s BC. This article focuses on the cultural aspects of the Hellenistic age for the historical aspects see Hellenistic period. During this time, Coele-Syria served as the battleground between two dynasties descending from Captains of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Coele-Syria, meaning 'hollow' Syria was the region of southern Syria disputed between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' The Ptolemaic dynasty (sometimes also known as the Lagids, from the name of Ptolemy I's father Lagus) was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family The Seleucid Empire /sə'lusɪd/ ( 312 - 63 BC) was a Hellenistic empire i It is likely that Hippos, on a very defensible site in the north of Coele-Syria, was founded as a border fortress for the Seleucids. Its full name, Antiochia Hippos (Greek: Αντιόχεια του Ίππου; Latin: Antiocheia ad Hippum), reflects a Seleucid founding.
As the Seleucids took possession of all of Coele-Syria, Hippos grew into a full-fledged polis, a city-state with control over the surrounding countryside. A polis ( πόλις, pronunciation, in English-- plural poleis ( πόλεις, pronunciation, in English --is a City, a A city-state is a Region controlled exclusively by a City, usually having Sovereignty. Antiochia Hippos was improved with all the makings of a Greek polis: a temple, a central market area, and other public structures. The availability of water limited the size of Hellenistic Hippos. The citizens relied on rain-collecting cisterns for all their water; this kept the city from supporting a very large population. For cisterns in Neuroanatomy, see Cistern (neuroanatomy.For the village in England see Syston.
Hasmonean Period
The Maccabean revolt resulted in an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean family in 142 BC. The Maccabean Revolt was a Jewish revolt against Seleucidic and Syrian rulers taking place in the second century before Christ PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Hasmoneans (/hæzməˡniən/ חשמונאים Hashmonaiym, Audio were the ruling dynasty of the Hasmonean Kingdom ( 140 &ndash 37 BCE In c. 83-80 BC, Alexander Jannaeus led a Hasmonean campaign to conquer Hippos. Alexander Jannaeus (also known as Alexander Jannai/Yannai) king of Judea from (103 BCE to 76 BCE son of John Hyrcanus, inherited the throne from his According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Alexander forced the entire population to convert to Judaism and be circumcised. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Male circumcision is the removal of some or all of the Foreskin (prepuce from the Penis.
Roman period
[[Image:Thedecapolis. png|right|thumb|200px|Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Hippos (here spelled Hippuspussy In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey conquered Coele-Syria including Judea, and ended Hasmonean rule. Year 63 BC was a year of the pre-Julian calendar. Events By place Rome Pompey conquers Phonecia, Coele-Syria Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'pɑmpi/ Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir ( Classical Latin abbreviation Coele-Syria, meaning 'hollow' Syria was the region of southern Syria disputed between the Seleucid dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty. Judea or Judæa ( Hebrew: יהודה Standard Yəhuda Tiberian Yəhûḏāh, "praised Pompey granted self-rule to roughly ten Greek cities on Coele-Syria's eastern frontier; this group came to be called the Decapolis. The Decapolis ( Greek: deka, ten polis, city was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Jordan Hippos was one of these cities. Under Roman rule, Hippos was granted a certain degree of autonomy. The city minted its own coins, stamped with the image of a horse in honor of the city's name.
Hippos was given to Herod the Great in 37 BC and to the Province of Syria in 4 BC. Herod (הוֹרְדוֹס Horodos, Greek: Herōdes) also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC in Jericho Year 37 BC was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Year 4 BC was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. According to Josephus, during this time Hippos, a pagan city, was the "sworn enemy" of the new Jewish city across the lake,Tiberias. Greco-Roman religion is the collective name given to Greek and Roman pre-Christian religions due to the similarity between them Tiberias ( British English: /taɪˈbɪəriæs -əs/ American English: /taɪˈbɪriəs/ טְבֶרְיָה Tverya; طبرية Ṭabariyyah However, Hippos must have had some Jewish residents in the city. Josephus reports that during the Great Jewish Revolt of AD 66-70, Hippos persecuted its Jewish population. Year 66 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. Year 70 was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. Other Jews from Sussita participated in attacks on Magdala and elsewhere. Magdala ( Aramaic מגדלא Magdala or Hebrew מגדל Migdal, meaning "tower" is the name of at least two places Hippos itself fell under attack by rebels at least once.
After the Romans put down the Bar Kokhba revolt, they created the province of Palaestina in 135, and Hippos was part of it. This is the beginning of Hippos' greatest period of prosperity and growth. It was rebuilt on a grid pattern, centered around a long Decumanus Maximus street running east-west through the city. In Roman city planning, a decumanus was an east-west-oriented road in a Roman city Castra (military camp or colonia. The streets were lined with hundreds of red granite columns imported from Egypt. Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The great expense required to haul these columns to Palestine and up the hill is proof of the city's wealth. Other improvements included a shrine to the Emperor, a theatre, and new city walls. The Imperial cult in Ancient Rome was the worship of a few select emperors as gods once they were deceased the only emperor to The most important improvement, however, was the aqueduct, which piped water into Hippos from springs in the Golan Heights, 50 km away. An aqueduct is an artificial channel that is constructed to convey water from one location to another Borders of Israel The Golan Heights ( الجولان al-Jawlān, הגולן ha-Golan) is a strategic Plateau and mountainous The water, collected in a large, vaulted cistern, allowed a large population to live in the city. A Vault (French voute Italian volta German Gewölbe Polish sklepienie, Spanish
Byzantine period
The imperial restructuring under the emperor Diocletian put Hippos into the province of Palestina Secunda, encompassing Galilee and the Golan. Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ( ca. December 22 244 The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes December 22 as his birthdate Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. "Galil" redirects here For the weapon see IMI Galil. Galilee (הגליל ha-Galil, lit the province, When Christianity became officially tolerated in the Roman Empire, Palestine became the target of Imperial subsidies for churches and monasteries, and Christian pilgrims brought additional revenue. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings In Religion and Spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or Search of great Moral significance So industry expanded and more luxury goods became available to common people.
Christianity came slowly to Hippos. There is no evidence of any Christian presence before the 300s. A Byzantine-era pagan tomb to a man named Hermes has been found just outside the city walls, attesting to the relatively late presence of paganism here.
But gradually, the city was Christianized, becoming the seat of a bishop by at least 359. A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight One Bishop Peter of Hippos is listed in surviving records of church councils in 359 and 362.
Umayyad period
The Umayyad Caliphate invaded Palestine in the 600s, completing their conquest by 641. Hippos' new Arab rulers allowed the citizens to keep practicing Christianity. However, the population and economy continued to decline. An earthquake in January 748 flattened Hippos. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer Events By Place Asia January — An Earthquake strikes the Middle East from northern Egypt to northwestern Mesopotamia The city was abandoned permanently.
Excavations
The German explorer Gottlieb Schumacher first surveyed Hippos in 1885, although he incorrectly identified the ruins as those of the town of Gamala. Gamla ( Hebrew גמלא Gamla or Gamala) a site inhabited since the Early Bronze Age, became the capital of the Jewish Golan
The first excavations were carried out by Israeli archaeologist Claire Epstein in 1951-1955. She unearthed the main Byzantine church that had probably been the seat of Hippos' bishop. After her excavations, the Israel Defense Forces used Mount Sussita for the same purpose as the ancient Greeks: as a fSuperscript textortress. The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) (צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, lit It was used as a border defense against Syria until the Golan Heights were captured by Israel in the Six Day War. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Background Suez Crisis aftermath The Suez Crisis of 1956 represented a military defeat but a political victory for Egypt
Further excavations began in 2000 under Prof. Arthur Segal of the University of Haifa. The University of Haifa (אוניברסיטת חיפה is a University in Haifa, Israel. The excavations, expected to continue until 2009, have focused on six sites in the city: the city's forum, the small imperial cult temple, a large Hellenistic temple compound, the Roman city gates, and two Byzantine churches. The Forum was the public space in the middle of a Roman city It had a great social importance and was often the scene of diverse activities including political discussions The Imperial cult in Ancient Rome was the worship of a few select emperors as gods once they were deceased the only emperor to The Hellenistic temple and one of the churches are revealing fascinating cultural interplay. The temple, though Greek, may have been for the worship of the Nabataean god Dushara. The Nabataeans ( Arabic: الأنباط, Al-Anbāṭ) were an ancient Semitic people Arabs of southern Jordan, Canaan Đū Sharā ( Arabic,ذو شرى)"Lord of the Mountain" also known in Greek transliteration as ' Dusares', was a Deity in the ancient Middle In Byzantine times, the temple was demolished and a Christian church built on the same site.
Biblical connection
In the New Testament, when Jesus mentions a "city set upon a hill" that "cannot be hidden" (one of the metaphors of Salt and Light in the Sermon on the Mount) he may have been referring to Hippos. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) Salt and light is a metaphor used by Jesus in the Bible. Some of the elaborations on the "Salt and Light" metaphors that Matthew recounts are also In the Gospel of St Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount is a compilation of Jesus' sayings epitomizing his moral teaching. In addition, a miracle of Jesus recounted in Mark 5 and Luke 8 may also be related to Hippos. Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin The Gospel of Luke (Gk Κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον) is a synoptic Gospel, and is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the See Gergesa for a discussion of the location of this miracle. Gergesa, (also Gergasa or the Country of the Gergesenes) is a place on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee that is described in the New Testament
External links
References
- Bagatti, Bellarmino. "Hippos-Susita, an Ancient Episcopal See. " Ancient Christian Villages of Galilee. Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 2001. pp. 59-66.
- Chancey, Mark A. and Adam Porter. "The Archaeology of Roman Palestine. " Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 64, No. 4. December 2001. pp. 164-198.
- Epstein, Claire. "Hippos (Sussita). " The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 2. Ed. Ephraim Stern. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society & Carta, 1993.
- Parker, S. Thomas. "The Byzantine Period: An Empire’s New Holy Land. " Near Eastern Archaeology, balls and dick.
- Russell, Kenneth W. "The Earthquake Chronology of Palestine and Northwest Arabia from the 2nd through the Mid-8th Century A. D. " Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 260. 1982. pp. 37-53.
- Segal, Arthur. "Hippos (Sussita) Excavation Project: First Season – July 2000. " The Bible and Interpretation, 2000. Online. [1]
- Segal, Arthur. "Hippos-Sussita Excavation Project: The Second Season – July 2001. " The Bible and Interpretation, 2001. Online. [2]
- Segal, Arthur and Michael Eisenberg. "Hippos-Sussita Excavation Project: The Third Season. " The Bible and Interpretation, 2002. Online. [3]
- Segal, Arthur and Michael Eisenberg. "Hippos-Sussita Excavation Project: The Fourth Season. " The Bible and Interpretation, 2003. Online. [4]
- Tzaferis, Vassilios. "Sussita Awaits the Spade. " Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 16, Issue 5. Sep/Oct 1990. Online. [5] Accessed 26 August 2004.
- Report from the excavations by Haifa university
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