Abila (Decapolis)
Abila Dekapoleos | |
![]() A view into Wadi Qweilibeh from the flank of Tell Umm al-Amad. The forested strip in the foreground is the course of a stream[1] The structures beyond the stream are a cemetery, with rock-cut tombs up on the far slope. | |
![]() ![]() Abila Jordan | |
Alternative name | Seleukeia (Greek), Seleucia (Latin), Raphana (Latin), Quwaylibah (Arabic) |
---|---|
Location | Irbid Governorate |
Region | Northern Region (geographic only) |
Coordinates | 32°40′52″N 35°52′11″E / 32.68111°N 35.86972°ECoordinates: 32°40′52″N 35°52′11″E / 32.68111°N 35.86972°E |
Altitude | 440[2] m (1,444 ft) |
Type | Settlement |
Part of | Dekapolis |
Length | 1,500 m (0.93 mi)[2] |
Width | 600 m (0.37 mi)[2] |
History | |
Material | Mainly limestone blocks quarried locally |
Founded | 1950 BC, start of Middle Bronze Age |
Abila, distinguished as Abila in the Decapolis (Greek: Ἄβιλα Δεκαπόλεως, Abila Dekapoleos),[3] and also known for a time as Seleucia (Greek: Σελεύκεια, Seleúkeia),[3] and Raphana, was a city in the Decapolis; the site, now referred to as Qweilbeh (Arabic: قويلبة; also Quwaylibah, Qualibah), occupies two tells, Tell al-Abila and Khirbet Tell Umm al-Amad.[4]
The site was submitted to the list of tentative World Heritage sites under criteria I, III and IV on June 18, 2001, by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Etymology[]
The name "Abila" is derived from the Semitic word Abel (in Hebrew, "meadow" and in Arabic, "green growth"). The largest site is located amidst verdant agricultural fields near the modern Ain Quweilbeh spring. Roman temples, Byzantine churches and early mosques lie amidst olive groves and wheat fields.
The name of the south hill, Umm al-Amad, means "Mother of the Columns", where large columns can be found.[5]
Geology[]
The natural stone of the Transjordan region is beds of limestone and chalky limestone laid down in marine deposits in the Eocene and raised above sea level as the Belqa Group in the middle Eocene. Their relatively soft stone is extensively transected by eroded wadis and is covered by meters of erosional soil termed terra rossa The Abila site is covered by approximately a meter of another, closely related soil, Rendzina. Both soils are fertile, contributing to the agriculture and arboriculture of the area.[6]
Topography and spatial evolution[]
Tell Umm al-Amad is also termed Khirbet Umm al-Amad, where khirbet is "ruined settlement."[citation needed] As the wadi is aligned north-south at that location, Tell Umm al-Amad is dubbed "the south tell."[citation needed] The unit of north and south tells create a defensible elevation similar to an acropolis surrounded on three sides by wadis.[citation needed] Tell in Arabic means only "hill", and the archaeological connotation of "hill of accumulated debris" in this case does not apply, as the city was built over two natural hills on the left bank of Wadi ("valley") Qweilibeh.[citation needed]. Its area is delineated by hills and escarpments.[citation needed]
The presence of a city wall first constructed in the Iron Age and enhanced under the Macedonians and Romans defined the defensible part of the settlement. In shape the walled city at its peak was an elongated rectangle beginning on the stream-facing slope of Tell Abila and slanting across the depression between the two hills to end at the summit of the south hill.[citation needed]
The archaeology bears out that the settlement on the north hill was the original Abila. Most of the city was in the saddle-shaped surface between the two hills. The slopes were overcome by terracing the saddle.[citation needed]
However defensible, a city on a hill could not exist without native water and food supplies.[citation needed]
History and archaeology[]
The site was in use from the Neolithic period until the Abbasid/Fatimid and Ayyubid/Mamluk periods, though its use in these later periods was limited.[5] The excavations have shown habitation at Abila from c. 4000 BCE to 1500 CE, and have yielded numerous artifacts, and unearthed remains of city walls, a temple, a large theatre, a nymphaeum, and a sixth-century church.[7][4]
The first known European to visit the site was Ulrich Jasper Seetzen in 1806.[4] G. Schumacher has given a protracted description of the site, in his work Abilah of the Decapolis, published by the Palestine Exploration Fund.[8] The ruins have been described in published literature as early as 1889 by Guy Le Strange.[citation needed] The site has been extensively excavated since 1980.[citation needed] While several of its ancient structures have been excavated including aqueducts, tombs, gates and public buildings, much of it remains unexcavated, yet visible at the surface.[citation needed]
Bronze Age[]
Abila possibly appears in one of the 14th century BC Amarna letters as Ia-bi-li-ma.[5]
Iron Age[]
The first city wall was built during the Iron Age.[citation needed]
Hellenistic period[]
Polybius and Josephus mention the capture of the Ptolemaic city by the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 218 BCE.[4]
Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus (r. 103-76 BCE) conquered Abila during his expansion wars.[4]
Roman period[]
Abila was taken by Roman general Pompey in 63 BCE and granted independence.[4] In the ensuing Roman and Byzantine periods, Abila reached a position of regional importance.[4] Abila was part of the Hellenistic city league known as the Decapolis, as proven by an inscription from the time of Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138), in spite of it missing from the list given by Pliny.[4]
Archaeological evidence, including a temple, coins, and bullae, suggests that several deities were particularly worshipped at Abila, mainly Herakles, possibly in a syncretic form as Herakles-, combined with iconographic aspects of Dionysus; as well as Tyche and Athena.[9][10] Rock-cut tombs from the 2nd-3rd centuries discovered nearby partly display elaborate mural paintings.[4]
Byzantine and Early Muslim periods[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Abila_%28Decapolis%29.jpg/220px-Abila_%28Decapolis%29.jpg)
Abila continued to thrive in the Byzantine period and became a prominent regional Christian centre, as proven by the presence of several large churches.[4] Further evidence has shown that the site was used for Christian worship from at least the seventh- to eighth-century.[11]
Destruction visited upon the city by either war (the conquest by Persian armies in 614) or the earthquake of 633 led to a period of abandonment.[4]
The site was again inhabited in the Umayyad period, when a large building was erected over the ruins of the theatre.[4] There was repeated destruction caused by the 749 earthquake.[4]
Bishopric[]
Abila was a Christian episcopal see and, since it was part of the late Roman province of Palaestina Secunda, it is distinguished from another town and bishopric of the same name in the province of Phoenicia by being called Abila in Palaestina.
The names of three of its bishops are given in extant contemporary documents. In 518, Solomon signed the synodal letter of Patriarch John of Jerusalem Severus of Antioch. Nicostratus signed the acts of the synod of the three Palestine provinces that Patriarch Peter called in 536 against Patriarch Anthimus I of Constantinople. Alexander was deposed in 553 for refusing to sign the decisions of a council of Jerusalem against the Origenists; exiled to Constantinople, he died there in an earthquake in 557.[12][13]
No longer a residential bishopric, Abila is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[14][13]
Ecological threats[]
The main threats to the site have been identified as development pressures, insufficient management, unsustainable tourism, water erosion (rain and spring). Both urban and agricultural development pressures are increasing in the area, due to its fertile soil, gentle climate and water availability. Tourism is unmonitored and there are little interpretation and no facilities provided for tourists. The site is not expected to be a large tourism draw given its proximity to the more popular Umm Qais site.[15]
See also[]
- List of titular sees
- Abila (Peraea)
- List of ancient Greek cities
References[]
- ^ It is a tributary of the Yarmouk, which is a tributary of the Jordan.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Abila City (Modern Qweilbeh)". UNESCO. 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Meyers, E.; Brown, J. "Places: 677992 (Abila Dekapoleos/Seleukeia)". Pleiades. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Negev, Avraham; Gibson, Shimon (2001). Abila. Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. New York and London: Continuum. pp. 11–12. ISBN 0-8264-1316-1.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Ma'oz, Zvi Uri (1997). "Golan". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. p. 420. ISBN 0195112156.
- ^ Khries 2010, pp. 26–28
- ^ Mare, Harold (March 2004). "Excavations at Abila of the Decapolis, Northern Jordan". Archived from the original on 2011-06-10.
- ^ Schumacher (1889), pp. 332–ff.
- ^ Achim Lichtenberger, The Decapolis and Phoenicia, ARAM Periodical 23 (January 2011), pp. 559-583, DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.23.0.2959673, retrieved 19 December 2019
- ^ "Abila City (Modern Qweilbeh)". UNESCO. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Mare, W. Harold (March 2004). "Excavations at Abila of the Decapolis, Northern Jordan". bibleinterp.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- ^ Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. III, coll. 701-704
- ^ Jump up to: a b Siméon Vailhé, v. 1. Abila, in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. I, Paris 1909, col. 120
- ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 822
- ^ Magablih, Khalid. "A Proposed Management Plan for Abila" (PDF). UNESCO. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
Sources[]
- Bennett, Claire; Rathjen, Tanja (2004). "Analysis of Abila, Jordan, from an archaeological perspective". Study Project "Landscape Archaeology" (PDF) (Report). Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology (Yarmouk University), Brandenburg University of Technology.
- Contreras, Daniel A.; Brodie, Neil. "Quantifying Destruction: An evaluation of the utility of publicly-available satellite imagery for investigating looting of archaeological sites in Jordan". Journal of Field Archaeology. 35: 101–114. doi:10.1179/009346910x12707320296838.
- Darabseh, Fakhrieh Majed Qasim (July 2010). "Chapter Seven: Abila of the Decapolis". A Strategy for the Development of a Tourist Trail of the Decapolis Sites in Northern Jordan (PDF) (PhD). University of Birmingham. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
- Downes, Nigel; Sezgin, Ahmet (2004). "Reconstruction and tourism planning in the Decapolis region". Study Project "Landscape Archaeology" (PDF) (Report). Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology (Yarmouk University), Brandenburg University of Technology.
- Fuller, Neathery; Fuller, Michael (September 16, 2010). "Abila of the Decapolis, Jordan". Retrieved June 8, 2011.
- Khries, Nour Ismail (2010). Geoenvironmental Evaluation in Abila Archaeological Site (Umm Al A’mad Basilica) in Jordan (PDF) (Master Thesis in Applied and Environmental Geology). Aristotle University Of Thessaloniki. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- Schumacher, Gottlieb (1889). Abila of the Decapolis. London: Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Talbert, Richard. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. p. 69. ISBN 0-691-03169-X.
- Ting, Chen (2004). "Value-based archaeological site management – A case study from Abila in Jordan". Study Project "Landscape Archaeology" (PDF) (Report). Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology (Yarmouk University), Brandenburg University of Technology.
External links[]
- Vila, David (2018). "Abila Archaeological Project".
- Neathery Fuller and Michael Fuller (2018). "Abila of the Decapolis". With photos and excavation details.
- ACOR Digital Archive- Photos of Abila
- ACOR Digital Archive - More photos of Abila
- Archaeological sites in Jordan
- Catholic titular sees in Asia
- Former populated places in Jordan
- Neolithic sites