Places
Seleucia on the EuphratesAlternative names: Seleukeia on the EuphratesPlace descriptionStrategically located where the “Great Plain” meets the Jordan Valley, Scythopolis was built between the Nahal Harod and the Nahal Asi. Settlements at Beth Shean went back to the Neolithic period; after a long period of abandonment, it was resettled as a polis after Alexander the Great’s conquest, soon becoming the largest city of the Decapolis, known as Nysa-Scythopolis, associated with the God Dionysos (who founded the city, according to Pliny the Elder) and his nurse Nysa, who was supposed to have been buried at Scythopolis. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the city was at the junction of two important roads, the north-south road through the Jordan Valley and the northwest-southeast road that joined the cities on the coast with the cities on the other side of the Jordan, especially Pella, Gadara and Gerasa. The Hasmoneans took the city in 104 BCE, but Pompey returned it to pagan rule in 63 BCE and helped to rebuild it (War 1.156, 166). During the Revolt of 66-74 CE it was the scene of raids by Justus of Tiberias (Life 42); much of the Jewish community was killed. The city reached its peak in the second and third centuries CE.<br>The massive archaeological excavations carried out during the last decade or so, together with the excavations from the 1920s, 1960s and 19880s, have yielded only a few remains of the first century CE city, because the extensive constructions of the second century CE destroyed the earlier levels. The temple of Zeus Akraios was built on the ancient Tell, which rises 50 m. Above the city, probably in the first century CE. Although the present theater was built not earlier than the second century and much remodeled, restoration work following the excavations of 1986-1988 disclosed an earlier, possibly first century CE, phase. The Roman Basilica, which abuts a later impressive “monument,” was also erected in the first century CE. The finds uncovered to date are insufficient to reconstruct the first-century city as it is described by Josephus, but the two or three known public buildings point to the existence of a large pagan city during the Early-Roman period. By the second century the city had colonnaded streets, a large theater and amphitheater, several important temples, a Nymphaeum, a public bath, all of which formed the basis of the large Late-Roman and Byzantine city. Scythopolis was a mixed city at most periods, including both Jewish and Samaritan communities, to judge from the presence of a synagogue for each group and from Josephus’s evidence.<br>Small finds. There are a large number of small finds from the many years of extensive excavations, though most have not been published. Recently an altar to Dionysos from the basilica has been published (disegni, Foerster and Tsafrir 1999), a hexagonal carved stone decorated with Dionysos imagery and with masks or heads of Dionysos, Pan and Silenos. The inscription reads: “With good luck! Seleucus (son) of Ariston (made this altar) as a thanksgiving offering to the God Dionysos the Lord founder. Year 205” (=141-142 CE).<br>Sculpture. Many sculptures were found in the excavations, but only a few have been published. Those published include a colossal head from the Tell, identified as Alexander the Great or Dionysos (Rowe 1930:44-45) and beautiful heads of Athena and perhaps Aphrodite (both of dolomitic marble of Thasian origin, both second century CE), found at nearby Tell Naharon (map reference 1968.2127; Vitto 1991). <br>Tombs. Most of the tombs discovered in a robbed condition around the city were from the late-Roman and Byzantine periods. All types of burials were identified, from simple tombs in the soil to rock-cut tombs, sarcophagi, mausolea, and others.<br>Coins. The city’s era and its coinage began in 63 BCE, after the Pompeian conquest; its earliest coin is a rare one carrying the bust of Gabinius. Most of the coins depict attributes of Dionysus. |