Livias was a city in Transjordan in Classical Antiquity. In the writings of Josephus (English translation), the name is presented as Julias. [1]
Numerous authors have presented a chain of evidence connecting Beth-Haram from the Book of Joshua (Josh. 13:27), considered to be the same as Bethharan from Numbers (Num. 32:36), [2] with Talmudic Beit Ramata (Hebrew : בית רמתה) [3] and Roman-period Betharamtha (Βηθαραμθα)[ dubious – discuss ] or Betharamphtha. [4] [5]
The traditional location of the Roman city is at Tell er-Rameh, a small hill rising in the plain beyond Jordan, about twelve miles from Jericho. [6]
In 2011 Graves and Stripling proposed that, while Tell er-Rameh was the commercial and residential center of Livias, the area around Tell el-Hammam, which grew in the Early Roman period, was the administrative epicenter of the city. This suggestion is based on the evidence from Tell el-Hammam excavations: a large Roman bath complex (thermae, 35x50m), several hot springs, aqueduct, Roman coins, Roman glass, Roman pottery, and a Byzantine church mosaic nearby. [7]
Archaeological evidence from Shuneh el-Janubiyyeh has shown the existence of a church in the diocese, dating from the sixth-eighth centuries. [8] A third Byzantine church was discovered between Tall Kafrayn and Tell el-Hammam (2.6 km or 1.6 mi west of the latter), with a large mosaic floor, now being used as a Muslim cemetery. [9]
Josephus (AD 37–c. 100) and others describe Livias as a city (πόλις polis) of Perea, [10] and specifically differentiate it from a small town (πόλίχνη polichnē) or from its surrounding fourteen villages (κώμας kōmas). [11]
A directional reference is the fifth milestone north of Livias located at Bethnambris (Bethnamaris; Bethnamran [12] ) or Tall Nimrin (TMP 749034E, 3532378N). According to Eusebius' Onomasticon , Livias is five Roman miles (7.5 km/ 4.7 m) south of Tall Nimrin[ dubious – discuss ]. [13]
These directional references, together with a statement provided by Theodosius that "the city of Livias is across the Jordan, twelve [Roman] miles [17.75 km/ 11 m] from Jericho" (Wilkinson) [14] to the east, provide east/west and north–south co-ordinates that when triangulated place Livias at Tall el-Hammam. [7]
The city of Betharan is twice mentioned in the Bible (Numbers 32:36; Joshua 13:27).
At about 80 BC, Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus captured a city later called by his son "Libias" from the Nabataeans; [15] it was then called Betharamphtha (Hebrew: בית רמתה). According Josephus, in the 1st century AD, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, fortified the city of "Betharamphtha" with strong walls and called it Julias after the wife of Augustus, [16] whose birth name was Livia Drusilla, but who became known as Julia Augusta after adoption. Nero gave it with its fourteen villages to Agrippa II. [17] In the First Jewish-Roman War the Roman general Placidus captured it in 68, [18] [19] and the town was used to resettle deserters who had joined the Roman ranks. [20] After the revolt was quelled, the area was returned to Agrippa. He died without heir, and his territories were annexed to Judaea province. In later reorganizations of Roman provinces, it was included in Syria Palaestina (135), Palaestina (286) and Palaestina Prima (425), never gaining a colonia status.
In the time of Eusebius and St. Jerome the natives still called it Bethramtha. [19]
Livias was an episcopal see, a suffragan of the diocese Caesarea in Palaestina. Le Quien [21] mentions three bishops:
No longer a residential bishopric, Livias is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. [22]
Caesarea, also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Roman Judaea, Syria Palaestina and Palaestina Prima, successively, for a period of c. 650 years and a major intellectual hub of the Mediterranean. Today, the site is part of the Caesarea National Park, on the western edge of the Sharon plain in Israel.
Azekah was an ancient town in the Shephela guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron.
Beth-Nimrah or Beth-nimrah, also called Nimrin and Bethennabris, was an ancient city in Transjordan, which features prominently the history of ancient Israel and Judah. Tell Nimrin has been identified by Nelson Glueck as the last of three sites successively occupied by the ancient city.
Pella was an ancient city in what is now northwest Jordan, and contains ruins from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Canaanite, Hellenistic and Islamic periods. It is located near a rich water source within the eastern foothills of the Jordan Valley, close to the modern village of Ṭabaqat Faḥl some 27 km (17 mi) south of the Sea of Galilee. The site is situated 130 km (81 mi) north of Amman: a drive of about two hours, and an hour southwest by car from Irbid, in the north of the country. Pella's ruins – predominantly temples, churches, and housing – have been partially excavated by teams of archaeologists; they attract thousands of tourists annually but especially in spring, during which time the area is awash with spring flowers.
Bethsaida, also known as Julias or Julia, is a place mentioned in the New Testament. Julias lay in an administrative district known as Gaulonitis. Historians have suggested that the name is also referenced in rabbinic literature under the epithet Ṣaidan.
Perea or Peraea was the term used mainly during the early Roman period for part of ancient Transjordan. It lay broadly east of Judea and Samaria, which were situated on the western side of the Jordan River, and southwest of the Decapolis.
Zoara, called Zoar/Tzoar or Bela in the Hebrew Bible, Segor in the Septuagint, and Zughar by medieval Arabs, was an ancient city located in the Dead Sea basin in the Transjordan.
Abila was an ancient city east of the Jordan River in the Plains of Moab, later Peraea, near Livias, about twelve km northeast of the north shore of the Dead Sea. The site is identified with modern Khirbet el-Kafrayn, Jordan and identified on the Madaba Map as an unnamed icon. There is a widely supported theory that in the Hebrew Bible, it is referred to as Abel-Shittim, as well as in the shorter forms Shittim and Ha-Shittim.
Maresha was an Iron Age city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, whose remains have been excavated at Tell Sandahanna, an archaeological mound or 'tell' renamed after its identification to Tel Maresha. The ancient Judahite city became Idumaean after the fall of Judah in 586 BCE, and after Alexander's conquest of the region in 332 BCE became Hellenised under the name Marisa or Marissa. The tell is situated in Israel's Shephelah region, i.e. in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains, about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south of Beit Gubrin.
Naaran was an ancient Jewish village dating to the 5th and 6th century CE, located in the modern-day West Bank, in the State of Palestine. Remains of the village have been excavated north-west of Jericho. Naaran is archeologically notable for the mosaic floor of a synagogue, featuring a large zodiac design, which was discovered at the site.
Bethharan, Betharan or Beth Haran, also Betharam or Beth-Aram, was a Hebrew Bible city, in the valley-plain east of the Jordan River. In the Book of Joshua, a city called "Betharam" is listed as one of the cities allotted by Moses to Gad, previously belonging to Sihon the Amorite. According to the Book of Numbers, "Betharan" was rebuilt by the tribe of Gad.
Hebron was an episcopal see during the Crusader period.
Judea or Judaea is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than Judea of earlier periods. In 132 CE, the Roman province of Judaea was merged with Galilee to form the enlarged province of Syria Palaestina.
Beth-Anath was mentioned in the Bible as "one of the fenced cities that fell to the lot of Naphtali, and from which the Canaanites were not driven out ."
Mastaura, was an ancient Greek town near Dereağzı, Nazilli in northern Caria, not to be confused with ancient Mastaura (Lycia).
The Diocese of Scythopolis is a titular see in Israel/Jordan and was the Metropolitan of the Roman province of Palestina II. It was centered on Modern Beth Shean (Bêsân).
Amathus (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαθοῦς or τὰ Ἀμαθά; in Eusebius, Ἀμμαθοὺς. Hebrew: עמתו was a fortified city east of the Jordan River, in modern-day Jordan.
On Weights and Measures is a historical, lexical, metrological, and geographical treatise compiled in 392 AD in Constantia by Epiphanius of Salamis. The greater part of the work is devoted to a discussion on Greek and Roman weights and measures.
Tell el-Hammam is an archaeological site in the Amman Governorate of Jordan, in the eastern part of the lower Jordan Valley 11.7 kilometers east of the Jordan River and not far from its mouth. It lies 12.6 kilometers northeast of the Dead Sea. The site has substantial remains from the Chalcolithic, Early, Intermediate and Middle Bronze Age, and from Iron Age II. There are different attempts at identifying the site with a biblical city. The Hammam Megalithic Field lies nearby. Other archaeological sites in the vicinity include Tall Nimrin, Tall Bleibel, Tall Mustah, Tall Iktanu, Tall Tahouna, Tall Barakat, Tall Kafrayn, and Tall Rama.
Tell er-Rameh or Tall el-Rama is a small mound in Jordan rising in the plain east of the River Jordan, about twelve miles from Jericho. It presently has a Muslim cemetery on the acropolis that prevents it from being excavated. It has been traditionally identified as the location of Livias. The team recently excavating at Tell el-Hammam however, is proposing that Tell er-Rameh was the commercial and residential centre of Livias, while the administrative centre was located at Tall el-Hammam.
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Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "BETH-ARAM (Josh. xiii. 27) or BETH-HARAN". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.