Maiuma | |
|---|---|
Place | |
  Maiuma Location of Maiuma within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 31°31′N34°27′E / 31.517°N 34.450°E | |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Founded | 1st century BCE |
Maiuma (also Maiumas or Maiouma, Maioumas) is one of the names of the main ancient port of Gaza, at times functioning as a separate city; the other ancient port of Gaza was Anthedon. [1] [2] Its remains are situated at present-day Rimal near Gaza City in the Gaza Strip.
A "harbour of Gaza" is first documented in one of the Zenon Papyri, a business letter written in September 258 BCE. [2] [3]
In antiquity, Maiuma was one of the two ports of Gaza, [1] serving as the Incense Road's principal emporium on the Mediterranean. Located near Gaza, it was simply called "the port of Gaza" in many early sources, for instance Strabo [4] and Ptolemy referred to it as Gazaion limen. However, it was distinct from the city, which was located opposite it, [5] and recognised as an independent city since the early Christian era. The Greek name Neapolis ("the new city") seems to have also been used in reference to it. [6] [ clarification needed ]
The port of Gaza was at the end of the Nabataean spice and incense trade route, dealing in herbs, spices incense, drapery, glass and food. Goods arrived in the port on the backs of camels from Southern Arabia (the Kingdom of Sheba) through Petra, the Arava Valley and crossing the Negev Desert via Avdat. At the port of Gaza, these goods were dispatched to the European markets. [7] [8] Alexander Jannaeus' conquest of Gaza (99 BCE) that denied the Nabateans access to the port and trade with Rome led to Obodas launching a military campaign against the Hasmonean king. [9]
Maiuma was rebuilt after it was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 63 BCE under the command of Pompey Magnus and trade routes were reopened. [10] Although the town grew to a community of no small importance with a population as high as 9,000 and increasingly sought independence of Gaza, it remained a dependent kōme (dependent settlement of a Greek polis ). [11]
During the reign of Constantine the Great, who granted Maiuma the status of a separate city, it received the name Konstanteia after the emperor's sister (or son). [12] It has been suggested that Maiuma's residents "collectively opted to convert to Christianity" [13] or that it made some sort of public declaration of its Christianity. [11]
Under Emperor Julian, known as Julian the Apostate by Christians, it was downgraded and the name was changed to Maioumas, which can be seen as simply meaning "harbour place", [5] [14] or as "the part of Gaza towards the sea". [15] As a consequence of this, it is associated by some with a pagan festival also called the Maiuma or Maiouma, [16] [17] however others consider the word "maiuma" or "maiouma" to have evolved to cover a much wider set of meanings by the time the port near Gaza was given this name, with no Maiuma festival in the original meaning of the word ever taking place there. [14] Following emperors did not reverse Julian's decision, though they allowed Maiuma to maintain an independent bishopric. [11]
Maiuma seems to have been an early center of the spread of Christianity, which may explain the treatment of its status by Constantine and Julian. Its population was said to have been largely Egyptian in origin. [18] Gaza steadfastly held on to its pagan faith and withstood Christian misdionary attempts, and as a result the first bishops of Gaza resided at Maiuma. [19] As the city regained its independence from Gaza, for a certain period of time it had its own bishop, due to Gaza's relatively long resistance to introduction of Christianity. The first known bishop of Maiuma was a certain Zenon from around 395 to after 400, mentioned by Sozomenus. [20] Among others known are Paulianus (or Paulinianus), participant in the First Council of Ephesus in 431; Paul, who took part in the Second Council of Ephesus in 449; Peter the Iberian who was reluctant to serve in the office but was elected by the citizens in 452 nevertheless; John Rufus, his successor; and Procopius, chronologically the last known bishop of Maiuma, known to have participated in the Synod of Jerusalem of 581. [19] Mention must also be made of St. Cosmas of Maiuma.
The city was famous for the fact that the tomb of a Saint Victor was located there; he had been an Egyptian martyr, [19] but more about his identity is unknown. [21] [ clarification needed ] [22]
Severus of Antioch, disicple of Peter the Iberian, founded a monastery in the vicinity of Maiuma around the year 500. According to the Life of Severus, written by Zacharias Rhetor, this was done after Severus received a substantial inheritance and the monastery of Peter had been converted from a laura to a coenobium. John Moschus mentions a laura that might be that of Severus in the early seventh century, however, the exact location of the monastery remains unknown. [23]
Constantine offered Christian Maiuma independence from pagan Gaza, Julian the Apostate reverted the administrative move, but after his reign Constantine's arrangement was restored, Maiuma eventually becoming the seat of an independent bishop [19] (please mind that the first bishops of Gaza, not Maiuma, also resided at Maiuma). [19] An incomplete list of bishops of Maiuma includes:
According to other sources, there is another bishop of Maiuma we know of:
Maiuma is identified with al-Mina, about 4 kilometers from Gaza towards the sea. Remarkable archaeological findings from the site include the mosaic floor of the Gaza synagogue representing King David with a lyre, dated to the early 6th century AD and discovered in the mid-1960s. The city appears to have been fortified, but the enclosure wall still seems hard to trace. [19]
Year 520 (DXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Vitalianus. The denomination 520 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Severus the Great of Antioch, also known as Severus of Gaza or the Crown of Syrians, was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, from 512 until his death in 538. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Church, and his feast day is 8 February.
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The known history of Gaza spans 4,000 years. Gaza was ruled, destroyed and repopulated by various dynasties, empires, and peoples. Originally a Canaanite settlement, it came under the control of the ancient Egyptians for roughly 350 years before being conquered and becoming one of the Philistines' principal cities. Gaza became part of the Assyrian Empire around 730 BC. Alexander the Great besieged and captured the city in 332 BC. Most of the inhabitants were killed during the assault, and the city, which became a center for Hellenistic learning and philosophy, was resettled by nearby Bedouins. The area changed hands regularly between two Greek successor-kingdoms, the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt, until it was besieged and taken by the Hasmoneans in 96 BC.
Nazla is a Palestinian town in the Gaza Strip, in the North Gaza Governorate of the State of Palestine. It was formerly a municipality but was merged with the nearby city of Jabalia. Nazla is located a few kilometers north of Gaza City.
John Rufus, John of Beth Rufina, or John of Maiuma, was an anti-Chalcedonian priest of Antioch, a disciple of Peter the Iberian and an ecclesiastical historian who possibly served as the bishop of Maiuma. He wrote the Plerophoriae, the Life of Peter the Iberian, and the Commemoration of the Death of Theodosius.
Diocletianopolis was a city near Ascalon. It was given the status of a city under the name Diocletianopolis as part of a Roman policy of urbanization, what had been the territory of Ascalon was divided into three municipal districts, those of Ascalon, Maiumas Ascalon, and Diocletianopolis. Ken Butcher says that what was given the name Diocletianopolis was the port of Ascalon.
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Maiuma or Maiouma, also written with a final s, was a Graeco-Syrian nocturnal water festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite and held during the month of May-Artemisios. According to Malalas (Chronicle 284–285), it was celebrated in Antioch every three years as a nocturnal festival, also known as Orgies, or the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite. Its most famous venue was Daphne-by-Antioch. Aquatic displays, mime and dance shows made the festival very popular in several cities of the East Roman Empire. There are scholars who distinguish between the original Graeco-Syrian festival, characterised by two main components, water and rejoicing, and later celebrations of similar character from the pagan Graeco-Roman and even the Christian Byzantine world, which also adopted the original name. The celebrations were so licentious that some Roman rulers attempted to ban them.
During antiquity, Gaza was prosperous. Located at the point of arrival of caravans from the Arabian Peninsula and Arabian Gulf and connected with the Mediterranean Sea by two ports, Anthedon and Maiuma, the city was an important commercial center, which played a particularly significant role in the incense trade.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Also online here at attalus.org.