View source for Decapolis

{{Short description|Group of ten Hellenistic cities in the Levant}}
{{Other uses|Decapolis (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{lang|grc|Δεκάπολις}}
| conventional_long_name = Decapolis
| common_name            = Decapolis
| image_map              = The-Decapolis-map.svg
| map_caption            = The ten cities of Decapolis marked in black italics
| era                    = <!-- [[Roman Empire]], [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]], [[Flavian dynasty]], [[Parthia]] -->
| empire                 = [[Roman Empire]]
| government_type        = Client state
| year_start             = 63 BC
| year_end               = AD 106
| p1                     = Coele-Syria
| p2                     = Hasmonean kingdom
| s1                     = Arabia Petraea
| s2                     = Syria Palaestina
| capital                = 
| common_languages       = [[Koine Greek]], [[Aramaic]], [[Arabic]], [[Latin]]
| religion               = [[Hellenistic religion]], [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial Cult]]
| event_end              = [[Trajan]]'s annexation of [[Arabia Petrea]]
| event_start            = [[Pompey]]'s conquest of Syria
| today                  = [[Palestine]]<br/>[[Jordan]]<br/>[[Syria]]
}}
{{coord|32.7167|N|35.8000|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

The '''Decapolis''' (Greek: {{langx|grc|Δεκάπολις|Dekápolis|Ten Cities|label=none}}) was a group of ten Greek [[Hellenization|Hellenistic]] cities on the eastern frontier of the Greek and late [[Roman Empire]] in the [[Southern Levant]] in the first centuries BC and AD. Most of the cities were located to the east of the [[Jordan Rift Valley]], between [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]], [[Iturea]], [[Nabataean Kingdom|Nabataea]], and [[Roman Syria|Syria]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=Guy MacLean |title=For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE |date=2021 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-24813-5 |location=New Haven |pages=536}}</ref>

The Decapolis was a center of [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]]  [[Culture of ancient Rome|culture]] in a region which was otherwise populated by [[Jews]], Arab [[Nabataeans]] and [[Arameans]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kropp|first1=Andreas|last2=Mohammad|first2=Qasim|date=2006|title=Dion of the Decapolis: Tell al-Ash'arīin southern Syria in the light of ancient documents and recent discoveries|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/lev.2006.38.1.125|journal=Levant|volume=38|issue=1|pages=125–144|doi=10.1179/lev.2006.38.1.125|s2cid=162405924 |issn=0075-8914|quote=The Decapolis was a peculiar agglomeration of Hellenized cities placed between Jewish Palestine, Nabatean Arabia and the Hauran.|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The cities formed a group because of their [[Greek language|language]], [[Culture of Greece|culture]], [[Hellenistic religion|religion]], location, and political status, with each functioning as an autonomous [[city-state]] dependent on Rome. They are sometimes described as a league of cities, although some scholars{{who|date=July 2023}} believe that they were never formally organized as a political unit.

In the time of the Emperor [[Trajan]], the cities were incorporated into the provinces of [[Roman Syria|Syria]] and [[Arabia Petraea]]; several cities were later placed in [[Syria Palaestina]] and [[Palaestina Secunda]]. The Decapolis region is located in modern-day [[Jordan]] (Philadelphia, Gerasa, Pella and Gadara), [[Israel]] (Scythopolis and Hippos) and [[Syria]] (Raphana, Dion, Canatha and Damascus).

==Cities==
The names of the traditional ten cities of the Decapolis come from [[Natural History (Pliny)|Pliny's ''Natural History'']].<ref>Natural History, 5.16.74</ref> They are:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!City
!Comments
!Location
|-
|[[Amman#Classical period: Philadelphia|Philadelphia]]
|Capital of modern Jordan
|{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Amman]], Jordan
|-
|[[Jerash#Hellenistic period|Gerasa]]
|
|{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Jerash]], Jordan
|-
|[[Gadara]]
|
|{{flagicon|Jordan}} [[Umm Qais]], [[Jordan]]
|-
|[[Pella, Jordan|Pella]]
|West of [[Irbid]]
|{{flagicon|Jordan}} Tabaqat Fahl, [[Jordan]]
|-
|[[Dium (Coele-Syria)|Dion (Tell Ashari)]]
|Sometimes also identified with [[Aydoun]]
|{{flagicon|Syria}} Tell Ashari, Syria
|-
|[[Raphana]]
|Usually identified also with Raepta and Arpha<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kleb |first=Jens |date=2022 |title=Raphana of the Decapolis and its successor Arpha - The search for an eminent Greco-Roman City |url=https://peercommunityjournal.org/item/10_24072_pcjournal_201/ |journal=Peer Community Journal |language=fr |volume=2 |doi=10.24072/pcjournal.201 |s2cid=254729593 |issn=2804-3871|doi-access=free }}</ref>
|{{flagicon|Syria}} Ar-Rafi'ah, Syria
|-
|[[Beit She'an#Hellenistic period|Scythopolis]]
|Only city west of the [[Jordan River]]
|{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Beit She'an]], [[Israel]]
|-
|[[Hippos, Israel|Hippos]]
|Mentioned by Pliny as Dio Hippos, usually this entity is divided into Dion and Hippos. The Aramaic name of Hippos was [[Hippos (Golan Heights)|Sussita]]
|{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Sussita]], [[Northern District]]
|-
|[[Qanawat|Canatha]]
|A city rich on water, at the north-western slope of the [[Hauran|Jebel Hauran]] (Mons Al-Sadamus, [[Jabal al-Druze|Jebel al-Druz]])
|{{flagicon|Syria}} [[Qanawat]], Syria
|-
|[[Damascus]]
|Capital of modern Syria<ref>{{cite web|title=Decapolis - Ancient Greek League, Palestine|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Decapolis-ancient-cities-Palestine|website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online Edition}}</ref>
|{{flagicon|Syria}} Damascus, Syria
|-
| colspan="3" |Pliny also mentions in his enumeration important regions around and between the cities
|-
|Trachonitis
|the [[Lajat]]/Leja, including the surroundings from [[Al-Sanamayn|Az (al) Sanamayn]] (west) until the [[:File:05-Karte_des_Ostjordanlandes_uebersicht-Deutscher_Palaestina_Verein-Leipzig_1908-Detail.jpg|Ard of Batanea]] (Batanaea Plain) in the east of it.
|{{flagicon|Syria}} el-Mushmije, Ezra, Khalkhale, Syria
|-
|Paneas
|The region around [[Banias]]/Caesarea Phillipi
|{{flagicon|Syria}} Banias, Syria
|-
|Abilene
|The small realm of [[Lysanias]], see [[Abila Lysaniou|Abila Lysaniae]]
|{{flagicon|Syria}} [[Souq Wadi Barada]], Syria
|-
|Arca
|The western part around the See of Galilee with [[Tarichaea]] ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Ταριχαία or Ταριχέα) and [https://www.dekapolis-aquaedukt.de/en/bedeutende-orte/philoteria Philoteria] at its southern end.
|{{flagicon|Israel}} [[Al-Sinnabra|Sinnabra]], [[Yardenit]], [[Israel]]
|-
|Ampelloessa
|Usually identified with [[Abila (Decapolis)|Abila]] also known as "Abila Viniferos", 12 miles east of Gadara (see [[Onomasticon_(Eusebius)|Onomasticon]]) and Capitolias 
|{{flagicon|Jordan}} Abila, Beit Ras, Ard el-Karm, Jordan
|-
|Gabe
|Region of Gabe, later also known as [[Jabiyah]]
|{{flagicon|Syria}} Muzeirib / Nawa, Syria
|}
Damascus was further north than the others and so is sometimes thought to have been an "honorary" member. [[Josephus]] states that Scythopolis was the largest of the ten towns.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/war-3.htm Wars of the Jews, Book 3, chapter 9, section 7], accessed 6 December 2016</ref> Biblical commentator [[Edward Plumptre]] suggests that this is the reason why Damascus was not included in Josephus' list.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Matthew 4 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/matthew/4.htm |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=biblehub.com}}</ref> According to other sources, there may have been as many as 18 or 19 Greco-Roman cities counted as part of the Decapolis.

==History==
===Hellenistic period===
[[File:בית_שאן_סקיתופוליס.jpg|thumb|Roman theatre and cardo of Scythopolis ([[Beit She'an]], Israel)]]
Except for Scythopolis, Damascus and Canatha, the Decapolis cities were by and large founded during the [[Hellenistic period]], between the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BC and the Roman conquest of [[Coele-Syria]], including [[Judea]] in 63 BC. Some were established under the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] which ruled Judea until 198 BC. Others were founded later, when the [[Seleucid Empire]] ruled the region. Some of the cities included "Antiochia" or "Seleucia" in their official names (''Antiochia Hippos'', for example), which attest to Seleucid origins. The cities were Greek from their founding, modeling themselves on the Greek [[polis]].

In 63 BC, the Roman general [[Pompey]] conquered the eastern Mediterranean. The people of the Hellenized cities, who were under the rule of the Jewish [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean Kingdom]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=The Roman Near East: 31 BC–AD 337 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-674-77886-3 |edition= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=39 |chapter=For the moment it is enough to recall that when Pompey had acquired the area for Rome in the 60s, he had made a deliberate point of liberating all those cities in this area which had been under Jewish rule (following conquests by the Hasmoneans), and had made them part of the province of Syria. |quote=}}</ref> welcomed Pompey as a liberator. When Pompey reorganized the region, he awarded a group of these cities with autonomy under Roman protection; this was the origin of the Decapolis. For centuries the cities based their [[calendar era]] on this conquest: 63 BC was the epochal year of the [[Pompeian era]], used to count the years throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods.

===Autonomy under Rome===
Under Roman rule, the cities of the Decapolis were not included in the territory of the [[Herodian kingdom]], its successor states of the [[Herodian tetrarchy]], or the [[Judea (Roman province)|Roman province of Judea]]. Instead, the cities were allowed considerable political autonomy under Roman protection. Each city functioned as a polis or [[city-state]], with jurisdiction over an area of the surrounding countryside. Each minted its own coins. Many coins from Decapolis cities identify their city as "autonomous," "free," "sovereign," or "sacred"—terms that imply some sort of self-governing status.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Mare |first=Harold W. |editor-first=David Noel |editor-last=Freedman |title=Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible |publisher=William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company |date=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/333 333–334] |chapter=Decapolis |isbn=0-8028-2400-5 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/333 }}</ref>

[[Image:Jerash BW 12.JPG|thumb|The oval [[Forum (Roman)|forum]] and [[cardo]] of Gerasa ([[Jerash]], Jordan)]]
The Romans left their cultural stamp on all of the cities. Each one was eventually rebuilt with a Roman-style grid of streets based around a central [[cardo]] and/or [[decumanus]]. The Romans sponsored and built numerous temples and other public buildings. The [[Roman imperial cult|imperial cult]], the worship of the Roman emperor, was a very common practice throughout the Decapolis and was one of the features that linked the cities. A small open-air temple or façade, called a [[kalybe (temple)|kalybe]], was unique to the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Segal |first=Arthur |date=2001 |title=The "Kalybe Structures" : Temples for the Imperial Cult in Hauran and Trachon: An Historical-architectural Analysis |journal=Assaph: Studies in Art History |publisher=Tel Aviv University |volume=6 |pages=91–118 }}</ref>
[[File:The Decapolis at the time of Plinus t.E. and before 106 A.D..jpg|alt=The Decapolis at the time of Plinus t.E. and before 106 A.D|thumb|'''The Decapolis at the time of Plinus t.E. and before 106 A.D''']]
The cities may also have enjoyed strong commercial ties, fostered by a network of new [[Roman roads]]. This has led to their common identification today as a "federation" or "league". The Decapolis was probably never an official political or economic union; most likely it signified the collection of city-states which enjoyed special autonomy during early Roman rule.<ref>"Decapolis" in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Ed. Eric M. Meyers, S. Thomas Parker. Oxford Biblical Studies Online. Nov 14, 2016.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ww1.oxfordbiblicalcstudies.com/?subid1=567cc02c-706c-11e9-83ad-a6e1c2575d0f|title=oxfordbiblicalcstudies.com|website=ww1.oxfordbiblicalcstudies.com|access-date=2019-05-07|archive-date=9 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509110923/http://ww1.oxfordbiblicalcstudies.com/%3Fsubid1%3D567cc02c-706c-11e9-83ad-a6e1c2575d0f|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[New Testament]] gospels of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] mention that the Decapolis region was a location of the [[ministry of Jesus]]. According to {{Bibleverse||Matthew|4:23-25|NKJV}} the Decapolis was one of the areas from which Jesus drew his multitude of [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]], attracted by His "healing all kinds of sickness". The Decapolis was one of the few regions where Jesus travelled in which [[Gentile]]s were in the majority: most of Jesus' ministry focused on teaching to Jews. [[Mark 5]]:[[Legion (demon)|1-10]] emphasizes the Decapolis' gentile character when Jesus encounters a herd of pigs, an animal forbidden by [[Kashrut]], the Jewish dietary laws. A [[Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac|demon-possessed man]] healed by Jesus in this passage asks to be included among the disciples who traveled with Jesus; but Jesus does not permit him, as he wanted him to tell his friends what the Lord had done and instructs him to remain in the Decapolis region.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Mark|5:18-20|NKJV}}</ref>

===Direct Roman rule===
[[File:Dioecesis Orientis 400 AD.png|thumb|250px|The provinces of the East in the year 400]]
The Decapolis came under direct Roman rule in AD 106, when [[Arabia Petraea]] was annexed during the reign of the emperor [[Trajan]]. The cities were divided between the new province and the provinces of [[Roman Syria|Syria]] and [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]].<ref name="auto"/> In the later Roman Empire, they were divided between [[Arabia Petraea|Arabia]] and [[Palaestina Secunda]], of which Scythopolis served as the provincial capital; while Damascus became part of [[Phoenice (Roman province)|Phoenice Libanensis]]. The cities continued to be distinct from their neighbors within their provinces, distinguished for example by their use of the [[Pompeian era|Pompeian calendar era]] and their continuing Hellenistic identities. However, the Decapolis was no longer a unit of administration.

The Roman and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Decapolis region was influenced and gradually taken over by [[Christianity]]. Some cities were more receptive than others to the new religion. Pella was a base for some of the earliest church leaders ([[Eusebius]] reports that the [[Apostle|apostles]] fled there to escape the [[First Jewish–Roman War]]). In other cities, paganism persisted long into the Byzantine era. Eventually, however, the region became almost entirely Christian, and most of the cities served as seats of [[bishop]]s.

Most of the cities continued into the late Roman and Byzantine periods. Some were abandoned in the years following Palestine's conquest by the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] in 641, but other cities continued to be inhabited long into the Islamic period.

==Evolution and excavation==
Jerash (Gerasa) and Bet She'an (Scythopolis) survive as towns today, after periods of abandonment or serious decline. Damascus has never lost its prominent role throughout later history. Philadelphia was long abandoned but was revived in the 19th century and has become the capital city of Jordan under the name [[Amman]]. Twentieth-century archaeology has identified most of the other cities on Pliny's list, and most have undergone or are undergoing considerable excavation.<ref>Segal, Arthur. [https://web.archive.org/web/20050417054811/http://www.tau.ac.il/arts/projects/PUB/assaph-art/assaph6/articles_assaph6/ArthurSegal.pdf "The 'Kalybe' Structures."] Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Parker|first=S. Thomas|date=September 1999|title=An Empire's New Holy Land: The Byzantine Period|journal=Near Eastern Archaeology|volume=62|issue=3|pages=134–180|doi=10.2307/3210712|issn=1094-2076|jstor=3210712|s2cid=164178042}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Meyers|first=Eric M.|date=December 1996|title=The Making of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=59|issue=4|pages=194–197|doi=10.2307/3210561|issn=0006-0895|jstor=3210561|s2cid=165422294}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Collins|first=Adela Yarbro|date=August 1996|title=The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Ephraim Stern, Ayelet Lewinson-Gilboa, Joseph Aviram|journal=History of Religions|volume=36|issue=1|pages=81–83|doi=10.1086/463453|issn=0018-2710}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chancey|first1=Mark Alan|last2=Porter|first2=Adam Lowry|date=December 2001|title=The Archaeology of Roman Palestine|journal=Near Eastern Archaeology|volume=64|issue=4|pages=164–203|doi=10.2307/3210829|issn=1094-2076|jstor=3210829|s2cid=163466008}}</ref>

== Culture ==
The Decapolis was a region where two cultures interacted: the culture of the Greek colonists and the indigenous [[Second Temple Judaism|Jewish]] and Aramean cultures. There was some conflict. The Greek inhabitants were shocked by the [[Brit milah|Jewish practice of circumcision]], which was regarded as a cruel and barbaric [[genital mutilation]].<ref name="Hodges2001">{{cite journal |last=Hodges |first=Frederick M. |year=2001 |title=The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/ |format=PDF |journal=[[Bulletin of the History of Medicine]] |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |volume=75 |issue=Fall 2001 |pages=375–405 |doi=10.1353/bhm.2001.0119 |pmid=11568485 |s2cid=29580193 |access-date=13 February 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Various elements of Jewish dissent towards the dominant and [[Hellenization|assimilative nature of Hellenic civilization]] arose gradually in the face of assimilation. At the same time, [[Syncretism|cultural blending and borrowing]] also occurred in the Decapolis region. 

The cities acted as centers for the diffusion of Hellenistic culture. Some local deities began to be called by the name [[Zeus]], from the chief Greek god. Meanwhile, in some cities Greeks began worshipping these local "Zeus" deities alongside their own Zeus Olympios. There is evidence that the colonists adopted the worship of other [[Ancient Semitic religion|Semitic gods]], including [[Phoenicia]]n deities and the chief Nabatean god, [[Dushara]] (worshipped under his Hellenized name, ''Dusares''). The worship of these Semitic gods is attested in coins and inscriptions from the cities.

==See also==
* [[Heptapolis]] (meaning seven cities)
* [[Doric hexapolis]] (six)
* [[Pentapolis]] (five)
* [[Syrian tetrapolis|Tetrapolis]] (four)
* [[Tripolis (region of Phoenicia)|Tripolis]] (three)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Decapolis}}
{{EB1911 Poster|Decapolis}}
* [http://www.bibarch.com/ArchaeologicalSites/Decapolis.htm The Decapolis on BibArch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205085724/http://www.bibarch.com/ArchaeologicalSites/Decapolis.htm |date=5 February 2005 }}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04664b.htm The Decapolis on the Catholic Encyclopedia]
* [https://www.dekapolis-aquaedukt.de/en/home/die-dekapolis The Decapolis a short overview]
* [http://www.plekos.uni-muenchen.de/2004/rlichtenberger.pdf Scholarly review] of a 2003 book, ''Kulte und Kultur der Dekapolis (Cults and Culture of the Decapolis)''. The review contains information on the religious syncretism in the Hellenistic and Roman Decapolis. Contains some passages in German.
* [https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2022-11-20/ty-article-magazine/new-inscriptions-in-roman-city-in-israel-shed-personal-light-on-early-christians/00000184-950a-d53f-a5fe-bfca7aa50000 "New Inscriptions in Roman city in Israel shed personal light on early Christians", Ha'aretz, Nov. 22, 2022]

{{Decapolis cities}}

[[Category:Decapolis| ]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 2nd century]]
[[Category:Ptolemaic colonies]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Israel]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Jordan]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Syria]]
[[Category:Seleucid colonies]]
[[Category:Roman client kingdoms]]
[[Category:1st century BC in the Roman Republic]]
[[Category:1st century BC in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:1st century in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:2nd century in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:New Testament cities]]
[[Category:64 BC]]
[[Category:60s BC establishments]]