View source for Raphana

{{Short description|City attested by Pliny the Elder}}
{{Distinguish|Raphanea}}

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{{Unreliable sources|date=July 2025}}
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[[File:The Decapolis at the time of Plinus t.E. and before 106 A.D..jpg|thumb|200x200px|Map of the Decapolis prior 106 A.D.]]

'''Raphana''' (Ραφάνα in [[Ancient Greek]]), was one of the [[Decapolis]] cities mentioned by [[Pliny the Elder]], within his ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'' (Book V.74).

Raphana was sought for the last two millennia, after no one could identify this ancient settlement, as it was mostly omitted from maps or in scientific literature.

==Proposed locations==
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Some connected it with Raphon of the Macabbees. Some other looked for a substitution and chose the  site of Abila at the northern Jordanian valley of Wadi Queilbeh, because of Abila's important history and its attested connection to the Decapolis region. But, there is no archaeological evidence that Abila has ever had any other ancient name than ''Abila dekapoleos'', ''Abila Seleukia'' or also ''Abila viniferos'' (mentioned by [[Eusebius]] in his [[Onomasticon (Eusebius)|Onomastikon (Abila)]], 12 miles east of Gadara).

Raphana itself was unidentified. Recent research has found a plausible position for Raphana at the northeastern-edge of the Decapolis region. This fits also to the history of Flavius Josephus, who describes the forts around a place called Raepta, which is very plausibly the predecessor settlement of Raphana. For the mentioned connection see also the Pleiades Database for "[https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/678360 Raphana]" at stoa.org. In some online sites you can read that Raphana was at the "Abilene plain" and some mixed this name again with Abila at Wadi Queilbeh south of the [[Yarmouk River|Yarmuk]], but the Abilene Plain describes a completely different region and the area around Abila Lysaniae, which is north-west of Damascus and always connected with the Paneas region too. But Abila Lysaniae and its history also have nothing to do with Raphana. The notation at the [[Notitia Dignitatum]] at "Arefa" shows us for a later date that there was a military unit, an ''[[Ala (Roman allied military unit)|ala]]'' at that location. This connection (with Arefa) you will also find at the above-mentioned Pleiades Database. That such a [[doi:10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.16881898|military camp]] was normally situated at the border of the ancient empires seems to be clear. Therefore with a very high plausibility Raphana of the Decapolis, with its predecessor Raepta and its successor Arpha/Arefa, can be found at the Khirbet [https://www.geonames.org/11260537/ar-rafi-ah.html ar-Rafi'ah] ("Ar-Rafi'ah Ruins"), positioned at [https://www.geonames.org/11260499/ard-al-fanah.html Ard al-Fanah], at the border between the [[Arabian Desert]] and the fertile Ghouta{{clarify|reason=Means what?|date=July 2023}} south of Damascus.<ref>https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.201/ Jens Kleb (2022). ''Raphana of the Decapolis and its successor Arpha – The search for an eminent Greco-Roman City''.</ref>

For a time the city seems to have been the base camp of the 12th [[Roman legion]], [[Legio XII Fulminata|Legio XII ''Fulminata'']], as well as of Legio III ''Gallica''.

==References==
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*[http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/decapolis.html Decapolis tour reference]
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{{Decapolis cities}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Populated places in Irbid Governorate]]
[[Category:Decapolis]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Jordan]]
[[Category:Former populated places in West Asia]]
[[Category:Roman fortifications in Arabia Petraea]]


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