Capitolias

Capitolias was an ancient city east of the River Jordan, and is identified with the modern village of Beit Ras in the Irbid Governorate in northern Jordan.[1][2][3]

The Peutinger Table placed it between Gadara and Adraha (Daraa), 16 miles from each, and the Antonine Itinerary put it at 36 miles from Neve.[3][4]

The Arabic name, Beit Ras, preserves the Aramaic name, Bet Reisha, mentioned in the 6th-century Talmud.[1][3][4]

History

The town is one of the ten cities of the Decapolis listed by Pliny the Elder.[5] It was founded as a planned Roman city, perhaps for military purposes,[4] under Nerva or Trajan in AD 97 or 98, the date from which, according to the coins it minted, it dated its special era.[6] Inscriptions show that local citizens served in the Roman army.[3] It was surrounded by a wall built in the 2nd century and had an area of 12.5 hectares according to one source, 20 acres according to another.[3][4]

The city was named after Jupiter Capitolinus.[1]

In the rearrangement associated with the creation of the Roman province of Arabia in 106, Capitolias became part of the province of Palaestina Secunda, whose capital was Scythopolis.[1][6] It is mentioned by many geographers, including Hierocles and George of Cyprus in the 6th and 7th centuries.[6]

Bishopric

Bishops of Capitolias are mentioned in extant documents:[7][8]

A Peter who was martyred under Muslim rule is given by Lequien[7] and Gams[8] as a bishop of Capitolias, but other sources describe him as a priest, not a bishop.[6][9][10]

In the 12th century the see was an independent archbishopric, as appears from a "Notitia Episcopatuum" of that time.[11] No longer a residential bishopric, Capitolias is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[12]

Archaeology

The city wall, with three north-facing gates,[4] can be traced on the surface[3] Other remains include a temple of the Capitoline Triad, a three-tiered marketplace, a colonnaded street, a 5th-century church that was converted into a mosque in the 8th century, an aqueduct, reservoirs, a Roman military cemetery, and paved roads.[3][4]

Systematic archaeological work began in the early 1980s and has continued.[4][13][14]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 C.J. Lenzen, E.A. Knauf, "Capitolias: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Archaeological and Textual Evidence" in Syria, Year 1987, Issue 64–1–2, pp. 21–46
  2. ↑ "Beit Ras/Capitolias: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Archaeological and Textual Evidence". JSTOR 4198595. Retrieved 11 July 2013. (same text, not free)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites: "Capitolias (Beit Ras) Jordan"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Jewish Virtual Library: "Capitolias"
  5. ↑ Pliny's Natural History 5.16.74
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Siméon Vailhé, "Capitolias" in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 3 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lequien III, 715
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 454
  9. ↑ David Richard Thomas et al. (editors), Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History (600-900) (BRILL 2009 ISBN 978-90-0416975-3), pp. 419–422
  10. ↑ Hugh N. Kennedy, The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East (Ashgate Publishing 2006 ISBN 978-0-75465909-9), p. 333
  11. ↑ H. Gelzer, in Byzantin. Zeithschrift, I, 253, cited by Siméon Vailhé in Catholic Encyclopedia
  12. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 857
  13. ↑ "Beit Ras Excavations: 1988 and 1989". JSTOR 4198840. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  14. ↑ http://www.romanhideout.com/news/2003/jordantimes2003013.asp

Coordinates: 32°36′N 35°51′E / 32.600°N 35.850°E