Open this page in a new tab

Areopolis

Aerial View of Areopolis/Rabba

click on image to explore in Google Earth in a new tab


Names

Transliterated Name Language Name
Areopolis Ancient Greek αρεοπολισ
Rabba Arabic الربة
er-Rabba Arabic يرءراببا
Rabbath Moab
ir-Moab
Ma’âb Arabic
Raba
Introduction
Introduction

Areopolis, located on a plateau east of the Dead Sea and ~15 km. north of Al-Karak appears to have been built by the Nabateans (Negev, 1980). It was mentioned by Ptolemy in his book Geography around 150 CE (Negev, 1980) and also by Eusebius and Jerome.

Areopolis/RabbathMoba at The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites



Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, and Inscriptions
Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, and Inscriptions

Maps

Normal Size

  • Fig. 10 Map of Byzantine
    Fig. 10

    Map of Byzantine Palestine and Southern Syria, with provincial boundaries. (After Kaegi 1992).

    Gysens (2008)
    Palestine and Southern Syria, with provincial boundaries from Gysens (2008)

Magnified

  • Fig. 10 Map of Byzantine
    Fig. 10

    Map of Byzantine Palestine and Southern Syria, with provincial boundaries. (After Kaegi 1992).

    Gysens (2008)
    Palestine and Southern Syria, with provincial boundaries from Gysens (2008)

Aerial Views

  • Rabba/Areopolis in
    Rabba/Areopolis

    click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth
    Google Earth
  • Oblique Aerial View
    Rabba/Areopolis

    click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth
    of Areopolis/Rabba in Google Earth

Plans

Site Plans

Normal Size

  • Fig. 173 Site Plan
    Fig. 173

    Khirbet er-Rabba Site Plan

    Musil (1907)
    from Musil (1907)
  • Fig. 7 Site Plan
    Fig. 7

    The archaeological west area in scale on Musil's 1889 sketchmap of the ruins of ancient Rabbah (After Musil 1907: 370, fig. 173)

    Gysens (2008)
    of archaeological west area from Gysens (2008)
  • Fig. 1 Site Plan
    Fig. 1

    Rabba (Areopolis): plan of the archeological site West [of] the modern road (1999)
    1. Colonnaded Street
    2. Cistern
    3. Roman Period Temple
    4. Church 1
    5. Church 2 - The two Greek building inscriptions dated A.D. 589/599 and 688 published by Zayadine, belonged probably to this church
    Gysens (2003)
    of the archeological site West to the modern road from Gysens (2003)

Magnified

  • Fig. 173 Site Plan
    Fig. 173

    Khirbet er-Rabba Site Plan

    Musil (1907)
    from Musil (1907)
  • Fig. 7 Site Plan
    Fig. 7

    The archaeological west area in scale on Musil's 1889 sketchmap of the ruins of ancient Rabbah (After Musil 1907: 370, fig. 173)

    Gysens (2008)
    of archaeological west area from Gysens (2008)
  • Fig. 1 Site Plan
    Fig. 1

    Rabba (Areopolis): plan of the archeological site West [of] the modern road (1999)
    1. Colonnaded Street
    2. Cistern
    3. Roman Period Temple
    4. Church 1
    5. Church 2 - The two Greek building inscriptions dated A.D. 589/599 and 688 published by Zayadine, belonged probably to this church
    Gysens (2003)
    of the archeological site West to the modern road from Gysens (2003)

Area Plans

Archeological Site West of the Modern Road

Plan

Fig. 1

Rabba (Areopolis): plan of the archeological site West [of] the modern road (1999)
  1. Colonnaded Street
  2. Cistern
  3. Roman Period Temple
  4. Church 1
  5. Church 2 - The two Greek building inscriptions dated A.D. 589/599 and 688 published by Zayadine, belonged probably to this church
Gysens (2003)

Plan Description

  1. A prominent feature of the Roman urban landscape was the colonnaded street, cleared of its debris for a 30 meter long section by the Department of Antiquities (1962-1963). On both sides of the 10 meter wide side of the street, lie several column bases (measuring 1.20 x 1.20 m;inter-axis: 4.80 m; diameter of columns: ca.1 m); two complete Corinthian columns (average height ca. 5 m.) are still standing. The pavement of the street was made of limestone and basaltic square slabs that formed a decorative color pattern. Whether or not the colonnaded street was the urban sector of the via Nova as supposed by R. Canova is still to be verified.

  2. One of the three open water reservoirs A. Musil mentioned, is located at the south west border of the monumental area. It had a slight trapezoidal shape (33 x 36 m. Ca) and occupies a space of ca. 1200 square meters It is in almost perfect condition, presenting well cut regular courses of limestone ashlars.

  3. The Roman period temple - Every visitor who came to the site recorded the single standing façade of a small rectangular building (12.60 x 14.30 m; 175 square meters). The style of the architecture is typical for the late Roman period in the Eastern provinces, and this chronology fits in with the two Latin dedications to emperors Diocletian and Maximian (terminus post quem c. A.D. 286) found in situ as affixed under the niches in the façade (CIL III 14148 (11); Cf. Bruennow and Domaszewski, I, p. 54, fig. 1,2) Two exceptional photographs taken at the turn of the nineteenth century document at different moments of the rebuilding and re-occupation of the monumental ruin by early settlers.18 That transformation probably saved it for posterity. Surprisingly, the temple was apparently not reutilized as a church nor was it dismantled. Even its dedicatory inscriptions remained in situ during the following 450 years. Instead, the front court had been covered by an installation of a 12 meters’ long double row of stone arches, of uncertain function.

  4. Church 1 - The sector south of the Roman temple,- now partially occupied by a modern dwelling –, was the site that Domaszewski (Bruennow and Domazewski 1904- 1909, p. 54, fig 43) described as being occupied by the remains of a quandrangular construction with its entrance on the street front (the east side). In the adjacent space on the south and west sides, there were traces of walls running lengthwise to the west and ending in a large apse or niche framed by two columns. Successively, in 1936, R. Canova was able to distinguish two occupational levels in the ruins and recognized the plan of a basilical church with an inscribed apse. She interpreted also the unusual orientation as the adaptation of a pre-existing Roman period monument. The identification of the site had already been taken into consideration by F. Nau (cf. supra; pp.190-191) when discussing the possible localization of the synagogue Barsaumâ destroyed.

  5. Church 2 - A result of the partial clearing of the collapsed debris in the monumental sector west to the colonnaded street, by the Department of Antiquities (1962- 1963; Zayadine 1971) was the discovery of a church of the monoapsidal type. The area exposed (16m x 5 m ca.) covers ca.69 square maters (i.e.: nave: 45 sqm; apse: 24 sqm; orientation: 1078E). The only visible parts are the interior of the apse, the central nave, the bases of four columns from the original tripartite lay-out and a section of the perimetral wall on the south side. The church had been built on a public space of an earlier period, presenting a pavement similar (also in its orientation) to that of the colonnaded street. The two Greek building inscriptions dated A.D. 589/599 and 688 published by Zayadine, belonged probably to this church.

Church 2 aka Western Church

Normal Size

  • Fig. 1 Church 2 Plan
    Fig. 1



    Zayadine (1971)
    from Zayadine (1971)
  • Fig. 18 Plan of central
    Fig. 18

    Rabbah. Plan of the central sector. Scale 1:125

    1. West church with location of soundings
    2. South room
    3. Doorway into east perimeter wall
    4. Paved court
    5. Location of inscribed architrave fragment E/2004/1
    6. Collonaded Street [JW: not illustrated or labeled in original Figure - Collonaded Street should be to the immediate left of this Figure

    (After Sabelli, Dinelli et al., 2003 with some modifications to improve clarity by JW)

    Gysens (2008)
    sector including West Church from Gysens (2008)

Magnified

  • Fig. 1 Church 2 Plan
    Fig. 1



    Zayadine (1971)
    from Zayadine (1971)
  • Fig. 18 Plan of central
    Fig. 18

    Rabbah. Plan of the central sector. Scale 1:125

    1. West church with location of soundings
    2. South room
    3. Doorway into east perimeter wall
    4. Paved court
    5. Location of inscribed architrave fragment E/2004/1
    6. Collonaded Street [JW: not illustrated or labeled in original Figure - Collonaded Street should be to the immediate left of this Figure

    (After Sabelli, Dinelli et al., 2003 with some modifications to improve clarity by JW)

    Gysens (2008)
    sector including West Church from Gysens (2008)

Inscriptions

  • Fig. 5 - Fragmentary Inscription
    Figure 5

    A dedicatory inscription found in secondary context at the ancient site of Areopolis. east of the Dead Sea, which reads: "Restored in 492 [597-598 C.E.] after the earthquake" (from Zayadine.,1971)

    Rucker and Niemi (2010)
    from Rucker and Niemi (2010)
  • Fig. 2 - Inscription from
    Fig. 2

    Inscription at Areopolis

    Zayadine (1971)
    Zayadine (1971)

Chronology
Late 6th century CE Earthquake

Discussion

Zayadine (1971) published a translation of a dedicatory inscription at Areopolis which he found out of context in the house of a local villager in 1968. Zayadine (1971) suggested that the fragment indicates that a previously unreported earthquake struck Areopolis shortly before 597 CE. The fragment translates as follows:

During the incumbency of most holy Bishop John [this building] has been restored in the year 492, after the earthquake
where 492 is reported in the Era of the Province of Arabia and equates to 22 March 597 to 21 March 598 CE (calculated with CHRONOS). Both Zayadine (1971) and Gysens (2003) suggest that the inscription was for the Church between the Roman Era Temple and the Colonnaded Street. This Church is labeled as Church 2 or the West Church in various publications.

References
Zayadine (1971)

The two inscriptions we are studying were discovered at Rabbat Moab1 (today er-Rabbah), located 12 km north of Kerak. This capital of Moab, which took the name of Areopolis2 in the Roman and Byzantine periods, still preserves many ancient monuments, largely covered by recent dwellings. To the west of the modern road, which follows the trace of Trajan's Way, lies a fairly considerable field of ruins: two columns, topped with Corinthian capitals, emerge from the rubble and are evidence of a magnificent colonnaded road (pl. I). About fifty meters to the west, stands a rather dilapidated Roman temple whose facade is decorated with engaged pilasters (pl. II). Under the two small niches which are hollowed out on either side of the door, were engraved dedications in Latin to Diocletian (south side) and to Maximian (north side).3

Immediately south of the temple, we could distinguish the remains of a monument with an apse, summarily noted by Briinnow and von Domaszewski.4 Their plan was improved by R. Canova5 who sees in this monument a Byzantine church (fig. 1). It should be noted that this building is turned towards the west. R. Canova believes that this anomaly is due to the fact that this place of worship covered a Roman building which imposed on it the orientation towards the west.6 It is not clear what kind of monument of the Roman period could have stood near the temple and why this monument would be turned towards the west, while the temple itself faces towards the east.

In Jerash, when a synagogue was transformed into a church, its orientation was changed from west to east.7 It is therefore not normal for a Christian church to face west. The problem would be solved if we could prove that this curious monument is a synagogue looking toward Jerusalem, like that of Jerash. Now, in the life of Barsauma the Syrian (5th century), the author relates how the holy monk destroyed the synagogue of the Jews in Rabbat Moab, of which he gives the following description8:
When they arrived at the city called Rabbat Moab, there was there a synagogue of the Jews. No synagogue like it was built anywhere else, except only the temple (Haykla) that King Solomon built in Jerusalem. It was built of large hewn stones, the walls and the floor were inlaid with bronze, and it was studded with much gold and silver. Small golden bells were hung on all the faces of its doors. A wall of strong stones surrounded it; there were also large iron doors in this wall outside, and doors of bronze were made inside in the temple.
Despite the style enhanced with legendary and fanciful details, the topographical elements do not seem to be invented.9 The monument could have been transformed into a church but it is difficult to prove, because modern dwellings cover the site. Thanks to the excavations carried out by the Department of Antiquities from 1962 to 1963, a small church located to the east of the temple was discovered (pl. III). Its apse, facing east, reaches 4.60 m and its length about 15 m. The constructions surrounding this church apparently overflowed onto the Roman road and were placed on a layer of basalt and limestone. Nothing can be presumed about their original use and their plan is difficult to read.

Musil10 had already reported another building, located in the centre of the village and which people call "keniseh". R. Canova11 is not sure that this monument is a church, but a complete clearing could certainly justify this traditional name. Let us recall that the city of Areopolis, which was part of Palestina Tertia, had an episcopal seat. It does not appear on the map of Madaba, but the mosaic of Ma'in, cleared and published by Father de Vaux,12 reproduces some constructions of the city (pl. IV): they consist of a central building, covered with a tiled roof and which ends, on the right, with a semicircle, pierced by an arched opening. Under the roof, the wall is divided into three panels, pierced by rectangular windows. On either side, stand two pavilions with tiers. The inscription is currently incomplete, but one can distinguish the end: .... OPOLEIS.

It is thanks to the work of the Department of Antiquities that our two inscriptions were discovered, but unfortunately their point of fall [discovery location] was not noted; I found them in 1968 at the home of a villager, where they had been deposited, and transported them to the museum of Kerak, recently set up in the Citadel. However, it is certain that they come from the rake between the temple and the Roman colonnade.

Inscription No. 1: (pl. V and Fig. 2)

Fig. 2

Inscription at Areopolis

Zayadine (1971)


It is gray on a limestone stone 55 cm wide by 42 high, with a thickness of 28 cm. The right edge has been slightly damaged.

The four-line text begins and ends with a partially mutilated cross; we do not observe any ligature, only a few common abbreviations:
1. +'Επι' 'Ιωαννου του
2. 'αγ(ιωτατου) επισχ(οπου) ανενε-
3. ωθη ετους Υ|Β
4. μςτα τ(ον) σισμον +
Translation

During the incumbency of most holy Bishop John [this building] has been restored in the year 492, after the earthquake.

Commentary

Line 1: Bishop John of Areopolis is mentioned, to my knowledge, for the first time. But we can name three of his predecessors; they are: Anastasius, who participated in the Council of Ephesus in 449; Polychronius and Elijah who attended the synods of Jerusalem in 518 and 536.

Line 2: "has been restored": the building which is the subject of this dedication was unfortunately not mentioned. One could suppose that it belongs to the small recently discovered church (pl. III), but nothing proves it.

Line 3: "the year 492": this is the era of the Province of Arabia, well attested for region and which begins on March 22, 105 AD. This date therefore corresponds to 597 - 598 AD.

Line 4: "after the earthquake": This last line adds to the interest of this dedication, because it is the first time that an inscription mentions an earthquake in this region.

The characters on this line have been damaged, but it is safe to read; the "tone" has been shortened and the sign you see at the end of the line is a damaged cross, as we have specified above.

It is understood that the date is that of the restoration and not that of the earthquake; nevertheless, it is safe to assume that the works were not carried out long after the disaster. Among the known earthquakes, the closest to the date mentioned is 588 AD16; but it seems to have mainly affected the city of Antioch. Another earthquake, which occurred in 599 AD17, devastated Mesopotamia. It therefore appears that the catastrophe which affected the city of Areopolis is only attested by this inscription. Moreover, this capital of Moab seems to have been devastated by several earthquakes. Hill18 believes that the depiction of Poseidon on the city's coins, minted with the effigy of Caracalla, is related to these catastrophes. The decay of the Roman temple is certainly the result of a violent earthquake, as the first travelers pointed out19.
Footnotes

(1) On the site see especially: Briinnow and von Domaszewski, Die Provincia Arabia, I, p. 54ss; G.F. Hill, Catalog of the Greek Coins, Arabia, p. XLII - XLIV; R. Canova, Inscrivioni e monuments protocristiani del Paese di Moab, 1954, p. 198ss; H, Seyrig, Les dieux armes et les Arabes en Syrie, Syria, 47, 1970, p. 96.

(2) According to Byzantine authors, this name would derive from the god Ariel, patron of the city. Since this god is not attested elsewhere, it is more reasonable to believe that the city takes its name from the god Ares. (See J. Teixidor, Bulletin d'epigraphie semitique, Syria, XLIII, 1971, p. 467.)

(3) Die Provincia Arabia, I, p. 54 - 55. In 1968, a villager gave me a fragment of limestone bearing the Latin letters Nervae; it is currently in the museum of Kerak. As this name is in the genitive, it could be a dedication to the name of Trajan or Hadrian.

(4) Die Provincia Arabia, I, p. 54.

(5) Inscrizioni, p. 202, fig. 227.

(6) Ibid. p. 203.

(7) J. W. Crowfoot, Churches at Jerash, 1930, p. 16ss.

(8) F. Nau, Two episodes of Jewish history under Theodosius II (423 and 438), based on the life of Barsauma the Syrian, Revue des Etudes Juives, LXXXIII (1927), p. 188. see also: J. T. Milik, Mélanges de l'Université S. Joseph, =MI, p. 165, n. 1.

(9) I don't know why J. T. Milik wants the synagogue of Rabbat Moab to be the temple we described above (cf. J. Starcky, Dictionnaire de la Bible, Sup. VII. col. 922.)

(10) Arabia Petraea, Moab, I, p. 372 et figure 173.

(11) Op. cit., p. 204.

(12) Revue Biblique, 47, 1938, p. 248 - 249 and pl. XV. 2.

(13) Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, III, col. 735.

(14) R. Canova, op. cit., p. XCIV.

(15) See last place: G. W. Bowersock, The Annexation and Initial Garrison of Arabia, Zeit. Fur pap. und Epig., 5, 1970, p. 39.

(16) V. Grumel, Traite d'Etudes byzantines, I, La Chronologie, 1958, p. 479.

(17) See: N. N. Ambraseys, Documentation on historical Earthquakes in the Near-East, (provisional work on behalf of UNESCO), p. 68, according to the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian, X, XXIII (Translation by J. B. Chabot, II, p. 373).

(18) Op. cit, p. XLIII and note 6. An earthquake destroyed the city in the 4th century. Cf. Canova, Inscrizioni, p. 203.

(19) Le Duc de Luynes, Voyage, p. 109: "It seems that one of the frequent Roman Empire earthquakes brought down a portion of these limestone buildings and that a crude attempt was made to restore with poorly hewn blocks of basalt."

Gysens (2003)

This paper summarizes the first results of current research on the architecture of ancient Rabba in southern Jordan, carried out by an expedition from the Istituto italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (the Italian institute for Africa and the Orient) from Rome, under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.1 The “Rabbathmoab and Qasr Rabba Project” is now in its third season of fieldwork and further study will include stratigraphic excavation and restoration from a broad interdisciplinary perspective.

The preliminary assessment of the structures still visible on ground level in the archaeological area west to the modern ‘Ammân -Karak road has produced a first groundplan covering 8.286 square meters (fig.1). No substantial research nor excavation had been done so far at Rabba, except for the clearing operation in a small sector of the monumental site by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan in 1962-1963 (Zayadine 1971).

Rabba is a large village of 5000 inhabitants located on a low ridge of the central Jordanian plateau, 80 km (as the crow flies) south of ‘Ammân, 12 km north of Karak (K737 map; PG:20.3/75.5; UTMG: 60.8/63.0).

The archaeological site situated west to the modern road is in fact but a small part of the extensive field of ruins recorded by early European travellers and explorers visiting the region in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Khirbat ar-Rabba was a “fallen desolation of stones”… “an unsettled place in a region “the plains of Moab in which are more ruined sites of hamlets and townships then that the Arabs can well number and villages insecure trodden down by the Beduw = (Doughty 1888)”.2 The monumental ruins, towering out of the collapsed mound of soil and rubble, covered a site “about half an hour in circumference” (Burckhardt 1821) “three-quarter of a mile each way” (Tristram 1874) in a topographical setting of an overall square shape in which a concentration of structures with a north-south axis, was seen on the low mound at the eastern outskirts of the site “commanding the whole plain” (Seetzen 1854; Irby 1823; de Saulcy 1853).3 The “countless vaults on arches”, the “clustered remains” observed in that sector to the east of the road, are now almost completely wiped out by modern constructions. Several installations could also be seen at the beginning of the century, off the hill.4 The ruins appeared to be bisected by the old paved road, the remains of the via Nova Traiana which every visitor in the region followed, and that crossed the plateau “straight as an arrow”5 (now paralleled if not superimposed by the modern road).

The specific urban character of the surviving architecture of ancient Rabba, which had evidently been a prosperous provincial town, emerges from the prevalence of civic monuments such as the colonnaded street, several public water reservoirs, the surviving sections of the urban walls and towers, cultic buildings etc. among densely built-up residential sectors. The typology and construction technique of most structural remains point to the Byzantine period as the last occupational phase at the site. Historical and literary sources as well as the chronology of surface pottery as collected by Glueck (1934) and Miller (1991) witness a long period of occupation at this site. The occurrence of a major earthquake seems to be the cause of the destruction and subsequent abandonment of ancient Rabba at the end of the Byzantine or Umayyad period. No specific Islamic features of later periods have been encountered yet (at ground level), at least in this area.

A. Musil’s surveys of 1889 and 1902 record three very large open air reservoirs situated at the outskirts of the urban agglomeration and a great number of minor cisterns within the ruins (Musil 1907). Evidence of regular urban planning had also been noted, especially in the sector west of the colonnaded street, where the intersection was seen at right angles to a street running parallel to the colonnaded street and a perpendicular one terminating in front of the Roman period temple (Bruennow and Domaszewski P. 54, fig. 43). Moreover, the sketchplan A. Musil provided with his description of the ruins testified to the existence of a line of fortification walls still extant at the time of his visits in 1896 and in 1902 (Musil 1907). Unfortunately, nothing remains to-day of these important features, since they were quarried for the construction of modern Rabba.

There is a general agreement on the identification of the ancient site as that of the late Roman and Byzantine town of Rabbatmôba‚ or Areopolis as mentioned in the literary sources. For the period being examined, Eusebius stated it as a “civitas” of “Moab vero Arabiae est quae nunc Areopolis appellatur” (Eusebius, onom. 124.17; cfr. also Hier. on. 125,16) an important center of the Provincia Arabia.6 The Notitia Dignitatum (Or. 37) registered the presence of a garrison of the Equites Mauri Illyriciani at Areopolis, under the regional jurisdiction of the dux Arabiae. During the same period, Betthoro (probably modern al-Ladjdjûn, 13 km south east of Rabba) was the camp-site of the Legio IV Martia (Not.Dig., Or. 37.22).

Significant information on ancient Rabba is in fact rather scarce and mainly limited to its geographical and administrative situation in the period: In the Roman regional road system it was a caput viae on the via Nova (cf. CIL III 14149 (43) connecting the provincial capital Bosra with Aila on the Red Sea (‘Aqaba); and a crosspoint on the road coming from Jerusalem by Elusa through the Lisân as shown on the Peutinger Tabula (section IX).7

After the regional reorganization of the provinces at the end of the 4th century, Rabbatmôba‚/Areopolis once the southernmost town of Provincia Arabia became one of the northernmost towns (together with Charachmoba) of Palaestina Tertia (Salutaris) (Eusebius, onom. 124.15; Hierocles, Synecdemus Pal., 55; Georg. Cyprius, Descrip., 1048).8 The alternative toponym Areopolis for Rabbatmôba appears on numismatic local issues from the Severans (193-235) onwards (although with the variant of ‘Arsapolis) but is only mentioned in literary sources from the 4th century onwards.9

Additional information on Rabbatmôba/Areopolis from other literary sources or epigraphical discoveries could be summed up as follows (in chronological order):

(End of the 4th Century C.E.)
  • A.D. 385: The population of Areopolis and Petra is recorded for having defended their (pagan) temples against Cynegius, the praetorian prefect in the East.10 Areopolis was also among several other centres of the Hellenized East such as Petra, Raphia, Gaza, Heliopolis/Baalbek and Apamaea to be cited by Sozimos (Hist.Eccl. 7.15) for their resistence against Christianization.

(5th century C.E.)
  • F. Nau’s discovery of evidence of the existence and the destruction between A.D. 419 and 423 of a Jewish temple in “Rbt Mw’b” is interesting. This occured while he was editing three Syriac manuscripts relating to the life of the Syrian monk Barsaumâ.11 Barsaumâ was a contemporary of Theodosius II (402-450) and the particular episode in question is but one of his personal zealous performances for the local enforcement of the imperial anti-pagan edicts.

  • In the following period, Rabbatmôba/Areopolis became a major regional ecclesiastical centre:

  • A.D. 449: is the first year in which a bishopric see was attested at Areopolis Latrocinium Ephesinum.12

(6th century C.E.)
  • A.D. 518: For the first time the diocese of Areopolis participated in the Council of Jerusalem.13

  • A.D. 551: Year of a major earthquake in the region, as attested to by historical sources and archaeological evidence.14 [JW: It is doubtful that the 551 CE Beirut Earthquake caused significant damage in the region]

  • A.D. 589-599: The date of one of two Greek Byzantine building inscriptions found during the clearing conducted by the Department of Antiquities in the sector situated between the colonnaded street (plan, fig. 1,1) and the Roman temple (plan, fig.1, 3), commemorating the “restoration of a construction (probably a church) in the time of a bishop Johannes, after an earthquake” (Zayadine 1971) [JW: I have no idea how Gysens (2003) arrived at a date of A.D. 589-599. The translation presented in Zayadine (1971) specifies 492 in the Era of the Province of Arabia which equates to 22 March 597 to 21 March 598 CE (calculated with CHRONOS)].

(7th and 8th Centuris C.E.)
  • The Prophet Muhammad sent in 629 a first Arab military expedition into Transjordan.

  • The Muslim tradition records the town of Ma’âb, as Areopolis/Rabbathmôba is known from then onwards, as being the site of the first Byzantine surrender to the Muslim army under the command of Abû ‘Ubayda b.Jarrâh as narrated by al-Azdî: “…Then he proceeded to Ma’âb in the territory of ‘Ammân. The Romans (Byzantines) sallied forth against them and the Muslims continued routing them until they forced them to enter their town (of Ma’âb) and the Muslims besieged them in it. The people of Ma’âb made peace (sulh) and it was the first city in Syria that made peace with the Muslims”.15 The military victory was followed by a territorial conquest apparently without the destruction of Areopolis. The survival of the Christian local community is attested by the following documents and by the construction or restoration of churches during the ‘Umayyad caliphate: A.D. 661-750.

  • A.D. 687: The second Greek Byzantine inscription published by F. Zayadine, mentioned a construction (probably of a church) in the time of the metropolite Stephanus (Zayadine 1971)

    A.D. 719/720: The toponym Areopolis appeared next to a schematic representation of a church complex among those of other towns of Transjordan, Palestine and the Nile Delta, on the mosaic discovered in S. Stephen’s church at Ma’în (near Mâdabâ), dated by a commemorative dedication in the year A.D. 719/720.16 Although the conventional rendering of church architecture in the mosaic is evident, some specific characteristics of the church of Areopolis could maybe be acknowledged.

  • A.D. 749: The date of a most catastrophic historical earthquake documented in the region.17 Subsequent monumental installations at Areopolis/Ma’âb are not yet discovered.

R. Canova’s 1936 survey in the region of “Moab” (published 1954) recorded architectural remains and epigraphic evidence on the Christianization of the region in 29 villages. However only a very few fragmentary minor inscriptions (a ceramic stamp etc.) were found, including three anepigraphic funerary stones with crosses.

Of this literary and epigraphical documention on ancient Rabba, only a single feature of its architecture has been published (maybe a fragment of a window frame) and is exposed in the Louvre’s “Salle des antiquités judaïques”. According to R. Dussaud who listed it in his catalogue (Paris 1912, N 6), it was found in the sector south of the Roman temple, where according to the typology of the surviving remains, a synagogue could have stood (cf. following comment on plan, fig. 1,4)

... The first architectural survey and research campaign of the Instituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente at ancient Rabba, focused thus mainly on the elaboration of a plan of all visible structures on ground level, located West of the modern road. The densely settled urban area in its last occupational phase originally extended further East covering the low mound, as recorded by early European travellers. A particular concentration of public monuments (cultic and civil equipment) seemingly of the Roman and Byzantine periods have co-existed until the end of the settlement. The regularity of the original urban Roman planning had been apparently preserved without major encroachments in the Byzantine period. Ancient Rabbatmôba/Areopolis was destroyed towards the end of the Umayyad period in the course of a major regional seismic disaster.

Subsequently, although no structural evidence of a post-earthquake settlement has been identified until now, the toponym Ma’âb is attested in the Arabic sources until at least the Mamlûk period. Maybe the new settlement responded to J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz’ definition: “As the Muslim cities originated as settlements for tribal armies, separate areas were assigned to the different tribal units. So Arab cities were composed of distinct, self-administering quarters and lacked the corporate unity of the classical city”.19

In the new administrative islamic organization Ma’âb (as a settlement or a region) was known as being included in the district or djund of Damascus.20 Moreover, during the Crusader’s occupation of the region, William of Tyre (as cited by J. Johns 1989) recording the refortification of Karak in A.D. 1142, mentions “Raba, a most ancient city, metropolitan of Arabia”.21 For the same period we hear of SalaÌ ad-Din’s camping at al-Rabba in July and August 1184 (“whilst Taqî al-Dîn laid waste the surrounding territory” (al-Qâdî al-Fâdil in Lyons and Jackson 1982:217-220 as cited by Johns 1989.22

The last known reference to Ma’âb in the Arabic sources seemingly dates to the Mamlûk period: al-Dimâshqî (+A.D. 1327) refers to its inclusion in the administrative subdivision of the Balqâ as one of the localities of the djund of al-Karak.23
Footnotes

1 Two seasons (1999-2000). Architects Roberto Sabelli, Giovanna Battista, Francesco Ciampinelli, Ombretta Dinelli, ‘Ali al-Khattib, Rita Landini, Francesca Malesani participated in the survey and in the elaboration of groundplan (fig.1).

2 The situation in the Balqâ east of the Dead Sea was one of great instability and anarchy during the late Ottoman period (end of the 19th century). The country was also unsettled, although not devoid of cultivation: “The whole population was of beduin stock with the exception of al-Karak and the three villages of ‘Iraq, Kathraba and Khanzira” (R.S. Abujaber, Pioneers over Jordan. The frontier of settlement in Transjordan, 1850-1914, (London, 1989), p. 45 n. 1, see also: pp. 220, 221, 217)

3 Records from 19th century visitors cited from R.E. Bruennow and A. von Domaszewki’s collection in Die Provincia Arabia auf Grund Zweier in den Jahre 1897 und 1898 unternommen Reisen und der Berichte frueherer Reisender, I (Strassburg,1904-1909), pp.56-59 (afterwards Bruennow and Domaszewski); see also J.T. Miller, Archaelogical Survey of the Kerak Plateau, (Atlanta, 1991), pp.15-17;65-66 (Rabba, site 108).

4 Structures of an earlier period were also visible in this area. The remains of a solidly built tower with casement walls, probably dating of the Final Iron Age, was discovered in the course of our survey and will be excavated next season (2002).

5 D.B.E. Bell, The Letters of Gertrude Bell, (March 24/1900), (London, 1927), I, p.72-73

6 For sources on the earlier (Roman) periods see Miller 1991; J. Teixidor, Bulletin d’épigraphie sémitique, Syria XLVII (1970), no 46 (bullae from Kurnub); K.C. Gutwein, Third Palestine. A regional Study in Byzantine Urbanization, (Washington,1981), pp. 128-129. On the Roman road from Elusa cfr. G.W. Bowersock, Roman Arabia, (London, 1983), p.180.

7 Concerning the toponym “Rababatora” indicated on the Peutinger Table, see Bowersock 1983, supra p. 175; M. Weippert’s discussion in “Rababatora” in M. Weippert und S. Timm (edd.), Meilenstein. Festgabe fur Herbert Donner (zum 16. Febr. 1995), (Wiesbaden, 1995), pp. 333-338. For the discussion on the identification of ‘Ar of Moab placename in Biblical sources: cf. Weippert 1995, pp. 333-334, n. 5; cf. also J. Teixidor, Bulletin d’inscriptions sémitiques, Syria XLVIII (1971), p. 163, no 78); Aggoula,”Studia aramaica II, Syria LXII (1985), 74-76.

8 Cfr. Gutwein 1981, p. 11, table 2.

9 Cfr. A. Spijkerman, The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia, (Jerusalem, 1978), p. 263., n. 9 and p. 275. The coins apparently never used the Greek name Areopolis; for Arsapolis cf. E.A. Knauf:”a prestandard Arabic/Greek mixture” in Miller 1991, p. 285 and ibid.”Arsapolis, eine epigraphische Bemerkung”, Liber Annuus 34 (1984), pp. 353-356. Eusebius uses both Rabbathmôba and Areopolis: on. 10.17; 36.20,25; 122.28; 124.17; and provided an etymology in which ‘Ar was the hellenized form of the divine name Ariel (contra: Hier.,Comm.in Isaiam 15.1). For the discussion on the identification of the local deity cf. G.W. Bowersock, “The Arabian Ares”, in E. Gabba (ed), Tria Corda. Scritti in onore di Arnaldo Momigliano, (Como, 1983), pp.43-47.

10 A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602 A.D., Norman 1964, I, p.176

11 F. Nau, “Deux épisodes de l’histoire juive sous Théodose II (423 et 438) d’après la vie de Barsauma le Syrien”, Revue des Etudes Juives LXXXIII (1927), pp. 186-189.

12 All the sources in Canova 1954, pp. lx-lxi.

13 Ibid.; and M. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III, cols. 769-772.

14 F.L. Koucky, in Parker, The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan I (1987), p. 35-37.

15 al Azdî, 29 as cited (and commented upon) by W.E. Kaegi, Byzantium and the early Islamic conquests, (Cambridge, Mass., 1992, (1997)), p. 66. Other Arabic sources on the event as mentioned by Kaegi:Balâdhurî 113, a†-™abarî, I 2108 and our only Christian source: Sebêos (123-4); cf. Kaegi 1997, p. 66, n. 1; more on Areopolis: (Kaegi 1997), pp. 83-87.

16 R. de Vaux, “Una mosaique byzantine à Ma’in (Transjordanie), Revue Biblique XLVII (1938), pp. 227-258, in particular: p. 248 no 8 and plate XV,2.; P.-L. Gatier, Inscriptions grecques et latines de Jordanie, II, p. 242.

17 Cfr. K.W. Russell, The Earthquake Chronology of Palestine and Nordwest Arabia from the 2nd through the Mid-8th Century A.D., BASOR, 260 (1985), pp. 37-59.

18 For a complete list of the photographs taken by Bruennow and Domaszewski at Rabba cf. H. Innes Mac Adam, Studies in the History of the Roman Province of Arabia, (Oxford, 1986) (Bar int. s. 295), appendix p. 278, nos 858-861); cfr. also C.E.S. Gavin, The Image of the East: Nineteenth-century Near Eastern Photographs by Bonfils from the collection of the Havard Semitic Museum,(Chicago, 1982) (N° 764 dated 1886); It was occupied as an “Arab dwelling" c. 1902 cfr. A.Musil 1907, moreover spolia were used to constuct the entrance, cfr. ibid. p. 372 and Canova 1954, p. 200, fig. 224 (the rebuilt monument c. 1902), pp. 206-207, figs. 228-230b (the spolia).

19 J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, The Decline and Fall of the Roman City, (Oxford, 2001), p. 308.

20 J. Johns, “Settlement and land exploration strategies in the Ard al-Karak in the Islamic period”, paper distributed during the 4th Congress on the history and archaeology of Jordan at Lyon (May 30th-June 4th 1989), p. 2.

21 Ibid., p. 4.

22 Ibid., p. 5, M.C. Lyons and D.E.P. Jackson, Saladin. The Politics of Holy War (Cambridge, 1982), pp. 217-220.

23 J. Johns,”Islamic Settlement in Ar∂ al-Karak, in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan, IV (Amman-Lyon, 1992), p. 366.

Gysens (2008)

Stratigraphic Excavation of the West Church and Adjoining Structures

Since its discovery and partial clearing by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities in the 1960s the archaeological area has undergone substantial modifications due to subsequent occasional domestic occupation. Since no archaeological data of the former clearing operations are known to us, investigations started with a selection of probes to be opened in the interior of the church building and in its adjacent structures. The project was aimed at addressing questions such as the chronology, phasing and architectural layout of the complex. Research preliminary to excavation (scheduled to be followed by restoration and site enhancement) consisted mainly in seasons of detailed architectural documentation, mapping, mortar and stone sampling and laboratory analyses.

The remains of the church are situated on the western outskirts of the archaeological area, immediately to the east of the Tetrarchic period temple. The eastern sector is better preserved, with the original apse, raised bema and the first step of the synthronon, all features constructed in carefully squared ashlars. Although one third of the total building has not yet been excavated, in its original form it certainly had a single apse, and thus belongs to the category of monoapsidal churches (Gutwein 1981: 174 f.; Michel 2001: cat. 139). In the initial stage of the fieldwork it was impossible without excavation to classify the construction, whether of the basilica type or not, since it was impossible to determine whether the row of column bases in the south room, later incorporated into the south perimeter wall of the church, had originally divided the nave from a side aisle. The surviving remains belong to a structure of modest proportions. No traces of the original front fagade have been discovered so far, as the present west side of the remains consists of a modern installation. The interior measures 16 x 5 m. The walls of the nave have been partially built over a pre-existing limestone and basalt pavement. The best preserved part of the original church building is the semi-circular inscribed apse 4.50 m wide and 2.60 m deep. The surviving architecture is strikingly heterogeneous in character, pointing to a complex structural sequence, but sufficiently well preserved for the purposes of study and excavation. A glance at its plan and sections as produced by the architect Ombretta Dinelli and her team, show at least three phases of restorations or rebuilding, probably after a major structural collapse caused by an earthquake. However, during the last occupational phase prior to abandonment it appears that most of the surviving structures had been heavily fortified, certainly after the church was no longer in function. Some of the essential furnishing necessary in a Paleochristian church is still in situ: the bema and the first step of a synthronon. The presence of structural elements (lintels, columnar post, etc.) carved with crosses helped identify the remains, if this were necessary, as undoubtedly belonging to a Christian church (Figs. 16-17).

The first three excavation campaigns conducted by the IsIAO mission (2005, 2006 and 2008) were directed by Prof. Gianluca Grassigli of Perugia University, and focussed on architectural typology, building composition and extension. To determine building typology, it was necessary to investigate the room with the surviving column pedestals. Verification was also necessary in order to find a hypothetical northern aisle outside the current north perimeter wall where the original dumping and debris had not been moved (Fig. 18). Probes were opened along the north perimeter wall (US 300 and following) and inside the southern room or corridor (Probe US 100 and following). The north probe was excavated until virgin ground was reached. No structures were found - proof of the absence of a north aisle. The excavation of the south room adjacent to the main church hall led to the discovery of a fragmentary mosaic pavement occupying the western half of the room, but without clarifying the relationship between the two. The south room consists of a long narrow space limited to the south by an outer wall which during a later phase had been reinforced and enlarged with the use of many spolia. Access to the south room is through a monumental doorway with moulded jambs. A survey of this part of the structure revealed that it belongs to an earlier three-door facade, the central door of which having been destroyed to allow for the erection of the West church. Excavation in the south room started in its eastern half where a much disturbed fill was encountered until virgin soil was reached and which yielded practically no pottery sherds. It is possible that the sector had been previously investigated by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Only a few traces of white mosaic tesserae still lined the walls. Excavation proceeded in the western half of the room where at only 20 cm under the actual ground level, several patches of a coloured mosaic pavement (US 123) were discovered. It was immediately apparent that the floor was not associated with the surrounding walls. Instead, the mosaic continued under both the north and south walls. On the north side, the decoration pattern of the mosaic exactly follows the contour line of the intercolumnia between the first two column pedestals. As far as the stratigraphy is concerned, it may be said that the mosaic and row of columns were part of the same architectural layout and consequently belong to the same construction phase. Very few pottery sherds were recovered during excavation. Technically the mosaic pavement was designed as a single long carpet displaying several patterns. In the centre a series of badly preserved superposed square panels seem to have yielded flower figures. These panels lay framed by a double multi-coloured geometrical border consisting in tangled interlacings of circles and losanges. No repairs were noted in the surviving elements. The iconographic patterns are typical of Late Byzantine period floor decoration in the provinces of Arabia and Palaestina but do not determine the nature of the structure to which it belonged. The excavation of the mosaic was completed during our 2006 campaign when work was extended to the west of a line of stones on that side. The presence of a very thick layer of ashes in the newly opened trench and the recovery of fragments of a modern terracotta bread-oven or tabun pointed to a rather recent domestic occupation of the site. Moreover, removal of the stones brought another small fragment of the mosaic floor to light. In the course of the recent summer 2008 campaign a new trench was opened adjacent to the previous sector but again had to be abandoned, this time owing to the presence of a modern concrete surface. Consequently, another trench was opened, in front of the church nave. Excavated to a depth of -0.94 m, at the corresponding level of the mosaic in the south room another mosaic fragment 30 cm wide x 2.50 m long was discovered. Decoration style, composition and colour scheme were completely different. Chronological considerations are for the moment certainly premature and no architectural sequencing of the structures can yet be proposed.

A limited sounding was also carried out in the southern inner half of the church apse. The highly disturbed fill revealed the presence of an intrusive although empty burial pit yielding some tiny human bone fragments. No pottery sherds were found except for a nearly complete medieval yellow glazed Islamic period cup. At the foundation level of the apse wall, a large number of stones and 12 half round clay bricks of the type commonly used in Roman hypocaust structures were uncovered. Moreover, last season, in order to tentatively establish synchronicity with the other surviving architectural features across the site, in front of the West church, it was also decided to start excavation in the remaining c. 130 sq. m space of the area. A large square was opened (US 500 and following) starting at the border of the modern walls on the west side. An ancient paved floor portion uncovered near the centre of the site at -0.40 m below the present ground floor was the level to be reached in a first superficial clearing operation. Among the debris many loose ancient decorated stones were found, among which a Corinthian Roman period capital, an Attic column base and the fragment of a stone column. Pertaining to a first archaeological stratum were two parallel lines of stones each at a distance of 7 m from the paved sector. Near the western limit of the excavation square and of the northern stone line the outlet of a water channel made of superposed stones was cleared. The last stone in the line was a carved, probably Byzantine period, decorated frieze element. The trench was enlarged to the north but again modern day remains of domestic occupation were encountered. The area of the present excavation measures 11 x 3.60 m and was devoid of homogeneous archaeological material. It has so far proved impossible to correlate the discovered structural features with those belonging to the church and adjacent south room.

Notes and Further Reading
References

Articles and Books

Canova, R. (1954) Iscrizioni e monumenti protocristiani del Paese di Moab, (Roma, 1954).

Glueck, N. (1934) Explorations in Eastern Palestine I, (Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Resarch, XIV, Chicago, 1934).

Gysens, J.C. (2003) Change And Continuity In Urban Settlement Patterns In Palaestina Tertia: The Case Of Areopolis (Rabba, Jordan) , ARAM, 15 (2003), 1-10

Gysens, J.C. (2008) Interim Report on the Rabbathmoab and Qaṣr Rabbah Project , East and West 58(1/4), 53–86. - at JSTOR

Miller, J. Maxwell (ed) (1992) Archaelogical Survey of the Kerak Plateau. Conducted during 1978-1982 (ASOR Archaeological Reports 1), (Atlanta, 1992).

Musil, A. (1907) Arabia Petraea I (Moab), (Wien, 1907). (in German) - open access at archive.org

Rucker, J. D. and Niemi, T. M. (2010). Historical earthquake catalogues and archaeological data: Achieving synthesis without circular reasoning. Ancient Earthquakes, Geological Society of America. 471: 97-106.

Zayadine, F. (1971). "Deux inscriptions grecques de Rabbat Moab (Areopolis) " Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 16: 71-76.

Websites

Rabba (Areopolis) photos at Manar Al-Athar (Oxford University)

Wikipedia pages

Rabba (aka Areopolis)