A Mansion House from the Late Byzantine-Umayyad Period in Beth Shean-Scythopolis

This paper presents the architectural history of a peristyle type mansion that reflects the vagaries of the fortunes of the provincial city of Scythopolis in its latest classical and immediately post-classical phases. One of only nine buildings of this type known within the region from classical times, it appears to be a local variation and its latest exponent. In its earlier phase this rather opulent residence, perched atop a slope above the Jordan River and positioned so as to face the imposing heights of Biblical Gilead to the east mirrors the prosperity of the sixth century CE city. Located outside the city walls, the mansion notably incorporated a family tomb that allows us to identify the owners as Christians. A later phase of the same building, dated to the Umayyad period indicates a rather sharp decline in the cityʼs fortunes following the devastating earthquake of 749 CE. Much of the earlier opulent character of the building was lost and additional rooms were built, causing a reduction in the size of the “public” areas of the house. There is, in addition, the likelihood that the changes wrought upon this structure also reflect the religious persuasion of its owners, now thought to be Moslems. It would therefore seem that the structure that was excavated at Beth Shean marked a local development characteristic of the peristyle court houses from the Byzantine-Umayyad period, evidenced primarily by the reduction in the courtyard area and the conversion of the series of columns.