Skip to content
1882
Volume 70, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0081-8933
  • E-ISSN: 2507-0428

Abstract

Abstract

The present study engages with four deities, whose veneration and worship were prevalent in the Decapolis in the Roman period: Ares, Athena, Herakles and Nike. The discussion is based on the architectural, sculptural, epigraphic and numismatic evidence, as well as on small finds (gems). Curiously, only the architectural remains of a single temple, dedicated to Herakles, is preserved in Philadelphia (present-day Amman, Jordan); while for the other deities, no temples appear to have existed in any of the other cities of the Decapolis, not even as a visual representation on coins. Finally, the evidence suggests that the cults of these gods and goddesses existed in both the public (urban) and the private spheres.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1484/J.LA.5.125234
2020-01-01
2025-12-06

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abel F.M. 1923. “Chronique: III. - Quelques antiquités à Toul Keram. - Autel à Mars Hoplophore”, RB 32: 114-120.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Anastasio S. and Botarelli L. 2015. The 1927-1938 Italian Archaeological Expedition to Transjordan in Renato Bartoccini’s Archives, Oxford.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Botarelli L. 2015. “The Roman Temple”, in Anastasio and Botarelli 2015: 75-96.
  4. Cerfaux L. and Tondriau J. 1957. Un concurrent du Christianisme - Le culte des souverains dans la civilisation Gréco-Romaine (Bibliothèque de Théologie, Série III, Vol. V), Tournai.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Estienne R. 1740 (1964). Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, II (mimeographed, Bruxelles 1964).
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Figueras P. 1992. “The Roman Worship of Athena-Allat in the Decapolis and the Negev”, ARAM 4/1-2: 173-183.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Fuller M.J. 1987. Abila of the Decapolis: A Romam – Byzantine City in Transjordan, I-II, Ann Arbor (MI) (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis).
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Gatier P.-L. 1986. Inscriptions de la Jordanie (Inscriptions Grecques et Latines de la Syrie XXI), 2, Paris.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. HA: Hadashot Arkheologiyot (Archaeological News) (Hebrew).
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Harding G. Lankester 1967. The Antiquities of Jordan, Oxford.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Henig M. and Whiting M. 1987. Engraved Gems from Gadara in Jordan – The Sa’d Collection of Intaglios and Cameos (Monograph No. 6), Oxford.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Hill G.F. 1914 (1965). A Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum – Palestine (Galilee, Samaria and Judaea), London (repr. Bologna 1965).
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Iliffe J.H. 1945. “Imperial Art in Trans Jordan: Figurines and Lamps from a Potter’s Store at Jerash”, QDAP 11: 13-44.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Lichtenberger A. 2003. Kulte und Kultur der Dekapolis, Wiesbaden.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Meshorer Y. 1985. The City-Coins of Eretz Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period, Jerusalem.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Ovadiah A. 1975. “The Greek Cults in Beth Shean/Scythopolis in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods”, Eretz Israel 12: 116-124 (Hebrew).
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Ovadiah A. and Mucznik S. 2009. Worshipping the Gods: Art and Cult in Roman Eretz Israel, Leiden.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. RE 1936: Paulys Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft (ed. W. Kroll), Stuttgart, s.v. “Nike”, cols. 283-307.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Rosenberger M. 1978. The Coinage of Eastern Palestine and Legionary Countermarks, Bar-Kochba Overstrucks, Jerusalem.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Russell K.W. 1980. “The Earthquake of May 19, A.D. 363”, BASOR No. 238: 47-64.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Schumacher G. 1888. Pella, London.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Schürer E. 1979. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. – A.D. 135), revised and edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Black, II, Edinburgh.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Seyrig H. 1959. “Antiquités Syriennes”, Syria 36: 38-89.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Seyrig H. 1970. “Antiquités Syriennes: 89. - Les dieux armés et les Arabes en Syrie”, Syria 47 (1970) 77-116.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Seyrig H. and Starcky J. 1949. “Genneas”, Syria 26: 230-257.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Smith R.H. 1992. “Some Pre-Christian Religions at Pella of the Decapolis”, ARAM 4/1-2: 197-214.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Smith R.H. and Day L.P. 1989. Pella of the Decapolis, II, Wooster.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Sourdel D. 1952. Les Cultes du Hauran à L’Époque Romaine, Paris.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Spijkerman A. 1978. The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia (SBF. Collectio Maior 26), Jerusalem.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Vitto F. 1991. “Two Marble Heads of Goddesses from Tel Naharon – Scythopolis”, ‘Atiqot 20: 33-45.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Weber Th.M. 1990. “Gadara of the Decapolis – Preliminary Report on the 1990 Season at Umm Qeis”, ADAJ 35: 223-235.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Weber Th.M. 2002. Gadara – Umm Qes. I: Gadara Decapolitana, Wiesbaden.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1484/J.LA.5.125234
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
This is a required field.
Please enter a valid email address.
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An error occurred.
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error:
Please enter a valid_number test
aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnJlcG9sc29ubGluZS5uZXQv