Hippos (Sussita) of the Decapolis

Hippos of the Decapolis, perched on Mt. Sussita just east of the Sea of Galilee, has been excavated since 2000 by the Hippos Excavations Project on behalf of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa. After twenty-five years of investigation, Hippos is one of the most systematically explored cities of the Decapolis and among the best-documented Classical sites in the southern Levant.

This volume presents a detailed study of two centrally located monumental public buildings that reflect the peak of Hippos’s prosperity in the mid-first through third centuries CE: the civic basilica and the Southern Bathhouse. The strata below and above the remains of these Roman-period buildings reveal the city’s earlier Hellenistic and Early Roman phases and its later Byzantine and Early Islamic occupation up to the 749 CE earthquake, when the site was abandoned. The fully exposed civic basilica, constructed at the end of the first century CE and brought down by the 363 CE earthquake, is the smallest but the most thoroughly studied among the known basilicae of Roman Greater Syria and Arabia. The Southern Bathhouse, built in the second century CE, has over half of its plan revealed by excavations. Together with the full record of ceramic building materials and portable finds, it is one of the most thoroughly published examples of these marvels of Roman engineering in the Near East.

This comprehensive publication makes a significant contribution to the study of Roman civic and bathing architecture, urbanism, and material culture, offering essential resources for Classical-period archaeologists, historians of the Roman East, and specialists in Greco-Roman studies.

“Kowalewska and Eisenberg’s Hippos (Sussita) of the Decapolis is a major achievement in Classical Archaeology of the Near East. The volume presents a wealth of new data with clarity and scholarly precision, offering fresh insights into Hippos’s urban development and cultural history. Particularly striking is the Civic Basilica, whose stucco decoration makes it a unique monument in the region. With contributions by leading experts, this book is an indispensable resource for researchers and libraries alike.”—Achim Lichtenberger, coauthor of Hellenistic Nysa-Scythopolis I: The German-Israeli Tell Iẓṭabba Excavation Project, the 2019–2020 Seasons

“The authors are in productive dialogue with a diverse and appropriate selection of scholars of ancient architecture, especially from a regional perspective as well as a cross-section of parallels from the Roman Empire. Civic basilicas and public bath buildings such as these examples from Susita, which are increasingly appreciated as multifunctional buildings situated at the heart of Roman cities. This publication highlights both the structural centrality and diverse-functionality of these buildings.”—Daniel Schowalter, coeditor of Religion in Ephesos Reconsidered: Archaeology of Spaces, Structures, and Objects

Arleta Kowalewska is a research fellow in the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa and codirector of the Hippos Excavations Project.

Michael Eisenberg is a senior researcher at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Professor of Classical-Period Archaeology in the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa, and codirector of the Hippos Excavations Project. He is also a Corresponding Member of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut and a research fellow at the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology.

List of Illustrations

Photogrammetric Models

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Introduction

Arleta Kowalewska and Michael Eisenberg

Chapter 2. The Civic Basilica of Hippos

Michael Eisenberg

Chapter 3. The Southern Bathhouse of Hippos

Arleta Kowalewska

Chapter 4. Pottery Finds 2012–2016 at Hippos: Basilica and Southern Bathhouse

Peretz Reuven and Arleta Kowalewska

Chapter 5. Pottery Finds 2017–2018 at Hippos: Southern Bathhouse

Vladimir Lehem

Chapter 6. Ceramic Building Materials at Hippos: Hypocaustum of the Southern Bathhouse and

Civic Basilica Roof Tiles

Arleta Kowalewska

Chapter 7. Marble Architectural Fragments of the Roman Basilica at Hippos

Antonio Dell’Acqua

Chapter 8. Osteological Study of the Skeletal Remains Recovered from the Civic Basilica at

Hippos

Ariana Dann and Hila May

Chapter 9. An Aramaic Dipinto on a Sherd from Hippos

Ohad Abudraham and Michael Eisenberg

Chapter 10. Coin Finds 2012–2018 and an Updated Conspectus of Coins Found at Hippos

Danny Syon

Chapter 11. Metal Finds from the Basilica and the Southern Bathhouse at Hippos

Nina Koskanen, Arleta Kowalewska, Alexander Iermolin, and Michael Eisenberg

Chapter 12. Iron Nails from the Civic Basilica and the Southern Bathhouse at Hippos

Nina Koskanen

Chapter 13. Glass from the Late Roman and the Late Byzantine–Early Islamic Dumps and Special

Glass Finds from the Basilica and the Southern Bathhouse at Hippos

Ruth E. Jackson-Tal

Chapter 14. Other Finds from the Basilica and the Southern Bathhouse at Hippos

Arleta Kowalewska and Michael Eisenberg

Chapter 15. Summary

Michael Eisenberg and Arleta Kowalewska

Bibliography of Hippos and Its Territory

Compiled by Michael Eisenberg

Contributors

Index