Jotapata

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Tell Jafat

Coordinates: 32 ° 49 ′ 55 "  N , 35 ° 16 ′ 41.3"  E

Map: Israel
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Jotapata​
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Israel

Jotapata ( ancient Greek Ἰωτάπατα Iōtápata , Arabic Ḫirbat Ğifāt or Šīfāt, New Hebrew יוֹדְפַת Jodfat) is an archaeological site in Israel. It is located in the northern district . Jotapata was a site of the Jewish War . Flavius ​​Josephus defended the fortress in the summer of 67 AD against the Roman army under Vespasian . But he could not prevent the capture of Jotapata, surrendered to Vespasian and later became a historian of the war.

About one kilometer south of the archaeological site is the modern city of Jotapat, founded in 1960, which was named after the ancient site.

location

The ancient site is located on an isolated hill (419 m above sea level). There are steep valleys on three sides, but in the north the hill is connected to Mount Miamin by a saddle. This was the most accessible place and the most vulnerable to attack.

Flavius ​​Josephus described the situation in the 3rd book of his history of the Jewish war . After that, the fortress of Jotapata was on a rock surrounded by ravines and towering over other mountains, so that the fortified place was not easy to discover.

Mentions in ancient texts

Jotapata is famous as a fortified place of resistance in the Jewish War . Flavius ​​Josephus , commander of the insurgents in Galilee, had the cities fortified there and directed the defense of Jotapata, the most strongly fortified city. Nero gave Vespasian high command in Syria and ordered the suppression of the uprising in Galilee. Vespasian and his son Titus besieged Jotapata in the summer of 67 (the 13th year of Nero's reign) and conquered the city after 47 days. The 15th Legion ( Legio XV Apollinaris ), commanded by Titus, and the 10th ( Legio X Fretensis ) under the command of Marcus Ulpius Traianus , the father of the future Emperor Trajan , belonged to Vespasian's army . Josephus describes the siege, attacks and attacks, tactics and weapons technology in the 7th chapter of the 3rd book of his work Jewish War . The eighth chapter deals with the circumstances of his capture and the goodwill that Titus showed him. Josephus says that after the Romans and their Macedonian auxiliaries stormed the walls, he jumped into a cistern to hide. In the cave he met 40 rebels who wanted to kill each other in their hopeless situation. The lot was supposed to decide the order of the death row inmates. Josephus, so his story, reluctantly consented to the procedure. He was the only one not to have drawn a death lot. He and another fighter whom he should have killed according to the agreement, were arrested.

Samuel Klein advocated the thesis that the surviving members of the 24 priestly classes, who had previously resided in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, lived in their own villages in Galilee after the Jewish War. During the Bar Kochba uprising , the Mijamin priestly family is said to have lived in Jotapata.

The text of Mishnah Arakin IX 6, written around AD 200, contains a list of “walled cities”, namely: “the old fortress of Sipporim , the castle of Gush Ḥalaḇ , the old Joḏfaṯ (= Jotapata), Gamla , Gador, Ḥaḏiḏ , Ono, Jerusalem and others wire these. "

ID

In the autumn of 1847 the Prussian consul Ernst Gustav Schultz traveled from Jerusalem to Beirut with the intention, among other things, of "looking around for Josephus' long-missing Jotapata". He started from the travel routes described in the Vita. So he looked for Jotapata 40 stages or two leagues from 'Arrâbeh , which he had identified with the Κώμη Ἀράβων mentioned by Josephus: “I only saw the place when I was very close to it. Enclosed in the most wonderful way by the mountains, between a fork of valleys sloping southward, lies a steep mountain, which is connected to the higher ridge to the north by means of the narrow watershed of the valleys, which below merge into a narrow valley. On this bridge from the ridge to the solitary summit in the middle lie the ruins of a city, in which the foundation walls of the fortification towers can still be seen, up the northern mountain. The summit of that isolated mountain is a completely bare rock, full of cisterns ... "

archeology

Under the direction of Mordechai Aviam from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, seven excavation campaigns took place from 1992 to 1999, during which an area of ​​2,500 square meters was examined, about half in the fortification area and half in the residential area.

The earliest pottery that was found in a survey dates from the Persian period, but no settlement of Tell in this phase could be established.

About 30% of the ceramics and some found coins date from the Hellenistic period. During this time there was a small settlement on the hilltop, according to the findings, non-Jews lived here. Interesting individual finds include an imported amphora from Rhodes (2nd century BC) and a Hellenistic oil lamp decorated with Eros figures. A horizon of destruction was declared by the excavators with the Hasmonean conquest of Galilee.

In the early 1st century BC BC, probably in connection with the conquest of Galilee by the Hasmoneans , the settlement was fortified with a wall and from now on apparently had a Jewish population. The findings show intensive construction activity and growth of the site until it was destroyed in AD 67.

Attachment

Casemate wall
Underground storage rooms

It seems that the Hasmonean wall enclosed only the highest elevation and therefore a small fortified village or fortress can be assumed for this period. The wall of the early Roman period was probably built in part with the material of the Hasmonean wall: The fortification wall of the 1st century AD ran at a constant height around the entire hilltop and enclosed an area of ​​around 50 dunams. In the north, the place was protected by a double wall about 5.5 m wide. There was a casemate wall in the northeast, while in the south there was only a simple wall about 1.5 m wide. One of the casemate rooms had been filled in with stones in a systematic manner, which the excavators interpreted as a security measure against a Roman battering ram during the siege of 67, especially since there was also a ballista stone under the field stones of the filling. "Together with typical iron arrowheads and iron catapult projectiles, we have conclusive evidence of a tough battle between the townspeople and the Roman army here in the area of ​​the north wall." (Mordechai Aviam) On the slope below the wall was an embankment made of earth, plaster and Stone filling recognized as a Roman siege ramp, in this area some mushroom-shaped nails of Roman soldiers' shoes ( caligae ) were also discovered.

In the west of the fortification, a small casemate room was found, which had a base area of ​​only 1.5 × 2.5 m and sat directly on the natural rock. In the middle, a 1 m deep shaft with steps had been dug, leading to an approximately 2 m long, horizontal tunnel and then to two man-made underground storage rooms with a floor area of ​​1.34 × 1.3 m resp. 3.1 × 1.5 m and a height of a good one meter. In addition to storage vessels and animal and human bones, coins were found here, including silver coins from the time of Nero.

The fact that the fortification wall built over a pottery kiln in the south-east made it possible to date the entire wall to the early Roman period. It was therefore carried out in great haste right before the Roman siege, partly without a foundation directly on the rock, whereby a gate system was dispensed with, which would have offered the enemy a point of attack. A narrow gap in the wall was probably left free for the inhabitants to come and go, which was walled up when the Romans arrived.

The construction of this approximately 2 km long wall shows, according to the excavator's thesis, that Josephus was able to consolidate his position in Galilee after initial problems and, as he himself wrote, several places were fortified according to his arrangement. "Most of the Galileans cooperated with him in his attempt to equip Galilee with fortresses before the Roman attack." With this, Josephus did not implement his own concept, but followed orders from the Jerusalem government.

Houses and their equipment

Mikveh

The terrain within the fortification had been prepared by terracing for the construction of houses, two- to three-story buildings, which mostly followed a simple pattern common in Galilee. The walls were built with field stones and mud, the doorsteps were made of hewn stone. The false ceilings were carried out without pillars with wooden beams and branches and were given a screed. While the interior of such houses consisted of tamped earth or smooth, natural rock, the associated courtyard was partly paved and always had a cistern . (This was necessary because the place could not use a spring, as Josephus mentioned.) In addition to water storage, cisterns could alternatively be used to store grain or vegetables.

In addition, the archaeologists found Jewish ritual baths ( mikvahs ), which had the shape of stepped basins plastered with waterproof mortar. The fact that the mikvahs were in the vicinity of the oil press can be understood to mean that cultic purity was important in the production of olive oil, a view that is also found in contemporary texts.

In the northeastern area of ​​the archaeological site there was a manor house (so-called fresco house) that was only partially excavated. One room had colored frescoes of the 2nd Pompeian style on three walls. They can be compared with the frescoes of the Herodian palace buildings and the villas in the Jerusalem Upper City ( Herodian quarter ). The walls were painted with large fields of red and ocher, divided by vertical bands in green, black, red, or white. In the lower area of ​​the walls there was a black painted strip with alternating painted panels or marble imitations. The floor had a screed with a painting that imitated floor slabs.

110 fragments of stone-carved vessels were found in the living areas. It is known that these were valued in the 1st century AD because they did not accept any cultic impurity. Since they were more expensive than ceramics, an unusual use can be assumed: Aviam interprets the different types of vessels as scooping vessels for ritual hand washing ( Netilat Jadajim ), oil containers for filling large oil lamps (perhaps Sabbath lamps) and drinking cups for Sabbath wine.

Surprisingly, most of the oil lamps found came from Jerusalem production. It was no problem to manufacture oil lamps like other ceramics on site. The excavator therefore assumes that the inhabitants of Jotapata preferred Jerusalem lamps for religious reasons "because they gave them the feeling and belief that they were connected to Jerusalem, the temple and the menorah ."

Economic life

The residents of the place lived from agriculture, sheep breeding and some handicrafts for their own needs. An oil press, several pottery kilns and weights from looms are evidence of this. A total of 250 loom weights made of baked clay were found in Jotapata, the largest number of these objects from an archaeological site in Israel. The animal bones found indicate that the sheep and, more rarely, goats were slaughtered at the age of five or more. Sheep farming was therefore used to produce wool. There is almost no Roman ware in the ceramic spectrum. All of this points to a relatively isolated town with little contact with regional markets.

Nevertheless, there are individual finds that point to the prosperity of individual residents, such as an iron door key and especially a pair of bronze scales with a diameter of 5 cm with which spices or similar expensive goods could be weighed.

Skeleton finds

Field stone with incised drawing ( Hecht Museum , Haifa)

Jotapata is the first archaeological site in Israel to find evidence of mass murder of the population during the Jewish War. Skeletal remains were spread over the entire area, both in the alleys and in the residential buildings. Two cisterns had been converted into mass graves. The excavators did not find complete skeletons in them, but rather bones gathered together. Some tibia had cuts that were interpreted as a result of sword blows. Mordechai Aviam assumes that the corpses initially remained lying in the ruins of Jotapata and were exposed to animal consumption because a Roman garrison prevented residents of the neighboring towns from burying the dead. When the garrison withdrew after about a year, Galilean survivors of the war obeyed the religious commandment to burial and in particular collected skulls and large bones. He interprets an incised drawing on a 15 × 15 cm field stone, which shows a kind of mausoleum, a figure similar to the zodiac sign Cancer, a tree of life and a few lines as a message with the content: “I will (or we will) in July to die."

swell

literature

  • Eric M. Meyers, James F. Strange, Dennis E. Groh: The Meiron Excavation Project: Archeological Survey in Galilee and Golan, 1976 . In: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 230 (April 1978), pp. 1-24.
  • David Adan-Bayewitz, Mordechai Aviam, Douglas R. Edwards, Bryant G. Wood: Yodefat, 1992 . In: Israel Exploration Journal 45, 2/3 (1995), pp. 191-197.
  • David Adan-Bayewitz, Mordechai Aviam: Iotapata, Josephus, and the Siege 67: preliminary report on the 1992-94 seasons. In: Journal of Roman Archeology 10, 1997.
  • Mark A. Chancey: The myth of a Gentile Galilee , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK) 2002.
  • Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - a city of the first Jewish uprising in Galilee is discovered . In: World and Environment of the Bible 20 (2001), pp. 76–77.
  • Mordechai Aviam: Jews, Pagans and Christians in the Galilee: 25 Years of Archaeological Excavations and Surveys, Hellenistic to Byzantine Periods . University of Rochester Press, Rochester (New York) 2004.
  • Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project . In: David A. Fiensy, James Riley Strange (Eds.): Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods . Volume 2: The archaeological report from cities, towns and villages , Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2015, pp. ISBN 1451467427 . Pp. 109-126. ( PDF )
  • Zeev Weiss: Josephus and the Archeology of Galilee . In: Honora Howell Chapman, Zuleika Rodgers (eds.): A Companion to Josephus . Wiley & Sons, Oxford 2015, pp. 161-198.

Research history

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: From my life (Vita) . Critical edition, translation and commentary ed. by Folker Siegert, Heinz Schreckenberg, Manuel Vogel, Tübingen 2011, p. 213.
  2. ^ A b Zeev Weiss: Josephus and the Archeology of Galilee , Oxford 2015, p. 164.
  3. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish War 3.111ff. For the location of the place, see especially Jewish War 3.158–160.
  4. ↑ This story, of which Josephus is the only witness, serves as the cladding for a mathematical puzzle which Cardano calls the Joseph game (Ludus Josephi) or the Josephus problem .
  5. ↑ The Mijamin priestly class is mentioned in the first book of the Chronicles and in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
  6. ↑ The Mishnah , translated into German, with an introduction and comments by Dietrich Correns, Marix, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 711f.
  7. ↑ EG Schultz, with comments by H. Gross: Mittheilungen about a journey through Samaria and Galilaea . In: Journal of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft 3, No. 1 (1849), pp. 46–62, quoted on p. 51.
  8. ↑ a b Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015 S. 110th
  9. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015 S. 111th
  10. ^ Zeev Weiss: Josephus and the Archeology of Galilee , Oxford 2015, p. 165.
  11. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015 S. 116th
  12. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015 S. 117th
  13. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, p 117f.
  14. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015 S. 119th
  15. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015 S. 119th
  16. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus: Jewish War 3.181.
  17. ^ Zeev Weiss: Josephus and the Archeology of Galilee , Oxford 2015, pp. 165f. Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, p. 112f.
  18. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, p 122f.
  19. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, p 123f. See David Adan-Bayewitz, Frank Asaro, Moshe Wieder, Robert D. Giauque: Preferential Distribution of Lamps from the Jerusalem Area in the Late Second Temple Period (Late First Century BCE-70 CE) . In: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 350 (May 2008), pp. 37-85, here p. 77: The pronounced preference shown by Jews of Gamala , Iotapata, and Sepphoris for Herodian lamps specifically from the near vicinity of Jerusalem apparently demonstrates their strong ties with that area in the late Second Temple period .
  20. ^ Zeev Weiss: Josephus and the Archeology of Galilee , Oxford 2015, p. 166. Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, p. 113f.
  21. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, p 115f.
  22. ↑ Mordechai Aviam: Yodefat - Jotapata: A Jewish Galilean Town at the End of the Second Temple Period: The Results of an Archaeological Project , Minneapolis 2015, pp. 119–121.