Rabbat Moab

Rabbat Moab
Rabbat Moab
Coordinates	31 ° 16 ′  N , 35 ° 44 ′  E Coordinates: 31 ° 16 ′  N , 35 ° 44 ′  E
Basic data
Country	Jordan
Governorate	al-Karak
Residents	9000

Rabbat-Moab ( Arabic ربة, DMG Rabba ; also Rabbat-Moba , ar-Rabba , Areopolis ) is an old city in Jordan , which is located in the heart of the former Moab , about 15 kilometers north of Kerak . It is to be distinguished from Rabbat-Ammon , today's Amman , who is sometimes referred to in the Bible as Rabba ; the word rabba means big city .

Surname

Although Rabbat-Moab is in the heart of Moab , it is unclear what the significance of the place was in Moab's heyday and what it was called. For a long time it was considered certain that it was about the biblical Ar-Moab (e.g. Isa 15: 1), but this is currently doubted; some authors even doubt that Ar-Moab was a city. In any case, the place had been known as Rabbat-Moab or Rabbat-Moba since the Hellenistic period; he acted as the capital of the country of Moabiti.

Rabbat-Moab was also known in ancient times under the Greek name Areopolis , 'Ares City'. The ambiguity regarding the relationship between Rabbat-Moab and Ar-Moab is also reflected in this place name: I. Benzinger said in 1896 in a contribution to the Real Encyclopedia of Classical Antiquities that there were two cities called Areopolis, one with Rabbat-Moab equate the other with Ar-Moab.

In the Tabula Peutingeriana , Rabbat-Moab appears as Rababatora ; in this name the place names Rabba and Betthorus seem to have been merged.

history

Before it was incorporated into the Roman province of Arabia Petraea in 106, Rabbat-Moab / Areopolis belonged to the Nabatean Empire ; during the Roman-Byzantine period it became an important administrative center. The Via nova Traiana connected Rabbat-Moab / Areopolis with the provincial capital Bosra and the old Nabatean capital Petra . The remains of a temple dedicated to the emperors Diocletian and Maximian can still be seen today.

During the time of Diocletian, in the course of the establishment of the Limes Arabicus , the camp of the Legion Legio IV Martia was established east of Areopolis near Betthorus (today Al-Lejjun ) ; previously a suitably strong defense of this border region of the Roman Empire had apparently not been necessary. The nickname Martia is perhaps derived from the divine name Ares in Areopolis .

The church father Jerome mentions in his Isaiah commentary (xv.) That a severe earthquake destroyed Areopolis in his youth, probably in 363; this earthquake also devastated the legionary camp in Betthorus. Other major earthquakes occurred in 505 and 551.

According to Sozomenos (Historia Ecclesiastica VII, 15.11) the pagan cults of Areopolis and Petra stubbornly defended themselves against the advancing Christianity around 385; Areopolis then became a bishopric of the ecclesiastical province of Palestina Tertia, the first bishop is attested for the year 449. Formally, the corresponding titular Catholic diocese of Areopolis still exists today ; the best-known titular bishop was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII.

The historian Sebeos reports the victory of an Islamic army under Abu Ubaidah over a Byzantine army under Theodoros, brother of the emperor Herakleios , near Areopolis; the city fell to the Arabs around 633 or 634 as the first Byzantine city.

During the time of the Crusades, the city was briefly elevated as Rabba Moabitis to one of the 4 metropolises of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem , alongside Tire , Caesarea and Nazareth . Petra was originally the metropolis of the Palestine Tertia; but the crusaders had no knowledge of where ancient Petra had been, or rather identified Rabba Moabitis with Petra. The Crusaders also tended to confuse Rabbat-Moab with Rabbat-Ammon.

During the late Middle Ages, the city was abandoned and fell into disrepair. When the orientalist Alois Musil visited the ruins of the city in 1902, he was still able to trace parts of the Roman-Byzantine city wall. A new settlement was not built until around 1930; the influx of Palestinian refugees increased the population to a few thousand (around 9,000 today).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ U.Worschech. Ar Moab , Journal of Old Testament Science 109 (1997), 246-253.
2. ↑ M. Weippert. Ar and Kir in Isaiah 15: 1 - With considerations on the historical geography of Moab , Journal for Old Testament Science 110 (1998), 547–555.
3. ↑ Immanuel Benzinger : Areopolis . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 641 f. See also: Supplement volume 3 (1918), col. 155.
4. ↑ HEMayer. The crusader rule Montréal (Šōbak): Jordan in the 12th century . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1990.