Shahba
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Shahbā /شهبا Shahba |
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| Coordinates | 32 ° 51 ' N , 36 ° 38' E | ||
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| Country | Syria | ||
| as-Suwaida | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | SY-SU | ||
| Residents | 15,000 | ||
 The ancient theater of Philippopolis, in the background the modern city of Shahba
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Shahba ( Arabic شهبا, DMG Šahbā ) is a city located about 87 km from Damascus in Syria . It belongs to the as-Suwaida governorate and has about 15,000 inhabitants. Shahba is considered the birthplace of the Roman emperor Philip Arabs , who ruled from 244 to 249 and wanted the previously insignificant settlement to be expanded into an important city during his reign. After his death, however, this project came to a standstill.
History and archeology
The original name of the city developing from an oasis is unknown. An inscription from the time of Marcus Aurelius proves that Schahba in the 2nd century to the province of Syria was one; in the 3rd century (possibly during the provincial reform of Septimius Severus ) the village was added to the province of Arabia . Her name at this time is unknown and no other sources from the period before 244 exist. However, it has been considered that the later name Shahba may contain elements of the original place name.
When the native Arab Philip became emperor, he renamed the city Philippopolis and soon after taking office began to have it converted into an exemplary Roman-style Colonia . Therefore, it is assumed that the location was his hometown. It gave the city the right to mint its own coins and a local era ( city era ) was introduced. In addition, the road from Bostra to Damascus was led via Philippopolis. The city had the typical rectangular shape of ancient plan settlements and was criss-crossed by two streets that meet at right angles, the Cardo and the Decumanus . It thus clearly represented the type of Roman city, in stark contrast to the other cities in the region, which mostly had a more confusing, naturally grown road network. A city wall with four large and two smaller gates delimited the area. An exedra building and a temple were found in a place in the west of the city . The latter is known as Philippeion , but was used to worship a god named Marinus (apparently the deified father of Philip). In addition, a theater building , a building presumably used as a temple (of which only the propylon columns are still standing) and a large thermal bath area with an aqueduct have been preserved. A square in the center of the city is interpreted as a forum , the basilica to the west of it as the center of the imperial cult. By aerial photographs is also a left stadium evidence.
Philip's energetic establishment of a completely new city with his name is interpreted as a political message of high symbolic value. With the bundle of measures, the emperor seems to have tried to retrospectively upgrade his provincial origin, which in the empire was often perceived as exotic. At the same time, however, it represented a demonstration of Roman power and culture in the border province of Arabia, which probably targeted both the local population and the nearby Sassanid Empire as Rome's great rivals.
When Philip died after only five years of reign, construction work was stopped. The ruins that are preserved today date almost entirely from the middle of the 3rd century and entire planned districts were not brought to an end. The city's minting has apparently also been discontinued. Nevertheless, the place remained populated: a councilor (member of the Bule ) is documented in an inscription, a Hormisdas for the year 451 and a Basilius for 552/553 as bishops of the city are attested.
In later, Arab times, the city was given its current name. Based on the inscriptions found there, William Henry Waddington was able to prove in 1870 that Shahba was actually the ancient Philippopolis.
literature
- Edmond Frézouls , Pierre Coupel : Le théâtre de Philippopolis en Arabie. Geuthner, Paris 1956.
- Christian Körner: Philippus Arabs. A soldier emperor in the tradition of the Antonine-Severan principate (= studies of ancient literature and history. Volume 61). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017205-4 , pp. 211-225.
Individual evidence
- ^ Christian Körner: Philippus Arabs. A soldier emperor in the tradition of the Antonine-Severan principate. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017205-4 , p. 212.
- ↑ Ghada Amer, Michal Gawlikowski: Le sanctuaire impérial de Philippopolis. In: Damascus communications. Volume 2, 1985, pp. 1-15, here p. 1.
- ↑ a b Michael Sommer : The Soldier Emperors. 2nd edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2010, ISBN 978-3-534-23643-5 , p. 22.
- ^ Christian Körner: Philippus Arabs. A soldier emperor in the tradition of the Antonine-Severan principate. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017205-4 , p. 214.
- ^ William Henry Waddington: Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie. Paris 1870, p. 490 f.