Gadara (Umm Qais)

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Gadara in the Decapolis
West theater
Columns of the octagonal church on the church terrace

Gadara was a Greco - Roman city ​​that was one of the cities of the Decapolis . Today's ruins in Jordan are located on a high plateau near the small town of Umm Qais, east of the Jordan , about 10 km as the crow flies southeast of the southern end of the Sea of ​​Galilee , which is visible from the city. The Yarmuk flows not far from the extensive ancient ruins .

Location and name of the city

The name Gadara is derived from the Semitic * gdr ("terrace, retaining wall"). Although the settlement continuity broke off towards the end of the Abbasid period and there are no inscriptions for the name on site, the ancient city can be clearly identified with the ruins near modern Umm Qais based on the information from literary sources and the numismatic evidence .

The city was located on the eastern edge of the Jordan Valley and thus in a strategically favorable position between the Greco-Roman influenced area of ​​the Mediterranean coast and the desert landscape shaped by the Arameans and Arabs. Accordingly, it was an important base for long-distance trade and characterized by great cultural diversity.

buildings

The city is known for two theaters . The so-called North Theater offered space for 6,000 visitors; Little of the building structure has survived today. The western theater, built in the 2nd century, is embedded in the western slope of the Acropolis . Its seating steps offer space for around 3000 spectators and, like the semicircular orchestra , are made entirely of basalt . The auditorium consists of three floors, each of which is divided into wedge-shaped seating areas. Little has been preserved of the original stage building, which once blocked the view of the surrounding landscape. In ancient times, theaters were used not only for the performance of plays, but also for the organization of religious and political festivals. The West Theater was partially destroyed by an earthquake in the 8th century.

exploration

During excavations since 1974 on behalf of the German Evangelical Institute for Classical Studies of the Holy Land , an Eastern Roman central church was uncovered. Soon afterwards, a fruitful cooperation between this institute and the German Archaeological Institute began to research the ancient site and its hinterland. Cooperation partners are also the National Museums in Berlin , which have been represented by the archaeologist Günther Schauerte since 1991 .

Since 2001 the ' Gadara Region Project ' has been researching the area around Gadara , in particular the predecessor settlement of Gadara and at the same time its successor as a regional center - Tall Zira'a , which has been populated for over 5000 years .

history

Gadara was probably a Ptolemaic fortress built by Antiochus III. around 200 BC Was taken. A hundred years later, the settlement was destroyed again by the Hasmonean Alexander Jannäus . Pompey conquered the city for the Roman Empire in 64 BC. It became part of the Decapolis . At times Gadara was subject to Herod the Great , after his death in 4 BC. It became part of the Roman province of Syria , later the province of Arabia Petraea . According to the evangelist Matthew, Jesus of Nazareth is said to have cast out a demon while visiting the city . As a Roman city, Gadara became very important. Under Emperor Hadrian a 170 km long long-distance water line was built, the Gadara Aqueduct . In late antiquity , the city was Christian, and remained prosperous until after the close of Gadara defeated Battle of Yarmuk came in 636 under Arab influence. In the 7th and 8th centuries, Gadara was destroyed by severe earthquakes. On the basis of coin finds, a settlement is assumed until the 13th century.

The date of an inscription under the Arab ruler Muʿāwiya I for the restoration of the baths in Hammat Gader (today: el-Hammeh) north of Gadara from the year 663 is given there in three ways: in relation to the Byzantine tax year, in relation to the city's history and in the (new) Arabic calendar. This allows synchronization.

Research history

The German doctor and natural scientist Ulrich Jasper Seetzen visited Umm Qais on his trip to the Orient on February 23, 1806, in his travel description he described the ruins there and already equated them with the ancient Gadara. Jean Louis Burckhardt , who entered the city as the second European on May 5, 1812, equated it with Gamala , but his view could not prevail. After numerous scholars had traveled to the ruins and described numerous findings that have been lost today, the first scientific research by Gottlieb Schumacher began in 1886 with the topographical mapping of the site and an inventory of the buildings that were still visible.

In the following decades, individual inspections and smaller excavations took place in the city of Gadara and the surrounding settlements. In 1972, the Jordanian Department of Antiquities bought the ancient city site from private hands, making more extensive excavations possible. This was done from 1976 by the German Evangelical Institute for Classical Studies of the Holy Land , from which the Gadara Region Project grew. In addition, there are various individual investigations by other researchers and teams, including the Liebieghaus and the German Archaeological Institute . The habilitation thesis by Thomas Maria Weber , published in 2002, provides an initial summary of the literary, inscription and archaeological sources .

literature

Web links

Commons : Gadara  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Maria Weber: Gadara - Umm Qēs. Volume 1: Gadara Decapolitana. Investigations into the topography, history, architecture and the fine arts of a "Polis Hellenis" in the East Bank. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-03981-7 , p. 12.
  2. ↑ Gadara / Umm Qais (Jordan) ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Information from the German Archaeological Institute : cooperation, participants)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dainst.org
  3. ↑ Polybios , fragment 16.39.
  4. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Antiquitates Iudaicae 13,356.
  5. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 14.75.
  6. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 15,217.
  7. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, De bello Iudaico 2,6,2.
  8. ↑ Inscription with the three dates
  9. ↑ Thomas Maria Weber: Gadara - Umm Qēs. Volume 1: Gadara Decapolitana. Investigations into the topography, history, architecture and the fine arts of a "Polis Hellenis" in the East Bank. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-447-03981-7 , p. 16.
  10. ↑ Gottlieb Schumacher: Northern ʼAjlûn, “within the Decapolis”. Alexander P. Watt, London 1890.

Coordinates: 32 ° 39 '  N , 35 ° 41'  E