© Copyright 1993

The Israel Exploration Society & Carta,

The Israel Map & Publishing Company, Limited
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Printed in Israel
1174 PELLA

PELLA
IDENTIFICATION HISTORY
Since its identification in 1852 byE. Robinson, Khirbet(orTabaqat) Fal;tlhas Althoughitdoes not appear in the biblical record, Pella is mentioned in about
been accepted as ancient Pella ofthe Decapolis. The site lies approximately at a hundred early historical documents, ranging from Egyptian execration texts
sea level amid the foothills of the eastern side of the Jordan Valley, fewer than through late medieval references. An Egyptian papyrus from the thirteenth
30 km (19 mi.) south of the Sea of Galilee (map reference 2075.2065). The centuryBCE indicates that in the Late Bronze Age Pella supplied chariot parts
word Fal;tl (or Fil;tl, as it appears in early Arabic texts) is the linguistic equiva-
lent of the ancient Semitic place name Pil;til(um), which occurs as early as 1800
Pella and its environs: map of the region and excavation areas.
BCE in Egyptian texts. The hellenized name Pella came into use after the
conquests of Alexander the Great, who was born in Pella in Macedonia,
as a phonetic approximation of the Semitic name.
Abundant water and mild winters made Pella one of the most desirable sites
in the valley for habitation in antiquity. Although hot during the summer
months, Pella is still cooler than most sites in the Jordan Valley. During the
winter it is free from frost, unlike some places in the northern part of the valley.
Annual precipitation today, which may not differ greatly from that at times in
the past, is 345 mm and, occurring mainly in the months from December to
February, is sufficient to permit spring crops. The site also has the important
advantage of a powerful perennial spring that flows out of the gravel hill on
which the city was built, as it has done for at least eight thousand years and
probably much longer.
The central feature at the site is a 400-m-long ovoid mound, where the
major amount of habitation has taken place through the centuries. Imme-
diately west of the mound is a small tableland (in Arabic tabaqah, an element
in the name Tabaqat Fal;tl) stretching westward I km (0.6 mi.) to the scarp
overlooking the Jordan Valley. Low hills that flank the mound on the north
and east contain tombs that range in date from the Early Bronze Age through
the Byzantine period. South of the central mound, across Wadi Jirm, rises a
large natural hill called Tell el-I:Iu~n, much of which was utilized as a cemetery
from the Bronze Age onward. Both the crest and the lower slopes of the hill 0 50 100
also display occupational remains from late periods, particularly the Byzan- l____....l_____ m

tine, when the city reached its greatest size and population.

Pella: eastern side of the mound, looking north; at its foot is the area IX civic complex.
 PELLA 1175

View from Tell el-lfu~n of area IX: the odeum is in the center, with the baths to its left and the church behind it.

to Egypt. Josephus relates that Pella was destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus in about the site's history and material culture. Between 1979 and 1991, ex-
83-82 BCE and in 63 BCE was brought under Roman control by Pompey, who cavations and related investigations were conducted in thirty-four areas
is generally credited with having forged Pella and other hellenized cities in at Pella and in the vicinity. The College ofWoostercompleted its field activ-
southern Syria and northern Transjordan into the federation known as the ities in 1985.
Decapolis (Josephus, Antiq. XII, 397; XIV, 75; War I, 104, !56; Pliny, NHV,
74). Eusebius, doubtless relying on an early tradition, states that early Chris- THE 1958 SOUNDINGS
tians, seeking to escape the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, fled to Pella Two small soundings were made on the top of the mound during a ten-day
(HE 5, 2-3). How long these refugees stayed at Pella is not recorded, but a late excavation. Square I, on the eastern part of the mound, at the highest point on
first- or early second-century sarcophagus found beneath the paving of the the nearly level surface, reached a depth of 6.15 m, but by that point was only
north apse of the west church may be a relic of their sojourn. By the mid- one meter square. Square II, sunk on the western part of the mound, had
second century, Christianity was firmly enough established at Pella that the dimensions of 7 by 7 m and was probed to a depth of 5.7 m. Both squares
city was home to the early Christian apologist Aristo (Eus., HE IV, 6, 3). attested an occupational sequence that the subsequent Wooster-Sydney ex-
Epiphanius, a Church father writing not long after Eusebius, reports that cavations revealed more fully and precisely, extending from scanty "medi-
these Christians subsequently returned to Jerusalem, but that a heretical form eval" (that is, Mameluke and possibly Abbasid) strata near the surface back
of Christianity subsequently flourished in the vicinity of Pella (Haer. 29, 7). through "Early Arab" (that is, Umayyad), Byzantine, and Hellenistic strata
The city's warm baths are mentioned in a third- to fourth-century rabbinic to Iron Age I. Square I was subsequently reopened and extended in the
text (J.T., Shevi'it 6, I, 36c). The city fell under Arab domination in 635 CE, Wooster-Sydney excavations as area XXIII; square II was not reopened,
following a major battle with Byzantine forces that is reported in Islamic but the deep West Cut (area VIII) was located to the west of it. These later
histories as the "battle of Pella." In 747 CE, Pella was destroyed by a massive excavations showed that the stratum identified as Hellenistic-Roman, and
earthquake that was recorded by Arab chronographers. Although the city is tentatively regarded as having its terminus ante quem in despoilation by
mentioned in some accounts in the Middle Ages, maps of the period show that Jewish insurrectionists in 66 CE, was, in fact, a Late Hellenistic stratum that
the location of the city was forgotten with the passing of centuries. ended with destruction carried out by soldiers of Alexander Jannaeus in 83-
82 BCE. (See also below, areas VIII and XXIII.)
EXPWRATION
Pella was described and mapped by G. Schumacher in 1887; the report was EXCAVATIONS SINCE 1967
published in the following year by the Palestine Exploration Fund. In 1933, AREA I (THE WEST CHURCH COMPLEX). The name of the large church
J. Richmond, ofthe Mandatory Department of Antiquities, surveyed the site complex in area I is unknown, but it may have been a funerary church, situated
and subsequently published a description and a map of the central ruins. In as it was on the eastern edge of a large cemetery. Portions of the sanctuary,
1958, R. W. Funk and H. N. Richardson, under the auspices of the American atrium, and north annex were excavated, and three of the columns in the
Schools of Oriental Research, conducted two weeks of excavation in two atrium were reset. A sounding in the atrium revealed, beneath a thick, sterile
places on the mound. In 1964, a representative of the Jordan Department layer of soil below the paving, a fill containing large quantities of Middle and
of Antiquities excavated at least eleven tombs at the site, chiefly on and around Late Bronze Age sherds and smaller but significant quantities of fragments of
Tell el-I:[u~n. Late Neolithic pottery. A large vaulted cistern constructed of dressed stones,
In 1967, The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, mounted a major dating from the seventh century CE, was excavated in connection with the
expedition under the direction ofR. H. Smith. Excavations had been carried building's north annex. The complex yielded remnants of marble chancel
out in only two areas (I and II) when work was interrupted by the Six-Day screens decorated with distinctive designs.
War. Field operations were not resumed until 1979, when the college was AREA II (THE EAST CEMETERY). The area ofthe cemetery was not sharply
joined by The University of Sydney (Australia), with J. B. Hennessy and bounded. Numerous rock-cut tombs were excavated on this slope east of the
A. W. McNicoll as co-directors of the Sydney contingent. Excavations con- mound, ranging in date from the seventeenth century BCE to the sixth century
ducted in subsequent years produced a large amount of new information CE. The area was particularly rich in Middle and Late Bronze Age tombs, but
1176 PELLA

Area I: decorated marble screen from the West Church. Schematic plan of area IX.

/~··. ..•
/
·r
'?

Church

included some Iron I and Iron II tombs. Burial chambers from the third
through sixth centuries CE were also present, including the early sixth-cen- / Column

1
tury tomb of Johannes, with a unique inscribed lintel. 0
drums

;1"";"'~-.-~0 ~
AREA III (THE EAST CUT). A deep excavation was made on the steep south
slope of the eastern side of the mound, whose stratigraphy was complex. The
periods represented ranged from the final occupation phase in the Umayyad
period back to the Iron and Bronze ages. Eleven phases of Bronze Age and
Iron Age architecture were identified: phase X, Middle Bronze IIA; phases
IX-VIII, Middle Bronze liB; phases VII-VI, Middle Bronze IIC; phases V-
IV, Late Bronze I; phases III-II, Late Bronze II; phase I, transitional Late 0
I I 10
/ 20 ~
\
m
Bronze II-Iron I; and phase 0, Iron IA-IIA. The last of these was intersected
by many pits from the latest coherent occupation, dated to about the ninth
century BCE. century, in a former quarry on a high eastern slope overlooking the city. It has
The Middle Bronze Age city was found to have had a massive and oft- a small colonnaded atrium on its west front, and a hexagonal basin in the
rebuilt mud-brick wall, probably first constructed in the Middle Bronze Age center of the atrium. A marble reliquary was found below the floor of the
IIA. Four intramural interments were found in Middle Bronze Age contexts. chancel. The church was destroyed in the earthquake of 747.
Some Early Bronze Age material indicated that occupation or fill from the AREAVI. An unbounded cemetery area on the lower western slopes of Tell el-
third millennium lay at greater depths. I:Iu~n overlooks an ancient road that led southeast from Pella to Kafr Abil in
AREA IV (EAST AREA EXCAVATIONS). On the eastern side of the mound, the hills and from there to Jerash. Several Roman and Byzantine tombs were
contiguous with area III, a large complex of chambers and courtyards of excavated, many of which had been robbed; a few, however, a few contained
Umayyad date was exposed. On some of the floors, skeletons of humans and skeletons and conventional funerary offerings.
animals killed in the earthquake of747 CE, as well as coins and other artifacts AREAVII. Two separate locations of rock -cut tombs on the northwestern and
dating to the decades just prior to that destruction were found. The walls were southern slopes of Tell el-I:Iu~n are designated area VII. Several Late Bronze
consolidated by the Jordan Department of Antiquities and a few columns Age I tombs were excavated near the northwestern base of the hill,just east of
that supported roofs were reset. A sounding into these late remains revealed the track leading southeast to the village ofKafr Abil. On a steep slope on the
Byzantine, Hellenistic, Iron Age, and earlier occupation, essentially consis- southern flank ofthe hill, several Late Roman tombs were found that had been
tent with the data from area III. robbed in antiquity. They had characteristic loculi radiating from a central
AREA V (THE EAST CHURCH). The East Church, which is triapsidal, may chamber and contained typical funerary objects from the period, particularly
have been part of a monastic establishment. It was constructed in the fifth glass vessels and molded lamps.

Lintel with a Greek inscription from area II, tomb 7.

 PELLA 1177

Area IX: atrium with columns (reset) in

the Civic Complex Church.

AREA VIII (THE WEST CUT). A deep

trench (39 m long and 6 m wide) was
cut in the upper strata on the western
sideofthetopofthemound. It was less
extensive at its greater depths. The up-
permost stratum (I) contained remains
of a large building from the Byzantine-
Umayyad period that was contempo-
rary with some of the buildings in area
III. Below this structure were a few
traces of Early Byzantine and Roman
occupation (stratum II); below them
was a thick Late Hellenistic stratum
(III). Beneath the Hellenistic levels,
and partly intermingled with them,
were five thick Iron Age strata (IV-
VIII). The latter often were not sharp-
ly demarcated, but they attest to occu-
pation from the late seventh back to
the twelfth to thirteenth centuries BCE.
A small sounding made at the north
end of the trench exposed Late Bronze
Age remains (stratum IX) beneath the
Iron Age strata. Below them, at a depth
of more than 14 m from the surface,
Middle Bronze Age IIB-C sherds were
found in association with architectural remains (stratum X). Although ex- Tell elf:lu~n, numerous tombs of poor quality from the Middle Bronze Age
cavation proceeded no further, occupation clearly extended to greater depths. IIB to the Late Bronze Age liB had been cut into the bedrock. The extensive
AREA IX (THE CIVIC COMPLEX). A cluster of buildings is located on a low erosion of the slope and the collapse of many of those rock-cut chambers
salient extending into Wadi Jirm from the southeast base of the mound, subsequently altered the hillside. A number of tombs were found in this
immediately to the east of the spring. The main public structures identified area, some of them with abundant anthropological data and examples of
and partlyexcavatedherewerean odeum, baths, and a church. The odeum and Canaanite material culture. Also excavated within this area, but nearer the
the baths date to the Early Roman period; they were found in a ruinous state as crest ofthe hill, were portions of a conjectured defensive wall of probable Late
a result of ancient and more recent depredations. Because of a rise in ground Hellenistic or Herodian date.
water in the wadi, the floors of both buildings lay several meters below the AREA XII. Area XII is a low, rocky hill 1 km (0.6 mi.) north of the mound.
water table. They could not be excavated because ofthe constant flow from the Surface collections were made of the chert and other stone implements from
spring. The church, known as the Civic Complex Church, which probably was Lower Paleolithic times scattered about, but no occupational sites were
the city's cathedral, was constructed in about400 CE as a rectangular building found.
with a colonnaded atrium on the west. In the sixth century, its eastern end was AREA XIII (FORTRESS). A large, crudely square (c. 55 m on each side)
modified by the construction of three curved apses. In the early seventh fortress was built on the summit of Jebel Sartaba, 2 km (1 mi.) southeast
century, a wide staircase was constructed on the west to form a monumental of Pella. It had been hastily constructed of native cherty limestone on top of
entrance; however, from the mid-seventh century onward, the church dete- the highest hill in the vicinity. From it, there is a view not only across an
riorated steadily. It had already been abandoned when the city was destroyed expanse of the Jordan Valley, but also to 'Ajlun and a number of other sites as
in 747. far as 25 km (15.5 mi.) away. The 1-m-thick walls were intersected by eight
AREA X (A BYZANTINE HOUSE). In 1979. during a search for tombs on the towers. The fortress was never finished or used. It was a product of the Late
lower northeastern slope of Tell el-f:lu~n. a small Byzantine house was par- Hellenistic period, conceived at a time of perceived military threat prior to the
tially excavated. The structure was one of a row of houses built against the Hasmonean incursion in 83-82 BCE.
steep hillside and opening onto a narrow path that ran along the slope. The AREA XIV (CHALCOLITHIC SITE ON JEBEL SAR'fABA). Situated ap-
building had been cleared of most of its artifacts before it had been aban- proximately one kilometer southeast of the mound, a shallow Chalco lithic
doned. site was occupied fora brief time in the third quarterofthefourth millennium.
AREA XI. In an unbounded cemetery area, high on the northeastern slope of Excavations brought to light a fairly extensive village consisting, in part, of
rows of adjoining stone and mud-brick structures built against the hillside.
Among the occupational artifacts found were saddle querns, basalt bowls
with fenestrated pedestal bases, large kraters decorated with bands of red
paint, and finely levigated cups with flaring sides.
AREA XV. Area XV is an undefined area in a banana grove to the southwest of
the mound. Looted Middle Bronze Age liB tombs were investigated, but no
excavations were carried out.
AREA XVI. A Middle Bronze Age cemetery, area XVI, is situated west of the
present village of Tabaqat Fai_J1. No excavations were conducted there.
AREA XVII (A MAMELUKE MOSQUE). The low wall stubs of a small
mosque constructed of stone rubble and mud mortar lie virtually on the
mound's surface, near the center. The building's roof was supported by
reused Roman-Byzantine column drums. The shallow remains were conso-
lidated by the Jordan Department of Antiquities.
AREA XVIII. A search for tombs was carried out in area XVIII, on the
southeast slopes of Tell el-l:lu~n. No excavations were initiated ..
AREA XIX. A search for tombs also was carried out in area XIX, north of the
village of Tabaqat Fal;!l. No excavations were initiated.
AREA XX (WADI EL-I;IAMMEH SITES). A Natufian village with three
phases is located on a terrace 1.5 km north of the city, high above Wadi
el-I;Iammeh (so dubbed because a !Jammeh [hot spring] flows from the floor
of the wadi). In addition to bone, chert, and basalt implements and other
Area IX: southern apse of the church; the mosaic floor dates to c. 400 CE, and the evidence of occupation, the site yielded a mudstone stela decorated with an
upper pavement to the 6th century. incised geometric pattern. A Kebaran site from perhaps 17,500 BCE predates
1178 PELLA

the Natufian occupation. Middle Paleolithic to Epipaleolithic sites have also attested on the mound only for a brief time, in the third quarter of the fourth
been found nearby. millennium. A small site from that same horizon was excavated on a slope
AREA XXI. A cemetery on a low ridge north of both the mound and in the southeast of Tell el-I:Iu~n. The Chalcolithic people constructed their houses
intervening Wadi Khandak is area XXI. It was investigated but not excavated. of fieldstones and mud brick and frequently dug storage pits in the floors.
AREA XXII. Area XXII is a possible cemetery on the slope immediately east When they departed they left behind many relatively intact ceramic vessels in
of the mound, near area II. Some exploratory probes were made. varied sizes and shapes, as well as mortars and pestles, ceramic and stone
AREA XXIII. Area XXIII is an excavation at the location of the one of the spindle whorls, and basalt bowls. The presence of Early Bronze Age people
Funk-Richardson 1958 soundings, on the eastern part of the top of the throughout much of the next millennium is attested by sherds found in many
mound. Extending beyond the earlier square, the excavators encountered areas at Pella and in its vicinity; the city of that period remains elusive,
a stratigraphic sequence similar to that in areas III and VIII but did not however, even after many seasons of excavation.
excavate levels below the tenth century BCE. In the second millennium, when the name of the city appears in Egyptian
AREA XXIV. A small Early Bronze Age site, dubbed Khirbet I:Iammeh, area lists of conquests, Pella stood firmly within the Canaanite cultural milieu,
XXIV, is in the central valley of Wadi el-I:Iammeh. It was not excavated, but probably as a result of an influx of some new ethnic or cultural strains. As
occupation appears to have been predominantly in the Early Bronze Age IV excavations on the mound and in the city's many Middle and Late Bronze Age
(Intermediate Bronze or Middle Bronze I). An earlier occupation is suggested tombs show, much of the Canaanite period was a time of prosperity, perhaps
by the Early Bronze II-IV tombs in the vicinity. (See also area XXXI.) as a result of a combination of trade and manufacture. Among the rich
AREA XXV (SOUTH SWPE SOUNDING). An excavation was conducted artifacts that have been excavated are imported pottery, inlaid ivory
on the southern edge of the east side of the mound. The uppermost levels boxes, alabaster bottles for perfumes or unguents, and small luxury items
consisted of modest architectural remains and potsherds from the Late overlaid with gold. The el-Amarna letters (fourteenth century BCE) show that
Bronze and Iron ages. Below them was fill containing mixed Middle Chal- in later Canaanite times contact often was maintained between the pharaohs
colithic, Early Bronze Age I, and Middle Bronze Age IIA sherds, with little of Egypt and the rulers of Pella, one of whom is known to have been named
pottery from intervening periods. Above a virgin concretion was an eroded M ut-ba'alu. Considerable prosperity, although less cultural sophistication, is
occupational stratum with Chalco lithic and occasional Late Neolithic sherds attested as the Bronze Age was giving way to the Iron Age. An Egyptian text
and circular pits in the floors, but no architecture. The Chalcolithic pottery dating from this transitional time suggests that the people of Pella may have
was in phase with that of the area XIV settlement. exported a kind of wood or wood product that was used for spokes in Egyp-
AREA XXVI. The southern flank ofWadi Malawi, near its western end, east of tian chariots.
area IX, was examined for possible Middle Bronze Age tombs. No excava- IRON AGE. Life at Pella in the Iron Age is attested by a thick deposition on
tions were conducted. some parts of the mound. Evidence of the period's material culture includes
AREA XXVII. A long field-stone wall (2-2.5 m wide) on Jebel Abu el-Khas, serviceable local pottery, basalt grinders, bone and iron implements, bread
area XXVII, had beenconstructedin the shape of an inverted letter V, with its ovens, and loom weights and otherconventional objects of daily life, as well as
apex near the top of the large hill east ofPella. The southern extension follows ceramic offering stands, censers, and images that reflect cult practices. There
the ridge of the hill, which drops off sharply toward Wadi Malawi. Just past are few imported artifacts in most of the Iron Age strata. Seeds were recovered
the crest of the hill, the wall turns abruptly to the northwest, following the from excavation along with other evidence of a diet that included mutton,
northern contour of the hill and completing the form of a hunter's funneling beef, pork, grains (chiefly barley and wheat), olives, almonds, grapes, and
pen. Although it lacks associated artifacts, the wall is probably Neolithic or various berries. The absence of texts from the Iron Age, along with some
Chalcolithic. unevenness in the architectural and ceramic record, present complications for
AREA XXVIII. An excavation near the western end of the mound's southern understanding this span of the city's history. The fact that a venerable city so
slope produced stratified remains from the Middle Bronze Age to the near to Canaan is not mentioned in the Bible may be, at least in part, because
Umayyad period. Of particular interest in a Middle Bronze IIC or Late Pella seems to have remained largely outside Israelite influence, clinging to
Bronze I level were several burials under the floors of a house. older Canaanite ways.
AREA XXIX (ABBASID SETTLEMENT). An Abbasid habitation, perhaps PERSIAN AND HELLENISTIC PERIODS. The archaeological evidence for
having Umayyad and Fatimid phases, is situated250mnorth-northeastofthe thecityin the Persian period-from themid-sixthcenturyuntil the late fourth
mound. The complex included at least two major buildings, as well as out- century BCE-is virtually nonexistent. The occasion for the apparent near
buildings. abandonment of the site may have been the Neo-Babylonian conquest of the
AREA XXX. A Hellenistic hilltop fortress situated on Jebel f:Iammeh (area region early in the sixth century.
XXX) was surveyed. No excavations were carried out. In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great marched near Pella in his conquest of the
AREA XXXI. Eleven of numerous tombs of an Early Bronze Age IV cemetery East, and was later credited by some ancient writers with refounding the city
situated in the central Wadi el-I:Iammeh, somewhat to the east of Khirbet (cf. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnika, ed. A. Meineke, p. 232). There is,
I:Iammeh, were excavated. (See also area XXIV.) however, relatively little evidence of the Early Hellenistic period here. The
AREA XXXII. Located west of areas III-IV and east of area XXV on the city greatly increased in vigor in the second century BCE, however, when,
southeastern slope of the mound, this spot was selected for excavation to participating in international trade, it had a rapid growth in population.
clarify the city's Iron Age sequences. Substantial Byzantine remains from the Fine tableware and glassware were imported from Syria and other re-
fifth century were present, as well as five Iron Age phases, IC-IIB. Two gions, and the city almost certainly was an entrepot between Arabia and
destructions were noted, probably dating from the late tenth and early ninth
centuries BCE. The eastern end of the trench yielded an Early Bronze Age I
stratum, with remains from the Middle Bronze Age I above it and the Chal-
colithic below it.
AREA XXXIII. Area XXXIII is an unbounded area contiguous with area II
on the north. It is situated east of the road to the spring. Five tombs from the
Byzantine period were excavated here.
AREA XXXIV. A group often variously sized and positioned trenches on Tell
el-I:Iu~n revealed Early Bronze Age II occupation on the east side, Late
Hellenistic occupation toward the west, and two large Byzantine build-
ings-one perhaps from the fifth century and the other from the sixth
or early seventh century-on the summit, both probably fortresses. The
hill does not appear to have had an Umayyad occupation.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
PREHISTORIC PERIODS. A broad slope 1 km (0.6 mi.) northeast of the
mound is littered with Middle and Lower Paleolithic chert implements, some
of which may date to 250,000 BP. Nearby Kebaran and Natufian sites are
dated to 20,000-8,000 BCE. During much of that time, there was a large lake in
the Jordan Valley and the climate was both cooler and damper. Forests '
'
covered parts of the hills, and the faunal population of gazelle, deer, '
L- - - - - - - - - -··- -'- ---·· ------·· - - - - - - •. - - - - - -··-- --- -··-- ------------ --'--·-------

sheep, pig, rabbit, fowl and other game animals was plentiful. Pre-Pottery
Neolithic and Pottery Neolithic artifacts from the eighth to fifth millennia 10
m
have been found on the mound at Pella and at a number of places near it.
CHALCO LITHIC PERIOD AND BRONZE AGE. Chalco lithic occupation is Area IX: plan of the odeum.
 PELLA 1179

1 Byzantine- Umayyad
structures in the eastern part
of the mound.

coastal Palestine. It is possible that the Decapolis, a loose federation of ten century, as it did elsewhere in the empire, although it continued to survive in
commerce-oriented cities in northern Transjordan and southern Syria, began indirect ways as pre-Christian elements found their way into the local Chris-
to take shape during this time. tianity. Excavated artifacts suggest that former goddesses were assimilated to
In 83 BCE, the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus ordered his troops the Virgin Mary and pagan elements were incorporated into amulets worn to
across the Jordan to destroy Pella. According to Josephus, Jannaeus was protect the wearer from evil.
motivated by the refusal of the city's inhabitants to practice certain Jewish Pella's population and prosperity reached their height in about the sixth
customs (Antiq. XIII, 397; War, I, 104). Two Late Hellenistic fortresses, century CE, a time when, as a large proportion of imported pottery indicates,
situated on high hills to the northeast and southeast of the city, may have there was extensive trade with Syria, Egypt, coastal Palestine, and other places
been built in response to the Hasmonean threat, but to no avail. in the Byzantine world. The Civic Complex Church was enlarged and em-
ROMAN PERIOD. When the Roman general Pompey marched through bellished with a monumental stepped approach on the west. The vicinity of
Syria and Palestine in 63 BCE claiming the entire region for Rome, Pella Pella was cluttered with Byzantine villages and military posts, and a large
was still in ruins. Pompey freed a number of cities in northern Transjordan military structure may have been constructed on Tell el-I:Iu~n.
from Hasmonean domination, thereby gaining their gratitude. Many adop- In the seventh century, the secure roads and far-flung markets ofthe empire
ted their liberation as a virtual refounding. The archaeological evidence were, however, beginning to break down. The climate may have turned slightly
suggests that Pompey's actions did not immediately bring about the revi- drier, bringing drought to some formerly arable places in Transjordan. Cis-
talization of Pella, which remained largely in ruins for decades afterward. terns constructed in this century suggest that the water supply from the spring
Toward the end of the first century BCE, or early in the following century, a may have dwindled. Perversely, at that same time the narrow valley of Wadi
civic revival gradually began. Under the aegis of Rome, new patterns of trade Jirm was rapidly silting up because of the damming of the valley on the west to
were established. As Pella regained prosperity, new streets were laid on the create farm plots. This caused a rise in the water table in Wadi Jirm that
ruins of the Hellenistic city, and more dwellings and commercial buildings necessitated the abandonment of the lower stories of buildings located
began to be constructed, including a civic complex. It is likely thatmanyofthe around the forum and the construction of new occupational levels one story
new public buildings were clustered around a forum constructed in Wadi Jirm. higher. With these and other unfavorable developments, among which may
Most ofthis construction probably took place later in the first century or in the have been frequent plagues, Pella underwent a significant decline.
second century CE. Among the buildings were an odeum, public baths, a ARAB PERIOD. The swift arrival oflslamic invaders in the Levant and the
nymphaeum, and a large temple that is depicted on a coin ofPella but has not massive defeat of the large Byzantine army at the Battle ofFil)J close by Pella in
been located. Little of these buildings survived later earthquakes and the 635 brought further changes in the city's pattern oflife. Although Christians
extensive robbing of their stones for subsequent construction. In 82 CE, and Muslims lived together at Pella after the conquest, the Byzantine social
the city issued its first coinage, comprising four different bronze types. and economic institutions weakened and eventually disappeared, while car-
Evidence from the Late Roman period-from the second quarter of the avan trade with the desert regions came into greater prominence. Pella sur-
second century through the early fourth century-was not encountered in vived the Umayyad dynasty (c. 650-750) as a provincial center within the
many areas at Pella, doubtless in part because extensive Byzantine construc- province of el-Urdunn (Jordan) but did not flourish under the new cultural
tion obliterated much of the Late Roman city. The period may have been one configuration, and its population declined drastically. Severely damaged by
in which the population declined. Some of the family tombs that had been cut an earthquake in the year 717, and left largely unrepaired, the city virtually
into the hillsides in the Early Roman period continued to be used, which ceased to exist when another earthquake destroyed most of its surviving
suggests that there may have been little change in the ethnic composition of the buildings in 747. Excavation has provided vivid pictures of both the decline
population in this period. There was also little new public construction. It is of the city's fortunes in the century preceding the final earthquake and the
not clear whether the rabbinic text mentioning hot baths at Pella (see above) devastation that brought its existence virtually to an end.
refers to the hammeh north ofthecityorthe Roman baths in the civic complex. A short distance to the northeast of the mound, a small complex of build-
BYZANTINE PERIOD. Throughout most of the Byzantine period (c. 330- ings was inhabited in the Abbasid period. In Mameluke times, one or more
635 CE), the city's major architecture consisted of ecclesiastical structures: the groups lived amid the ruins for limited durations.
West Church, which perhaps had special funerary functions; the East Church,
which was probably connected with a monastic establishment; and the Civic History: Abel, GP 2, 405-406 and passim; W. F. Albright, BASOR 81 (1941), 19; 83 (1941), 33, 36; 89
Complex Church, which was very likely the city's cathedral. All of these (1943), 9-13, 15, 17; Pritchard, ANET, 243, 253, 329, 486.
Main publications: R. H. Smith, Pella of the Decapolis I, The 1967 Season of the College of Wooster
structures have been partially or entirely excavated and show much similarity Expedition to Pella, Wooster, 1973; id. (and L. P. Day), Pella of the Decapolis 2, Final Report on the College
in their plans. Overt paganism rapidly disappeared at Pella in the late fourth of Wooster Excavations in Area IX, The Civic Complex, 1979-1985, Wooster 1989; A. McNicoll et al..
1180 PELLA

Pella in Jordan l, An Interim Report on the Joint University of Sydney and the College of Wooster id., BASOR 240 (1980), 63-84; id., MdB 22 (1982), 34-36; id., SHAJ l (1982), 339-345; id., Pella in
Excavations at Pella 1979-1981, Canberra 1982; id., Pella in Jordan 2, Second Interim Report (ibid.), 1982- Jordan l (Reviews),AJA 88 (1984), 426-427.-PEQ 116 (1984), 156-157; id., Pella inJordan2 (Review),
1985, Sydney (in prep.). LA 38 (1988), 465-467; J. B. Hennessyet al., ADAJ25 (1981), 267-309; 27 (1983), 325-361; id., Ancient
Other studies: S. Merrill, East of the Jordan, New York 1881, l84f., 442-447, 463; G. Schumacher, Across Middle East Ceramics and Australian Archaeology (eds. C. A. Hope and J. K. Zimmer), Melbourne 1983,
the Jordan, London 1886, 271-278; id., Abila, Pella, and Northern Ajlun, London 1895, 78ff.; W. F. 13-24; id., Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages (0. Tufnell Fest.), London 1985, 100-113; H.-F.
Albright, AASOR 6 (1924-1925), 39-42; J. Richmond, PEQ 66 (1934), 18-31; N. Glueck, BASOR 89 Vogenbeck, Antike Welt 12/3 (1981), 13-16; F. Manns, MdB22 (1982), 37-39;A. Walmsley, RB89(1982),
(1943), 3, Sf.; 90 (1943), 3; 91 (1943), 16; id., Explorations in Eastern Palestine 4 (AASOR 25-28, 1945- 245-247; M. Piccirillo, MdB 35 (1984), 8-9; T. F. Potts, LA 34 (1984), 436-437; id. (et al.), ADAJ 29
1949), New Haven 1951, 254-257; R. W. Funk and H. N. Richardson, BA 21 (1958), 82-96; H. N. (1985), 181-210; 32 (1988), 115-149; id., Antiquity 60/230 (1986), 217-219; id., SHAJ3 (1987), 59-71;
Richardson, RB 67 (1960), 242-243; R. H. Smith,JLN6711 (Mar. 16, 1968), 26-27; id., Archaeology 21 J. Hanbury-Tenison, PEQ 117 (1985), 100-101; J. Balensi, MdB 46 (1986), 8-9; A. B. Knapp, BASOR
(1968), 134-137; 26 (1973), 250-256; 34/5 (1981), 46-53; id., RB75 (1968), 105-112; id., Wooster Alumni 266 (1987), 1-30; id. (et al.), Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 1/2 (1988), 57-113; id., IEJ39 (1989),
Magazine 82 (1968), 4-13; id., ADAJ 14 (1969), 5-10; 24 (1980), 13-14; 25 (1981), 311-326; 26 (1982), 129-148; Khouri, Antiquities, 21-26; id., Pella: A BriefGuide to the Antiquities (AI KutbaJordan Guides),
323-334; 27 (1983), 363-373, 647; id., PEQ 101 (1969), 2-3, 55; id., Berytus 21 (1972), 39-53; id., Pella of Amman 1988; Weippert 1988 (Ortsregister); Akkadica Supplementum 7-8 (1989), 406-441; P. C. Edwards
the Decapo/is 1 (Review), ADAJ 19 (1974), 169-172; 2 (Review), LA 39 (1989), 283-286; id., ASOR et al., ADAJ 34 (1990), 57-93; id., The Natufian Culture in the Levant (International Monographs in
Newsletter(Apr. 1980), 22-26; (May 1981), 7-10; (May 1983), 13-17; id., BA 43 (1980), 61-62; id.,AJA 85 Prehistory, Archaeology Series I, eds. 0. Bar-Yosefand F. R. Valla), Ann Arbor 1991, 123-148; F. V.
(1981), 218; 87 (1983), 260; 91 (1987), 276, 308-309; id. (et al.), BASOR 243 (1981), 1-30; 249 (1983), 45- Richards, Scarab Seals from a Middle to Late Bronze Age Tomb at Pella in Jordan (Orbis Biblicus et
78; id., LA 31 (1981), 345-347; 34 (1984), 433-436; id., Syria 60 (1983), 303-306; id. (et al.), Current Orientalis 117), Freiburg (in prep.); T. Weber, Pella Decapolitana; Studien zur Geschichte, Architektur und
Anthropology 25 (1984), 234-236; id., National Geographic Research I (1985), 470-489; id. (and A. W. figiirlichen Kunst einer hellenisierten Stadt des nOrdlichen Ostjordanlandes (Abhandlungen des Deutsch en
McNicol!), BASOR Supplement 24 (1986), 89-116; id., SHAJ 3 (1987), 35-58; id., Aram 4 (in prep.); Paliistinavereins 18), Wiesbaden (in prep.).
A. Spijkerman, LA 20 (1970), 353-358; N. W. Boweret al., JFA 2 (1975), 390-398; A. McNicol! et al.,
ADAJ24 (1980), 14-40; 25 (1981), 358-360; 26 (1982), 343-363; 28 (1984), 55-86; 30 (1986), 155-198; ROBERT HOUSTON SMITH