Raphanea

Raphanea
الرفنية
Shown within Syria
Location Syria
Region Hama Governorate
Coordinates 34°56′31.9″N 36°23′46.6″E / 34.942194°N 36.396278°E / 34.942194; 36.396278Coordinates: 34°56′31.9″N 36°23′46.6″E / 34.942194°N 36.396278°E / 34.942194; 36.396278

Raphanea or Raphaneae (present-day (Arabic: الرفنية‎, translit. Rafniye)) was a city of the late Roman province of Syria Secunda. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Apamea.

History

Josephus mentions Raphanea in connection with a stream that flowed only every seventh days (probably an intermittent spring now called Fuwar ed-Deir) and that was viewed by Titus on his way northward from Berytus after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.[1]

Near Emesa, Raphanea was the fortified headquarters of the Legio III Gallica from which was launched the successful bid of 14-year-old Elagabalus to become Roman Emperor in 218.[2]

Raphanea issued coins under Elagabalus,[3] and many of its coins are extant.[4][5][6]

Hierocles[7] and Georgius Cyprius[8] mention Raphanea among the towns of Syria Secunda. The crusaders passed through it at the end of 1099; it was taken by Baldwin I and was given to the Count of Tripoli.[9] It was then known as Rafania.[10]

Episcopal see

The only bishops of Raphanea known are:[10][11]

  • Bassianus, present at the Nicaea, 325;
  • Gerontius at Philippopolis, 344;
  • Basil at Constantinople, 381;
  • Lampadius at Chalcedon, 451;
  • Zoilus about 518;
  • Nonnus, 536.

The see is mentioned as late as the 10th century in the Notitia episcopatuum of Antioch.[10][12]

References

  1. ↑ Josephus, The War of the Jews or The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, book 7, chapter 5, 1
  2. ↑ Jasper Burns, Great Women of Imperial Rome (Routledge 2006 ISBN 978-1-13413185-3), p. 209
  3. ↑ Kevin Butcher, Roman Syria and the Near East (Getty Publications 2003 ISBN 978-0-89236715-3), p. 117
  4. ↑ American Numismatic Society: Raphanea
  5. ↑ Elagabalus AE21mm Raphanea in Syria
  6. ↑ Raphanea Genius Coin
  7. ↑ Synecdemus, 712, 8.
  8. ↑ 870 (Heinrich Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis romani, 44)
  9. ↑ "Historiens des croisades", passim; Rey in "Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de France", Paris, 1885, 266.
  10. 1 2 3 Sophrone Pétridès, "Rhaphanaea" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1912)
  11. ↑ Le Quien, "Oriens christianus", II, 921.
  12. ↑ Vailhé, "Echos d'Orient", X, 94.
  • Brown, J., P. Gatier, R. Warner, R. Talbert, T. Elliott, S. Gillies. "Places: 668350 (Raphaneai)". Pleiades. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  • Raphanea(e) in the Tabula Peutingeriana
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