Livias

The traditional location of the Roman city is at Tell er-Rameh, a small hill rising in the plain beyond Jordan, about twelve miles from Jericho.[4] However, evidence from the Tell el-Hammam excavations including a large Roman bath complex (thermae 35x50m), several hot springs, aqueduct, Byzantine church mosaic nearby, Roman coins, Roman glass, and Roman pottery raises questions about this identification.[5]

The large site of Tall el-Hammam

It has been proposed that, while Tell er-Rameh was the commercial and residential center of Livias, the area around Tall el-Hammam, which grew in the Early Roman period, was the administrative epicenter of the city.[6] Archaeological evidence from Shuneh al-Janubiyyah has shown the existence of a church in the diocese, dating from the sixth-eighth centuries.[7] A third Byzantine church was discovered between Tall Kafrayn and Tell el-Hammam (2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) to the west of Tell el-Hammam) with a large mosaic floor now being used as a Muslim cemetery.[8]

Josephus (AD 37–ca. 100) and others describe Livias as a city (πόλις polis) of Perea; [9] and specifically differentiate it from a small town (πόλίχνη polichnē) or from its surrounding fourteen villages (κώμας kōmas). [10]

A directional reference is the fifth milestone N of Livias located at Bethnambris (Bethnamaris; Bethnamran) [11] or Tall Nimrin (TMP 749034E, 3532378N). According to Eusebius' Onomasticon, Livias is five Rm (7.5 km/ 4.7 m) south of Tall Nimrin [12].

These directional references, together with a statement provided by Theodosius that "the city of Livias is across the Jordan, twelve [Roman] miles [17.75 km/ 11 m] from Jericho" [Wilkinson][13] to the east, provide east/west and north/south co-ordinates that when triangulated place Livias at Tall el-Hammam.[14]

Under the name of Betharan, Livias is twice mentioned in the Bible.[15]

At about 80 BC, Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus captured the city from the King of the Arabs;[16] it was then called Betharamphtha (Hebrew: בית רמתה). According to the historian Josephus, in the 1st century AD, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, fortified the city with strong walls and called it Livias after the wife of Augustus, whose name was Livia.[17] Nero gave it with its fourteen villages to Agrippa II.[18] In the First Jewish-Roman War the Roman general Placidus captured it[19][20] in 68, and the town was used to resettle deserters who had joined the Roman ranks.[21] After the revolt was quelled, the area was returned to Agrippa. He died without heir, and his territories were annexed to Judaea province. In later reorganizations of Roman provinces, it was included in Syria Palaestina (135), Palaestina (286) and Palaestina Prima (425), never gaining a colonia status.

In the time of Eusebius and St. Jerome the natives still called it Bethramtha.[20]

• Bethharan

•  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "BETH-ARAM (Josh. xiii. 27) or BETH-HARAN". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.