Pella, Jordan

The city was first mentioned in the 19th century BCE in Egyptian execration texts, and it continued to flourish throughout the Bronze Age.[4]

While the cause is not known, the dawn of the Iron Age meant the end of power in Pihilum. The urban heart of the Iron Age city-kingdom seems to have suffered a major destruction in the later 9th century, from which it did not recover.[5]

Re-established as an urban centre under the early Seleucids, its ancient name must still have been known, for its new, Greek name was a close synonym, Pella - the birthplace of Alexander the Great in Macedon.

As yet no public buildings from the Hellenistic period have been identified, although well-appointed private houses attest to their integration into the wider norms of urban living, such as wall-paintings and statuary. Several of these houses suffered what appears to be the same fiery destruction in the Late Hellenistic period. This has been attributed to a massive destruction by the Hasmonean king, Alexander Jannaeus, about 83 or 82 BCE (Josephus, The Jewish War 14.4.8; Antiquities 14.4.4). From Josephus, it is clear that Pella had been damaged and so needed some restoration by Pompey decades afterwards, but his specific reference to the destruction of Pella by Jannaeus because its inhabitants refusing to follow Jewish customs, seems to refer to a different place (Antiquities, XIII.395-397): it is listed as if amongst southern Levantine cities and out of its more normal sequence between Gadara, Gerasa and Scythopolis.

Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Pella

In 63 BCE, the Roman General Pompey integrated the region into the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire, converting the old Seleucid empire into the province of Coele-Syria and incorporating Judaea as a client kingdom.[4] A group of cities claiming Greek Hellenistic foundations asked Pompey for freedom from the threat of incorporation within Rome's new client-state of Hasmonaean Judaea. Pompey agreed, and these cities were called the Decapolis[6] - literally, the ten cities - although the lists which have survived vary in composition and number. Pella, however, is consistently a "Decapolis" city, and the city in the northernmost bounds of the region known as Perea.[7] If these cities had previously dated their years from their foundation under Alexander the Great or Seleucis I Nicator, they now honoured Pompey by counting 63 BC as a new "Year One". Like most cities within the empire, Pella would have had its own town council. It also minted coins in the Roman period.

Pella was incorporated within Roman Judaean territory (Jewish Wars 3.5), which region was attacked by Scaurus during his Nabataean sortie (The Jewish War 1.8.1). Pella was one of eleven administrative districts (toparchies) in Roman Judea.[8] During the outbreak of the First Jewish-Roman War, when the Syrian inhabitants of Caesarea had slain its Jewish citizens, there was a general Jewish uprising against neighboring Syrian villages, who sought revenge for the murder of their countrymen, during which time Pella was ransacked and destroyed.[9] Growing Jewish dissent over Roman military occupation in Judea brought about Roman reprisals against Jewish enclaves in the regions of Galilee, the coastal plains of Judea, Idumea and Perea, until, at length, the Roman army had subdued all insurgents and their military governors established during the Jewish revolt.

In what is known as the "flight to Pella", around the time of the Roman siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, tradition holds that a Jewish sect of Nazarenes made their way to Pella and settled in the city which became a Jewish Christian hub during the early days of Christianity.[10] According to Epiphanius, the disciples had been miraculously told by Christ to abandon Jerusalem because of the siege it was about to undergo.[11]

Epiphanius claims that after the destruction, some returned to Jerusalem.[12] Similarly to Epiphanius, Eusebius of Caesarea recounts how Pella was a refuge for Jerusalem Christians who were fleeing the First Jewish–Roman War in the 1st century CE.[13] Pella is alleged to have been the site of one of Christianity's earliest churches, but no evidence has been found of this. According to Historian Edward Gibbon, the early Church of Jerusalem fled to Pella after the ruin of the temple, staying there until their return during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, making it a secondary pilgrimage site for early Christians and modern Christians today.

Eastern portion of main tell

In the late Roman and Byzantine periods, the town extended over the ancient tell, across the broad central valley of the town today known as the Wadi al-Jirm (see photograph), and over the slopes and summit of the southern hill known as Tell al-Husn. By the Byzantine era, Pella had reached its maximum size and, probably, prosperity. Being part of the province of Palaestina Secunda ("second Palestine"), it certainly had a bishop by the year AD 451. At least three triapsidal churches have been identified within the city: the West Church at the western foot of the tell; the Civic Complex church in the wadi al-Jirm at the SE foot of the tell and which, due to its size and location, was probably the cathedral; and the elevated East Church on the higher slopes of the Jebel Abu el-Khas.[14] On the tell, the entire summit was leveled off and a new gridded urban zone constructed during the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. The access streets were lined with newly-built shops and large buildings, serving both commercial and residential functions. This concern with urban development matched similar activities in other Decapolis towns, such as Gadara (Umm Qays) and Gerasa (Jerash/Jarash), and reflects the role of regional centres in serving local populations during late antiquity.

On the plain of the Jordan Valley below Pella, a historically decisive battle took place in January 635 CE (13 AH) between a Muslim army and the Byzantine forces stationed at Pella and Scythopolis (Beit She'an; Beisan). This encounter, one of the earliest between Muslims and Byzantines, came to be known as the Battle of Fihl (also Battle of Fahl, Fahl being a later variant of Fihl). The Muslims forces faced little resistance with the town of Pella surrendering by treaty, thereby avoiding occupation by military conquest. Accordingly, the archaeological record shows no disruption attributable to the arrival of Islam, as was the case for nearly all the towns of Bilad al-Sham.[15] Rather, the churches, markets and houses of Pella continued in use, with the archaeology showing their progressive modification to meet evolving social and political conditions, as in many of the other towns of the Decapolis alliance in north Jordan. In particular, a large market and workshop area was installed adjacent to the Civic Complex church at the heart of the Byzantine town plan.[16].

Pella, which by the eighth century CE had officially returned to its original Semitic name of Fihl (variant of Pihil), was totally devastated by the massive 749 Galilee earthquake, as a Jordan Valley rift fault line runs directly under the site. The stone and mudbrick two-storeyed houses on the top of the tell (main mound) collapsed in on themselves, thereby trapping the inhabitants — human and animal — and preserving a rich collection of finds sourced from distant regions, such as Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula [17]. Subsequent settlement at Pella, dated from the later eighth to eleventh centuries CE, was reduced in size, but featured an enclosed double-courtyard architectural complex in the valley immediately north of the tell.[18] The configuration of the complex suggests markets (khans), with commercial activities such as glass workshops. Occupation spans the Abbasid into Fatimid periods. Recent work on the tell has identified widespread rebuilding following the 749 earthquake, as indicated by wall foundations, plastered floors and refuse pits filled with finely worked bone and moulded glassware. Evidence for a presence in the Crusader period (12th century CE) is slight — a few pottery sherds only — but in the following Ayyubid and Mamluk periods the flat summit of the tell was inhabited by a large village, featuring a stone-built mosque with a minbar (pulpit), residential compounds defined by lane ways, and a large cemetery.[19]. Late 16th century Ottoman defters list a village called Fahl el Tahta in the administrative district of Ajlun where wheat, barley, and sesame were grown and taxes collected on goats, beehives and water-driven mills.[20]

Children playing football in the ancient ruins of Pella in September 2004.