ARAM, 15 (2003), 1-10 1

CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN URBAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

IN PALAESTINA TERTIA: THE CASE OF AREOPOLIS
(RABBA, JORDAN)

JACQUELINE CALZINI GYSENS

This paper summurizes the first results of current research on the architec-
ture of ancient Rabba in southern Jordan, carried out by an expedition from the
Istituto italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (the Italian institute for Africa and the
Orient) from Rome, under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities of
Jordan.1 The “Rabbathmoab and Qasr Rabba Project” is now in its third sea-
son of fieldwork and further study will include stratigraphic excavation and
restoration from a broad interdisciplinary perspective.
The preliminary assessment of the structures still visible on ground level in
the archaeological area west to the modern ‘Ammân -Karak road has produced
a first groundplan covering 8.286 square meters (fig.1). No substantial
research nor excavation had been done so far at Rabba, except for the clearing
operation in a small sector of the monumental site by the Department of Antiq-
uities of Jordan in 1962-1963 (Zayadine 1971).
Rabba is a large village of 5000 inhabitants located on a low ridge of the
central Jordanian plateau, 80 km (as the crow flies) south of ‘Ammân, 12 km
north of Karak (K737 map; PG:20.3/75.5; UTMG: 60.8/63.0)
The archaeological site situated west to the modern road is in fact but a small
part of the extensive field of ruins recorded by early European travellers and
explorers visiting the region in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth
centuries. Khirbat ar-Rabba was a “fallen desolation of stones”… “an unsettled
place in a region “the plains of Moab in which are more ruined sites of hamlets
and townships then that the Arabs can well number and villages insecure trod-
den down by the Beduw = (Doughty 1888)”.2 The monumental ruins, towering
out of the collapsed mound of soil and rubble, covered a site “about half an hour
in circumference” (Burckhardt 1821) “three-quarter of a mile each way” (Tris-
tram 1874) in a topographical setting of an overall square shape in which a con-

1
Two seasons (1999-2000). Architects Roberto Sabelli, Giovanna Battista, Francesco
Ciampinelli, Ombretta Dinelli, ‘Ali al-Khattib, Rita Landini, Francesca Malesani participated in
the survey and in the elaboration of groundplan (fig.1).
2
The situation in the Balqâ east of the Dead Sea was one of great instability and anarchy dur-
ing the late Ottoman period (end of the 19th century).The country was also unsettled, although
not devoid of cultivation: “The whole population was of beduin stock with the exception of al-
Karak and the three villages of ‘Iraq, Kathraba and Khanzira” (R.S. Abujaber, Pioneers over Jor-
dan. The frontier of settlement in Transjordan, 1850-1914, (London, 1989), p. 45 n. 1, see also:
pp. 220, 221, 217)
2 THE CASE OF AREOPOLIS

centration of structures with a north-south axis, was seen on the low mound at
the eastern outskirts of the site “commanding the whole plain” (Seetzen 1854;
Irby 1823; de Saulcy 1853).3 The “countless vaults on arches”, the “clustered
remains” observed in that sector to the east of the road, are now almost com-
pletely wiped out by modern constructions. Several installations could also be
seen at the beginning of the century, off the hill.4 The ruins appeared to be
bisected by the old paved road, the remains of the via Nova Traiana which every
visitor in the region followed, and that crossed the plateau “straight as an
arrow”5 (now paralleled if not superimposed by the modern road).
The specific urban character of the surviving architecture of ancient Rabba,
which had evidently been a prosperous provincial town, emerges from the
prevalence of civic monuments such as the colonnaded street, several public
water reservoirs, the surviving sections of the urban walls and towers, cultic
buildings etc. among densely built-up residential sectors. The typology and
construction technique of most structural remains point to the Byzantine
period as the last occupational phase at the site. Historical and literary sources
as well as the chronology of surface pottery as collected by Glueck (1934) and
Miller (1991) witness a long period of occupation at this site. The occurrence
of a major earthquake seems to be the cause of the destruction and subsequent
abandonment of ancient Rabba at the end of the Byzantine or Umayyad
period. No specific Islamic features of later periods have been encountered yet
(at ground level), at least in this area.
A. Musil’s surveys of 1889 and 1902 record three very large open air reser-
voirs situated at the outskirts of the urban agglomeration and a great number
of minor cisterns within the ruins (Musil 1907). Evidence of regular urban
planning had also been noted, especially in the sector west of the colonnaded
street, where the intersection was seen at right angles to a street running paral-
lel to the colonnaded street and a perpendicular one terminating in front of the
Roman period temple (Bruennow and Domaszewski P. 54, fig. 43). Moreover,
the sketchplan A. Musil provided with his description of the ruins testified to
the existence of a line of fortification walls still extant at the time of his visits
in 1896 and in 1902 (Musil 1907). Unfortunately, nothing remains to-day of
these important features, since they were quarried for the construction of mod-
ern Rabba.

3
Records from 19th century visitors cited from R.E. Bruennow and A. von Domaszewki’s
collection in Die Provincia Arabia auf Grund Zweier in den Jahre 1897 und 1898 unternommen
Reisen und der Berichte frueherer Reisender, I (Strassburg,1904-1909),pp.56-59 (afterwards
Bruennow and Domaszewski); see also J.T.Miller, Archaelogical Survey of the Kerak Plateau,
(Atlanta, 1991), pp.15-17;65-66 (Rabba, site 108).
4
Structures of an earlier period were also visible in this area. The remains of a solidly built
tower with casement walls, probably dating of the Final Iron Age, was discovered in the course
of our survey and will be excavated next season (2002).
5
D.B.E. Bell, The Letters of Gertrude Bell, (March 24/1900), (London, 1927), I, p.72-73.
 J.C. GYSENS 3

There is a general agreement on the identification of the ancient site as that

of the late Roman and Byzantine town of Rabbatmôba‚ or Areopolis as men-
tioned in the literary sources. For the period being examined, Eusebius stated
it as a “civitas” of “Moab vero Arabiae est quae nunc Areopolis appellatur”
(Eusebius, onom. 124.17; cfr. also Hier. on. 125,16) an important center of the
Provincia Arabia.6 The Notitia Dignitatum (Or. 37) registered the presence of
a garrison of the Equites Mauri Illyriciani at Areopolis, under the regional
jurisdiction of the dux Arabiae. During the same period, Betthoro (probably
modern al-Ladjdjûn, 13 km south east of Rabba) was the camp-site of the
Legio IV Martia (Not.Dig., Or. 37.22).
Significant information on ancient Rabba is in fact rather scarce and mainly
limited to its geographical and administrative situation in the period:
In the Roman regional road system it was a caput viae on the via Nova
(cf. CIL III 14149 (43) connecting the provincial capital Bosra with Aila
on the Red Sea (‘Aqaba); and a crosspoint on the road coming from Jeru-
salem by Elusa through the Lisân as shown on the Peutinger Tabula (section
IX).7
After the regional reorganization of the provinces at the end of the 4th cen-
tury, Rabbatmôba‚/Areopolis once the southernmost town of Provincia Arabia
became one of the northernmost towns (together with Charachmoba) of
Palaestina Tertia (Salutaris) (Eusebius, onom. 124.15; Hierocles, Synecdemus
Pal., 55; Georg. Cyprius, Descrip., 1048).8
The alternative toponym Areopolis for Rabbatmôba appears on numismatic
local issues from the Severans (193-235) onwards (although with the variant
of ‘Arsapolis) but is only mentioned in literary sources from the 4th century
onwards.9

6
For sources on the earlier (Roman) periods see Miller 1991; J. Teixidor, Bulletin d’épigra-
phie sémitique, Syria XLVII (1970), no 46 (bullae from Kurnub); K.C. Gutwein, Third Palestine.
A regional Study in Byzantine Urbanization, (Washington,1981), pp. 128-129. On the Roman
road from Elusa cfr. G.W. Bowersock, Roman Arabia, (London, 1983), p.180.
7
Concerning the toponym “Rababatora” indicated on the Peutinger Table, see Bowersock
1983, supra p. 175; M. Weippert’s discussion in “Rababatora” in M. Weippert und S. Timm
(edd.), Meilenstein. Festgabe fur Herbert Donner (zum 16. Febr. 1995), (Wiesbaden, 1995), pp.
333-338. For the discussion on the identification of ‘Ar of Moab placename in Biblical sources:
cf. Weippert 1995, pp. 333-334, n. 5; cf. also J. Teixidor, Bulletin d’inscriptions sémitiques, Syria
XLVIII (1971), p. 163, no 78); Aggoula,”Studia aramaica II, Syria LXII (1985), 74-76.
8
Cfr. Gutwein 1981, p. 11, table 2.
9
Cfr. A. Spijkerman, The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia, (Jerusalem, 1978),
p. 263., n. 9 and p. 275. The coins apparently never used the Greek name Areopolis; for Arsapo-
lis cf. E.A. Knauf:”a prestandard Arabic/Greek mixture” in Miller 1991, p. 285 and
ibid.”Arsapolis, eine epigraphische Bemerkung”, Liber Annuus 34 (1984), pp. 353-356. Euse-
bius uses both Rabbathmôba and Areopolis: on. 10.17; 36.20,25; 122.28; 124.17; and provided
an etymology in which ‘Ar was the hellenized form of the divine name Ariel (contra:
Hier.,Comm.in Isaiam 15.1). For the discussion on the identification of the local deity cf. G.W.
Bowersock, “The Arabian Ares”, in E. Gabba (ed), Tria Corda. Scritti in onore di Arnaldo
Momigliano, (Como, 1983), pp.43-47.
4 THE CASE OF AREOPOLIS

Additional information on Rabbatmôba/Areopolis from other literary sour-

ces or epigraphical discoveries could be summed up as follows (in chronolog-
ical order):
(End of the 4th Century C.E.)
A.D. 385: The population of Areopolis and Petra is recorded for having
defended their (pagan) temples against Cynegius, the praetorian prefect in the
East.10 Areopolis was also among several other centres of the Hellenized East
such as Petra, Raphia, Gaza, Heliopolis/Baalbek and Apamaea to be cited by
Sozimos (Hist.Eccl. 7.15) for their resistence against Christianization.
(5th century C.E.)
F.Nau’s discovery of evidence of the existence and the destruction between
A.D. 419 and 423)of a Jewish temple in “Rbt Mw’b” is interesting. This
occured while he was editing three Syriac manuscripts relating to the life of
the Syrian monk Barsaumâ.11 Barsaumâ was a contemporary of Theodosius II
(402-450) and the particular episode in question is but one of his personal
zealous performances for the local enforcement of the imperial anti-pagan
edicts.
In the following period, Rabbatmôba/Areopolis became a major regional
ecclesiastical centre:
A.D. 449: is the first year in which a bishopric see was attested at Areopo-
lis Latrocinium Ephesinum.12
(6th century C.E.)
A.D. 518: For the first time the diocese of Areopolis participated in the
Council of Jerusalem.13
A.D. 551: Year of a major earthquake in the region, as attested to by his-
torical sources and archaeological evidence.14
A.D.589-599: The date of one of two Greek Byzantine building inscriptions
found during the clearing conducted by the Department of Antiquities in the
sector situated between the colonnaded street (plan, fig. 1,1) and the Roman
temple (plan, fig.1, 3), commemorating the “restoration of a construction
(probably a church) in the time of a bishop Johannes, after an earthquake”
(Zayadine 1971)
The Prophet MuÌammad sent in 629 a first Arab military expedition into
Transjordan.
The Muslim tradition records the town of Ma’âb, as Areopolis/Rabbath-
môba is known from then onwards, as being the site of the first Byzantine

10
A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602 A.D., Norman 1964, I, p.176
11
F. Nau, “Deux épisodes de l’histoire juive sous Théodose II (423 et 438) d’après la vie de
Barsauma le Syrien”, Revue des Etudes Juives LXXXIII (1927), pp. 186-189.
12
All the sources in Canova 1954, pp. lx-lxi.
13
Ibid.; and M. Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III, cols. 769-772.
14
F.L. Koucky, in Parker, The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan I (1987), p. 35-37.
 J.C. GYSENS 5

surrender to the Muslim army under the command of Abû ‘Ubayda b.JarrâÌ
as narrated by al-Azdî: “…Then he proceeded to Ma’âb in the territory of
‘Ammân. The Romans (Byzantines) sallied forth against them and the Mus-
lims continued routing them until they forced them to enter their town (of
Ma’âb) and the Muslims besieged them in it. The people of Ma’âb made
peace (ÒulÌ) and it was the first city in Syria that made peace with the Mus-
lims”.15 The military victory was followed by a territorial conquest appar-
ently without the destruction of Areopolis. The survival of the Christian
local community is attested by the following documents and by the con-
struction or restoration of churches during the ‘Umayyad caliphate: A.D.
661-750.
A.D. 687: The second Greek Byzantine inscription published by F.Zaya-
dine, mentioned a construction (probably of a church) in the time of the met-
ropolite Stephanus “(Zayadine 1971)
A.D. 719/720: The toponym Areopolis appeared next to a schematic repre-
sentation of a church complex among those of other towns of Transjordan,
Palestine and the Nile Delta, on the mosaic discovered in S.Stephen’s church
at Ma’în (near Mâdabâ), dated by a commemorative dedication in the year
A.D. 719/720.16 Although the conventional rendering of church architecture in
the mosaic is evident, some specific characteristics of the church of Areopolis
could maybe be acknowledged.
A.D. 749: The date of a most catastrophic historical earthquake documented
in the region.17 Subsequent monumental installations at Areopolis/Ma’âb are
not yet discovered.
R. Canova’s 1936 survey in the region of “Moab” (published 1954)
recorded architectural remains and epigraphic evidence on the Christianization
of the region in 29 villages. However only a very few fragmentary minor
inscriptions (a ceramic stamp etc.) were found, including three anepigraphic
funerary stones with crosses.
Of this literary and epigraphical documention on ancient Rabba, only a sin-
gle feature of its architecture has been published (maybe a fragment of a win-
dow frame) and is exposed in the Louvre’s “Salle des antiquités judaïques”.
According to R.Dussaud who listed it in his catalogue (Paris 1912, N 6), it was
found in the sector south of the Roman temple, where according to the typol-

15
al Azdî, 29 as cited (and commented upon) by W.E. Kaegi, Byzantium and the early
Islamic conquests, (Cambridge, Mass., 1992, (1997)), p. 66. Other Arabic sources on the event as
mentioned by Kaegi:Balâdhurî 113, a†-™abarî, I 2108 and our only Christian source: Sebêos
(123-4); cf. Kaegi 1997, p. 66, n. 1; more on Areopolis: (Kaegi 1997), pp. 83-87.
16
R. de Vaux, “Una mosaique byzantine à Ma’in (Transjordanie), Revue Biblique XLVII
(1938), pp. 227-258, in particular: p. 248 no 8 and plate XV,2.; P.-L. Gatier, Inscriptions grec-
ques et latines de Jordanie, II, p. 242.
17
Cfr. K.W. Russell, The Earthquake Chronology of Palestine and Nordwest Arabia from the
2nd throughthe Mid-8th Century A.D., BASOR, 260 (1985), pp. 37-59.
6 THE CASE OF AREOPOLIS

ogy of the surviving remains, a synagogue could have stood (cf. following
comment on plan, fig. 1,4)
Now, we will briefly comment on some architectural feature of its architec-
ture, located west of the road, which were part of the urban landscape of the
last occupational phase at ancient Rabba, and which are marked on our plan
(fig. 1; original scale 1:100)

Plans and Figures

(plan, fig. 1,1)

1. A prominent feature of the Roman urban landscape was the colonnaded
street, cleared of its debris for a 30 meter long section by the Department of
Antiquities (1962-1963). On both sides of the 10 meter wide side of the street,
lie several column bases (measuring 1.20 x 1.20 m;inter-axis: 4.80 m; diame-
ter of columns: ca.1 m); two complete Corinthian columns (average height ca.
5 m.) are still standing. The pavement of the street was made of limestone and
basaltic square slabs that formed a decorative color pattern. Whether or not
the colonnaded street was the urban sector of the via Nova as supposed by
R. Canova is still to be verified.

2. (Plan, fig. 1,2) One of the three open water reservoirs A. Musil mentioned,
is located at the south west border of the monumental area. It had a slight
trapezoidal shape (33 x 36 m. Ca) and occupies a space of ca. 1200 square
meters It is in almost perfect condition, presenting well cut regular courses of
limestone ashlars.

3. (Plan, fig. 1,3)

The Roman period temple.
Every visitor who came to the site recorded the single standing façade of a
small rectangular building (12.60 x 14.30 m; 175 square meters). The style of
the architecture is typical for the late Roman period in the Eastern provinces,
and this chronology fits in with the two Latin dedications to emperors Dio-
cletian and Maximian (terminus post quem c. A.D. 286) found in situ as
affixed under the niches in the façade (CIL III 14148 (11); Cf. Bruennow and
Domaszewski, I, p. 54, fig. 1,2) Two exceptional photographs taken at the turn
of the nineteenth century document at different moments of the rebuilding and
re-occupation of the monumental ruin by early settlers.18 That transformation
18
For a complete list of the photographs taken by Bruennow and Domaszewski at Rabba cf.
H. Innes Mac Adam, Studies in the History of the Roman Province of Arabia, (Oxford, 1986)
(Bar int. s. 295), appendix p. 278, nos 858-861); cfr. also C.E.S. Gavin, The Image of the East:
Nineteenth-century Near Eastern Photographs by Bonfils from the collection of the Havard
Semitic Museum,(Chicago, 1982) (N° 764 dated 1886); It was occupied as an “Arab dwelling”
 J.C. GYSENS 7

probably saved it for posterity. Surprisingly, the temple was apparently not re-
utilized as a church nor was it dismantled. Even its dedicatory inscriptions
remained in situ during the following 450 years. Instead, the front court had
been covered by an installation of a 12 meters’ long double row of stone
arches, of uncertain function.

4. (Plan, fig 1, 4): Church 1.

The sector south of the Roman temple,- now partially occupied by a modern
dwelling –, was the site that Domaszewski (Bruennow and Domazewski 1904-
1909, p. 54, fig 43) described as being occupied by the remains of a quandran-
gular construction with its entrance on the street front (the east side). In the adja-
cent space on the south and west sides, there were traces of walls running
lengthwise to the west and ending in a large apse or niche framed by two
columns. Successively, in 1936, R. Canova was able to distinguish two occupa-
tional levels in the ruins and recognized the plan of a basilical church with an
inscribed apse. She interpreted also the unusual orientation as the adaptation of
a pre-existing Roman period monument. The identification of the site had
already been taken into consideration by F. Nau (cf. supra; pp.190-191) when
discussing the possible localization of the synagogue Barsaumâ destroyed.

5. (Plan, fig 1, 5): Church 2.

A result of the partial clearing of the collapsed debris in the monumental sec-
tor west to the colonnaded street, by the Department of Antiquities (1962-
1963; Zayadine 1971) was the discovery of a church of the monoapsidal type.
The area exposed (16m x 5 m ca.) covers ca.69 square maters (i.e.: nave: 45
sqm; apse: 24 sqm; orientation: 1078E). The only visible parts are the interior
of the apse, the central nave, the bases of four columns from the original tri-
partite lay-out and a section of the perimetral wall on the south side. The
church had been built on a public space of an earlier period, presenting a pave-
ment similar (also in its orientation) to that of the colonnaded street. The two
Greek building inscriptions dated A.D. 589/599 and 688 published by Zaya-
dine, belonged probably to this church.

The first architectural survey and research campaign of the Istituto Italiano
per l’Africa e l’Oriente at ancient Rabba, focussed thus mainly on the elabora-
tion of a plan of all visible structures on ground level, located West of the mod-
ern road. The densily settled urban area in its last occupational phase originally
extended further East covering the low mound, as recorded by early European
travellers. A particular concentration of public monuments (cultic and civil
c. 1902 cfr. A.Musil 1907, moreover spolia were used to constuct the entrance, cfr. ibid. p. 372
and Canova 1954, p. 200, fig. 224 (the rebuilt monument c. 1902), pp. 206-207, figs. 228-230b
(the spolia).
8 THE CASE OF AREOPOLIS

equipment) seemingly of the Roman and Byzantine periods have co-existed until
the end of the settlement. The regularity of the original urban Roman planning
had been apparently preserved without major encroachments in the Byzantine
period. Ancient Rabbatmôba/Areopolis was destroyed towards the end of the
Umayyad period in the course of a major regional seismic disaster.
Subsequently, although no structural evidence of a post-earthquake settle-
ment has been identified until now, the toponym Ma’âb is attested in the Ara-
bic sources until at least the Mamlûk period. Maybe the new settlement
responded to J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz’ definition: “As the Muslim cities origi-
nated as settlements for tribal armies, separate areas were assigned to the dif-
ferent tribal units. So Arab cities were composed of distinct, self-administering
quarters and lacked the corporate unity of the classical city”.19
In the new administrative islamic organization Ma’âb (as a settlement or a
region) was known as being included in the district or djund of Damascus.20
Moreover, during the Crusader’s occupation of the region, William of Tyre (as
cited by J. Johns 1989) recording the refortification of Karak in A.D. 1142,
mentions “Raba, a most ancient city, metropolitan of Arabia”.21 For the same
period we hear of ∑alaÌ ad-Din’s camping at al-Rabba in July and August
1184 (“whilst Taqî al-Dîn laid waste the surrounding territory” (al-Qâ∂î al-
Fâ∂il in Lyons and Jackson 1982:217-220 as cited by Johns 1989.22
The last known reference to Ma’âb in the Arabic sources seemingly dates to
the Mamlûk period: al-Dimâshqî (+A.D. 1327) refers to its inclusion in the
administrative subdivision of the Balqâ as one of the localities of the djund of
al-Karak.23

BIBLIOGRAPHY

R.Canova, Iscrizioni e monumenti protocristiani del Paese di Moab, (Roma, 1954).

N. Glueck, Explorations in Eastern Palestine I, (Annual of the American Schools of
Oriental Resarch, XIV, Chicago, 1934).
J. Maxwell Miller (ed), Archaelogical Survey of the Kerak Plateau.Conducted during
1978-1982 (ASOR Archaeological Reports 1), (Atlanta, 1992).
A. Musil, Arabia Petraea I (Moab), (Wien,1907).
F. Zayadine, “Deux Inscriptions Grecques de Rabbat Moab (Areopolis)”, ADAJ XVI
(1971), pp.71-76.

19
J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, The Decline and Fall of the Roman City, (Oxford, 2001), p. 308.
20
J. Johns, “Settlement and land exploration strategies in the Ard al-Karak in the Islamic
period”, paper distributed during the 4th Congress on the history and archaeology of Jordan at
Lyon (May 30th-June 4th 1989), p. 2.
21
Ibid., p. 4.
22
Ibid., p. 5, M.C. Lyons and D.E.P. Jackson, Saladin. The Politics of Holy War (Cambridge,
1982), pp. 217-220.
23
J. Johns,”Islamic Settlement in Ar∂ al-Karak, in Studies in the History and Archaeology of
Jordan, IV (Amman-Lyon, 1992), p. 366.
 J.C. GYSENS 9

Fig. 1. Rabba (Areopolis): plan of the archeological site West to the modern road (1999).
10 THE CASE OF AREOPOLIS

Fig. 2. Ma{in. St. Stephen's church mosaic. “…wpoleiv” vignette.