Scythopolis / Beth Shean

• SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Scythopolis (subject)
• ANCIENT SOURCES: see Scythopolis (sources)

Scythopolis / Beth Shean (now in Israel) was a Hellenistic polis, the capital of the Decapolis, the only one on the west side of the Jordan.

Overview

The ancient Canaanite city was deserted around 700 BCE and rebuilt by the Ptolomeis as a Hellenistic city in the 3rd century BCE. It was then called Scythopolis, "the city of the Scythians", possibly because of the Scythian cavalry in the army of Ptolemy II.

When in 218 BCE Antiochus III the Great invaded Palestine, Scythopolis surrendered to him voluntarily. The Seleucids gave the city an additional name "Nysa" in honor of the nurse of the goddess Dionysus, who according to mythology had been born there.

The city was conquered by John Hyrcanus (135-104 BCE) and annexed to the Hasmonean kingdom. Pompey (63 BCE) granted semi-autonomous status to the city as capital of the Decapolis. In Roman times Scythopolis was a very prosperous city, walled, with the hippodrome, a theatre, and pagan temples.

During the Jewish War, the town sided with the Romans. When the rebels attacked its territory, the Jewish residents fought on the side of the Gentiles, only to be slaughtered by their own fellow citizens.

Scythopolis continued to flourish as a Christian city and the seat of the bishopry.

The city declined in Muslim times and was devastated by the earthquake of January 18, 749 CE.

Scythopolis in ancient sources

Judith 3:10; 2 Macc. 12:29-30. (cf 1 Macc. 12:40 where Heb. name Beth-shan is used.)

Scythopolis in scholarship

Excavations were conducted in 1921-33 by the University of Pennsylvania under C. S. Fisher, A. Rowe, and G. M. FitzGerald. Yadin and Geva conducted a short season in the 1980s, and Amihai Mazar led a Hebrew University excavation in 1989-96.

Related categories

• Decapolis (Canatha, Damascus, Dion, Gadara, Gerasa, Hippos, Pella, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopolis)

External links

• Wikipedia

• BiblePlaces.com