Eleutheropolis (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, Ἐλευθερόπολις, "Free City"; ar, إليوثيروبوليس; in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, בית גוברין, Beit Gubrin) was a Roman and Byzantine city in

Syria Palaestina Syria Palaestina (literally, "Palestinian Syria";Trevor Bryce, 2009, ''The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia''Roland de Vaux, 1978, ''The Early History of Israel'', Page 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135 ...

, some 53 km southwest of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. After the Muslim conquests, it became known as Bayt Jibrin or Jubrin (بيت جبرين). Depopulated during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, its remains still straddle the ancient road connecting Jerusalem to Gaza, and are now located within the Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park.

Name

The city was originally known in

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

as Beth Gabra, which translates as the "house of strong men".Sharon, 1997, p.109

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

referred to it as Baitogabra, The Protestant Theological and Ecclesiastical Encyclopedia
(1860) By John Henry Augustus Bomberger, Johann Jakob Herzog p 178 and in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

it was known as Beit Gubrin. According to historical geographer A. Schlatter, the name ''Betaris'' mentioned by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

should either be identified with '' Bittir'', or else the ''T'' amended to

Gamma Gamma (uppercase , lowercase ; ''gámma'') is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter r ...

so as to read ''Begabrin''. The name Eleutheropolis was given to the city by the RomansBiblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions: A Journal of ...
Edward Robinson, Eli Smith at the beginning of the third century. The former city of Eleutheropolis was rebuilt by the Crusaders as Bethgibelin or Gibelin.Jean Richard (1921) "The Crusaders c1071-c1291" reprinted 2001 Cambridge University Press p. 140''The Guide to Israel'', Zev Vilnay, Hamakor Press, Jerusalem 1972, p.276 The medieval city was known in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Beit Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( ar, بيت جبرين; he, בית גוברין, translit=Beit Gubrin) was a Palestinian village located northwest of the city of Hebron. The village had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or , of which were ...

or Jubrin (بيت جبرين), meaning "house of the powerful"Khalidi, 1992, p. 209-210. and reflecting its original Aramaic name.

History

Background: Jewish/Idumean Betaris

In 68 CE, during the Jewish War,

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...

slaughtered or enslaved the inhabitants of ''Betaris''. According to

: "When he had seized upon two villages, which were in the very midst of

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...

, Betaris, and Caphartobas, he slew above ten thousand of the people, and carried into captivity above a thousand, and drove away the rest of the multitude, and placed no small part of his own forces in them, who overran and laid waste the whole mountainous country." The settlement was demolished once again during the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ‎''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, ag ...

, 132–135 CE.

Roman and Byzantine Eleutheropolis

In the year 200, Roman Emperor

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...

gave it the status of a city under a new

name, ''Eleutheropolis'', meaning "City of the Free", and its inhabitants were given the '' ius italicum''. Coins minted by Septimius Severus bear the date January 1, 200, commemorating its founding and the title of ''polis''. Eleutheropolis became one of the most important cities in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

. The city was then inhabited by

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

and

pagans Pagans may refer to: * Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire * Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices * Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the ''Thief'' video game series * Pagan's M ...

. Seven routes met at Eleutheropolis, and

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

, in his ''Onomasticon'', uses the Roman milestones indicating the city as a central point from which the distances of other towns were measured. Beit Gubrin (Eleutheropolis) is shown on the Peutinger map between Jerusalem and

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border wit ...

, and listed at a distance of 32 miles from Jerusalem. Eleutheropolis was a "City of Excellence" in the fourth century and a Christian

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

with the largest territory in Palaestina: its first known bishop is Macrinus, who attended the Council of Nicaea in 325.

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He ...

, the bishop of Salamis in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, was born at Eleutheropolis; at Ad nearby he established a monastery which is often mentioned in the polemics of

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

with Rufinus and John, Bishop of Jerusalem. Epiphanius mentions that Akouas, a disciple of

Mani Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

, had been the first to spread

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (A ...

in Eleutheropolis and the rest of Palestine during the reign of

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited ...

(270-275 AD). The Madaba Map (dated 542-570 CE) shows Eleutheropolis as a walled city with three towers, a curving street with a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

in the central part and an important

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

. In the centre is a building with a yellowish-white dome on four columns. Eleutheropolis was last mentioned in the ancient sources by the near contemporary

itinerarium An ''itinerarium'' (plural: ''itineraria'') was an ancient Roman travel guide in the form of a listing of cities, villages ( ''vici'') and other stops on the way, including the distances between each stop and the next. Surviving examples include ...

of the Piacenza Pilgrim, about 570. At Eleutheropolis, according to the

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

, fifty soldiers of the garrison of Gaza, who had refused to deny Christ were beheaded in 638: later a church was built in their honor. In 796, the city was again destroyed in civil warfare.

19th century identification

In 1838, American scholar Edward Robinson identified Bayt Jibrin as the site of ancient Eleutheropolis. Eleutheropolis remains a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

.Eleutheropolis in Palaestina (Titular See)
/ref>

References

External links

* Edward Robinson
Biblical researches in Palestine, 1838-52. ''A journal of travels in the year 1838.'' (1856) p. 57ff: Eleutheropolis
in ''The Madaba Map Centenary 1897-1997'', (Jerusalem) pp 244–246. Eleutheropolis in the late Roman and Byzantine period

Eleutheropolis
''Jewish Encyclopedia'':
"Eleutheropolis"
pictures of Eleutheropolis
*Early pictures of mosaics at Eleutheropolis, many now in Istanbul:
Mosaic of warrior, (approximately 1900 to 1926)

Mosaic of tethered horse, (approximately 1900 to 1926)

Another view of mosaic floor, (approximately 1900 to 1926)

Mosaic of Greek inscription, (approximately 1900 to 1926)

Mosaic of maiden with fruit, (approximately 1900 to 1926)

Mosaic of maiden with fruit, (approximately 1900 to 1926)
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Israel Roman sites in Israel Former populated places in Southwest Asia 200s establishments in the Roman Empire 8th-century disestablishments in the Abbasid Caliphate 790s disestablishments District of Hebron de:Bet Guwrin