Amathus ( or ; in Eusebius, . was a fortified city east of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

, in modern-day

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Location

Its ruins may be those of Tell Ammata in the Jordan Valley or perhaps of Tell Hammeh. Both sites are in

, west of

Gerasa Jerash (; , , ) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman. The earliest evidence of settl ...

and south of

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

. The first is at the mouth of Wadi Rajib, and the second - a little south, on the mouth of Jabbok river. Tell Mghanni up the Jabbok, and Tell el-Hammam near the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

, have also been suggested.

History

At the beginning of the 1st century BC, Amathus was an important fortress held by Theodorus, son of the

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

Zeno Kotoulas of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In about 100 BC,

Alexander Jannaeus Alexander Jannaeus ( , English: "Alexander Jannaios", usually Latinised to "Alexander Jannaeus"; ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judaea from 103 to 76 BCE. ...

captured but could not retain it, and therefore, a few years later, he razed it."Amathus (the modern 'Amateh)" in ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
/ref> It was possibly the seat of one of the five districts into which

Aulus Gabinius Aulus Gabinius ( – 48 or 47 BC) was a politician and general of the Roman Republic. He had an important career, culminating with a consulship in 58 BC, mainly thanks to the patronage of Pompey. His name is mostly associated with the '' le ...

divided Palestine a few decades later.John Wilkes (editor), ''Encyclopaedia Londinensis'', article "Palestine", vol. 18, p. 273
/ref> Amathus was part of the

Herodian kingdom The Herodian kingdom was a client state of the Roman Republic, later Roman Empire, ruled from 37 to 4 BCE by Herod the Great, who was appointed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate. When Herod died, the kingdom was divided among his sons into ...

and then of

Judaea Province Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 135 CE, which at its height encompassed the regions of Judea, Idumea, Peraea, Samaria, and Galilee, as well as parts of the coastal plain of the southern Levant. At its height, it encompassed much of ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

from 44 AD. From 135 to about 390, Amathus belonged to the province of

Syria Palaestina Syria Palaestina ( ) was the renamed Roman province formerly known as Judaea, following the Roman suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, in what then became known as the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The pr ...

, formed after the defeat of the

Bar Kokhba Revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD) was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels succeeded ...

, by a merge of

Roman Syria Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great, who had become the protector of the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria. ...

and Judaea. In about 390, it became part of the newly created province of

Palaestina Prima Palaestina Prima or Palaestina I was a Byzantine province that existed from the late 4th century until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, in the region of Palestine. It was temporarily lost to the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) in ...

, whose capital was

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea () also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Judaea (Roman province), ...

Bishopric

The names of four ancient bishops of Amathus are known. Theodosius took part if the

Robber Council The Second Council of Ephesus was a Christological church synod in 449 convened by Emperor Theodosius II under the presidency of Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria. It was intended to be an ecumenical council, and it is accepted by the miaphysite ...

of Ephesus in 449. Sergius is mentioned in the Life of Saint Saba by Cyril of Scythopolis and may have lived around the year 500. In 518, Procopius signed the letter of the bishops of Palestine to

Patriarch John II of Constantinople John of Cappadocia, surnamed ''Cappadox'' or ''the Cappadocian'' (Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ Καππαδόκης; died February 520), was patriarch of Constantinople in 518–520, during the reign of Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus af ...

against

Severus of Antioch Severus of Antioch (; ), also known as Severus of Gaza, or the Crown of Syrians (; ), was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 512 until his death in 538. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Church ...

. Dorotheus signed the acts of the synod of 538 attended by the bishops of all three Roman provinces of Palaestina Prima,

Palaestina Secunda Palaestina Secunda or Palaestina II was a province of the Byzantine Empire from 390, until its conquest by the Muslim armies in 634–636. Palaestina Secunda, a part of the Diocese of the East, roughly comprised inland Galilee, the Jezreel Valley ...

, and

Palaestina Salutaris Palaestina Salutaris or Palaestina Tertia was a Late Roman and Byzantine province, which covered the area of the Negev, Sinai (except the north-western coast) and south-west of Transjordan, south of the Dead Sea. The province, a part of the Dio ...

. No longer a residential bishopric, Amathus in Palaestina is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as 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 ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 830

References

{{Authority control Catholic titular sees in Asia Lost ancient cities and towns Ancient cities of the Middle East Fortified settlements Disestablishments in the Hasmonean Kingdom 1st-millennium BC establishments Transjordan (region)