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According to Pliny the Elder ( Natural History 5.74), in the mid 1st century ce the 10 cities of the league were Scythopolis (modern Bet Sheʾan, Israel), Hippos, Gadara, Raphana, Dion (or Dium), Pella, Gerasa, Philadelphia (modern Amman, Jordan), Canatha, and Damascus (capital of modern Syria).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Pliny the Elder provided one of the earliest accounts of Decapolis, listing cities that were part of this group and noting the fluctuating number which could extend to up to 14 cities. His documentation offers insights into the variable definitions and perceptions of Decapolis throughout antiquity.
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Israel. Jordan. Syria. The Decapolis (Greek: Δεκάπολις, Dekápolis, 'Ten Cities') was a group of ten Greek Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BC and AD. They formed a group because of their language, culture, religion, location, and political status, with each ...
- Client state
May 8, 2018 · DECAPOLIS (Gr. "the ten cities"), league or administrative grouping of Syrian-Greek cities situated in southern Syria, the northern Jordan Valley, and in Transjordan in the Roman and Byzantine periods.
Oct 26, 2020 · Several cities are attributed to the Decapolis, among them Damascus, Canatha, Dion, Adraa, Gadara, Hippos, Abila, Capitolias, Gerasa, Philadelphia, Pella, and Nysa-Scythopolis. The number of cities belonging to the Decapolis varied. One list of cities of the Decapolis is provided by Pliny (NH 5.16.74).
- Achim Lichtenberger
- lichtenb@uni-muenster.de
Feb 16, 2018 · A combination of the different lists shows an eventual total of 17 or 18 cities, since the additional cities of Helopolis, Abila (Raphana?), Saana, Hina, Abila Lysanius, Capitolias, Edrei, and Samulis may have gained a semi-autonomous status and joined the group over time (Ptolemy, Geography, 5.14-22).
This particular league seems to have been constituted about the time of Pompey's campaign in Syria, 65 B.C., by which several cities in Decapolis dated their eras. They were independent of the local tetrarchy, and answerable directly to the governor of Syria. They enjoyed the rights of association and asylum; they struck their own coinage, paid ...
