Hippos

Hippos was a Greco- Roman city in Palestine, built on a low hill at the foot of the Golan Heights, about 350m above and 2 km east of the Sea of ​​Galilee. The town was a small, immediately on the lakeside port facility. Hippos belonged to the Decapolis, a loose coalition of Greek and Roman cities.

The city's name supposedly stems from an aesthetic point of the hill on which it is situated. Seen from above, it is vaguely reminiscent of the head and neck of a horse, which is why she received the Greek name hippos ( "horse" ). The Aramaic name Susita also means " horse". The Arabic name el- Husn Qal means " fortress of the horse ". Alternative spellings ( hippus and Latinized Hippum are occupied ).

Excavations

Initial studies were in 1885, carried out by the German archaeologist Gottlieb Schumacher, however, mistakenly identified the location as Gadara.

First excavations were carried out 1951-1955 by the Israeli archaeologist Claire Epstein. She found a Byzantine church, probably the seat of the Bishop of Hippo. After the end of the excavations, the Israeli army as the Greeks of antiquity used the hill as a fortress until the occupation of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War.

In 2000, a further excavation began under the direction of Arthur Segal (University of Haifa). The excavations, which are expected to last until 2010, focus on six excavation sites:

• The Roman Forum,
• A small Roman temple ( imperial cult ),
• A large Hellenistic temple
• The Roman city gates and
• Two Byzantine churches.