Rabba

Government

Rabbath - Moab (Arabic ربة, DMG Rabbah Rabbath - Moba also, ar - Rabbah, Areopolis ) is an ancient city in Jordan, which is located in the heartland of the former Moab, about 15 kilometers north of Kerak. They must be distinguished from Rabbat -Ammon, the present-day Amman, which is sometimes referred to in the Bible only as Rabbah; the word means Rabba big city.

Name

Although Rabbath - Moab is located in the heartland of Moab, it is unclear what significance the place had in the heyday of Moab, and as he was called. A long time it was considered certain that it constitutes the Biblical Ar - Moab ( eg, Isa 15:1), but this is currently being doubted; some authors even doubt that with Ar of Moab, a town was called. Anyway, the place was known since the Hellenistic period as Rabbath - Moab or Rabbath - Moba; He served as the capital of the country Moabitis.

Rabbath - Moab was in ancient times under the name Graecized Areopolis, ' Ares City ', is known. The lack of clarity regarding the relationship of Rabbath - Moab and Ar of Moab is also reflected in the place names contrary: I.Benzinger said in 1896 in an article for the Encyclopaedia of classical antiquity studies, there were two cities named Areopolis, one was with Rabbath - Moab equate, the other with Ar of Moab.

In the Tabula Peutingeriana Rabbath - Moab appears as Rababatora; in this name the place names Rabbah bed and Horus seem to have been drawn together.

History

Before integration into the Roman province of Arabia Petraea in 106 Rabbat-Moab/Areopolis belonged to the kingdom of the Nabataeans; in the Roman - Byzantine period it became an important administrative center. Via nova Traiana joined Rabbat-Moab/Areopolis with the provincial capital Bosra and the old Nabatean capital of Petra. The remains of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian temple dedicated to exist today.

At the time of Diocletian, was (now Al- Lejjun ) built during the construction of the Limes Arabicus, east of Areopolis in bed Horus the camp of the Legion Legio IV Martia; previously was apparently not necessary a correspondingly strong defense of this border region of the Roman Empire. The nickname Martia is perhaps derived from the name of God Ares in Areopolis.

The church father Jerome mentions in his Isaiah commentary (XV ), that in his youth, a severe earthquake had destroyed Areopolis, probably in the year 363; this earthquake also destroyed the Legion camp in bed Horus. More serious earthquake occurred 505 and 551

According to Sozomen ( Historia Ecclesiastica VII, 15,11 ) the pagan cults of Areopolis and Petra defended themselves still stubbornly to 385 against the advancing Christianity; Areopolis but then became a bishopric of the church province of Palaestina Tertia, the first bishop is attested for the year 449. Formally, there is still the appropriate Catholic titular Areopolis; the most famous was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli Titular, the future Pope John XXIII.

The historian Sebeos reported by the victory of a Muslim army under Abu Ubaidah over a Byzantine army under Theodoros, brother of the Emperor Heraclius, in Areopolis; the city fell to 633 or 634 as the first Byzantine city to the Arabs.

During the time of the Crusades, the city was raised as Rabba Moabitis briefly to one of the four metropolitan cities of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, adjacent to Tyre, Caesarea and Nazareth. Originally, Petra was the capital of Palestine Tertia; but the Crusaders had no knowledge of where the ancient Petra was located, or identified Rabba Moabitis easy with Petra. The Crusaders also to confuse Rabbath - Moab with Rabbath -Ammon tended.

During the late Middle Ages, the town was abandoned and fell into disrepair. When the orientalist Alois Musil in 1902 visited the ruins of the city, but he could still haunt parts of the Roman-Byzantine city wall. It was not until around 1930 created a new settlement; by the influx of Palestinian refugees, the population grew to several thousand to (now about 9000 ).