Between Gaulanitis and Hippos: The Roman Road in the Southern Golan Heights in Context

Abstract

The Roman road that transverses the southern Golan is one of the best-preserved ancient roads in the region. The present study provides new evidence regarding its route, its date of construction and abandonment, and its military-administrative and geospatial relationship with the surrounding landscape and settlements. The research combines diverse methodologies, including historical cartographic data, survey, excavation, a mobility model of the region and visibility predictive analysis for watchtower positions. The results suggest that the road was constructed in the second half of the 2nd century CE. A system of watchtowers existed along it, and it apparently did not serve as a vital artery between the nearby villages and the road itself.

Keywords:

• Roman roads
• Roman watchtowers
• Archaeological GIS
• Roman administration
• Spatial analysis
• Hippos territorium

Disclosure statement

The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 The administrative boundaries in the Southern Levant in the Roman–Byzantine period have been extensively surveyed (Avi-Yonah 1966; Safrai 1980; Hartal 2006: 353–365). While the northern boundary of the Hippos territorium in the southern Golan is contested, it is generally considered to lie north of Naḥal Samakh (Ben David 2019: 290). Recent research on settlement patterns and connectivity in the region suggests that it lay near the Roman road (Pažout and Eisenberg 2021).

2 For the Roman road system in the Golan, see Schumacher 1888: 61–62; 1920; Urman 1985: 112–113; Maʿoz 1993: 537; Roll 2009. For the previous surveys and excavations along the road under scrutiny, see Hartal 2012; Hartal and Ben Efraim 2012a: Site No. 79; 2012b: Site Nos. 103, 104, 111 and 114; Maʿoz 1982; Zingboym 2008; Tepper and Tepper 2013: 134–135. The milestones catalogued by the Israel Milestone Committee along the road are: IMC 212, 250, 293, 408, 409, 415, 417–419, 423, 464 and 468 (https://milestones.kinneret.ac.il/en/info-about-milestones/north/). For newly published relevant milestones (IMC 212 and 250), see Staab, Pažout and Eisenberg 2020.

3 One Roman mile equals approximately 1,480 m (but compare Bauzou 1998: 133–134).

4 CFMN is based on directionless movement from the source point (Fábrega-Álvarez 2006). It computes the least-cost path for a source point that shows all easiest accessible routes for a given point (focal mobility network). These focal mobility networks for all points are then combined, and their density is computed in a 50 m search radius. Where mobility networks for multiple points converge, there they form natural corridors of movement (Déderix 2016). The CFMN was computed for 51 points spread evenly across the study region, using r.walk module in GRASS GIS. R.walk computes anisotropic cost of movement (direction dependent).

5 Co-directed by Micheal Eisenberg, Mechael Osband and Adam Pažout, Israel Antiquities Authority excavation permit no. G-4/2019.

6 Chaim Ben David, personal communication.

7 Available at GovMap portal, https://apq9h.app.goo.gl/WBdN

8 Although it is doubtful that the revolt and related military operations reached the Galilee and the Golan (Mor 2016: 152–173).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Pažout

Adam Pažout: The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel and Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University, Denmark

Michael Eisenberg

Michael Eisenberg: The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel; email: [email protected]

Mechael Osband

Mechael Osband: The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel; email: [email protected]