SUSITA/HIPPOS

An archaeological site on the Golan Heights & a present day FISH RESTURANT.

Susita, is an ancient town located on the Golan Heights that overlooks the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The town covers an area of approxiamately 650 x 170 meters & sits 350 meters above the Kinneret. First inhabited during the Hellinistic period ( 332 B.C.E. – 167 B.C.E ) & named Hippos, meaning horse in Greek. The name being derived from the shape of the site plan which resembles a horse's back. The name Susita is the Hebrew equivalent of the name, sus meaning horse in Hebrew.

The town was annexed by the Jews under the leadership of Alexander Yannai during the Hasmonean period ( 167 B.C.E – 63 B.C.E) & later conquered by the Roman general Pompey. The Roman period ( 63 B.C.E – 324 C.E ) saw the town being transformed into a gentile city. Ceaser Augustus gave the city to Herod (37 B.C.E - 4 B.C.E. ) but annexed it to the province of Syria on Herod's death. Concurrent with the great Jewish revolt againts Rome, ( 66 C.E – 73 C.E ) the gentile residents attacked & slaughtered it's Jewish inhabitants. After the second Jewish revolt against Rome, namely the Bar Kochba revolt, (132 C.E. – 135 C.E) the city became one of the 10 Decopolis cities. These were cities located on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the south/eastern Levant which functioned as semi-autonomous city states. The city minted it's own coins which bore the figure of a horse. In order to boost the water supply to the city, Roman engineers built two 25 kilometer aquiducts from the Samach brook to the east of the site which traversed the valley to the eastern gate & in addition employed a reverse siphoning technique enabling water to travel upwards. The Byzantine period (324 C.E. – 638 C.E), saw the city became the seat of the Bishopric - the office of the Bishop. During the initial part of the early Arab period ( 638 C.E. – 1099 C.E ) the city was named Qal'at al-Husn, but was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 C.E, & has since remained in ruins.

Syria occupied the Golan at the start of the War of Independence in 1948. Susita overlooks Kibbutz En Gev, thus enabling the Syrians to subject the kibbutz to a constant barrage of artiliary & rifle fire for nineteen years until the 6 day war in 1967, when the Israel Defence Forces captured the site.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS & FOOD :

EAST GATE : Entrance to the site is via the east gate. The pathway to the gate is bordered on either side by a fence which is well sign posted & warns visitors not to stray off the path as there are remaining landmines planted by the Syrian's during their occupation of the Golan. Of particular interest to me are the remains of a ROMAN AQUIDUCT SIPHON carved out of stone & located near the entrance gate.

DECUMANES : Typical of all Roman city planning throughout the empire are the north/south road known as the Cardo & the east/west road known as the Decumanus. In this case, the Decumanus is the most prominent of the two roads and is paved with basalt stone, a volcanic rock typical of the area.

ODEON : A mini semi-circular tiered theatre that could accommodate up to 600 people.

FORUM : The main public square common to all Roman cities.

KALYBE : A Roman temple dedicated to the Roman emperor.

FOUR BYZANTINE PERIOD CHURCHES : Remains of which are located in the North/West, North/East, South/West & South East portions of the site.

WINE & OIL PRESS : With domestic animals, the economic base of the community.

COLUMNS : The site houses both Greco and Roman type columns. The shafts of Roman columns being smooth, whilst the Greco column shafts are flutted. The direction in which the majority of columns have fallen bear witness to the earthquake of 749 C.E.

FOOD : For a delicious St Peters fish I can highly recommend the nearby Kibbutz En Gev fish resturant.

Ron Traub ( Tour Guide & Architect). Website : rontraub-tours.com Photo's : Rimonah Traub.