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PELLA

(Gk. Pḗlla)

A city in Transjordan (207206), modern Tabaqat Faḥil (from Sem. Piḥil[um], occurring in Egyptian texts as early as 1800 b.c.), 11 km. (7 mi.) SE of Scythopolis/Beth-shean and 8 km. (5 mi.) E of the Jordan River. It was prominent in the Roman period as a city of the Decapolis (Pliny Nat. hist. 5, 74). The city received the name Pella in the Hellenistic period, from the Macedonian home of Alexander the Great. Following a brief period of occupation in the Late Chalcolithic period (Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Pottery Neolithic sherds [8th-5th millennia] have also been found on the main tell), Pella’s history extends from the Bronze Age Egyptian era (e.g., tombs on the north, east, and south) into Late Hellenistic (destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus) and Roman times (Pompey’s conquest, 63 b.c.), through its zenith in the Byzantine era, and on into the Islamic periods.

Archaeological excavations at Pella have uncovered the West Church complex and considerable burial remains from the 17th century b.c. to the 6th century a.d., excavated from the slope E of the 400 m. (1312 ft.)-long main tell. Also uncovered are a civic complex, extending from the low southern slope of the main tell and on down into the wadi; a complex composed of an odeon and bath of the Early Roman period; a Byzantine church; an East Church; and a Mamluk mosque. The city, which was already in decline in Late Byzantine times, finally collapsed in the earthquake of a.d. 747.

Bibliography. A. W. McNicoll, R. H. Smith, and J. B. Hennessy, Pella in Jordan, 1: 1979-1981 (Canberra, 1982); McNicoll et al., Pella in Jordan, 2: 1982-1985 (Sydney, 1992); R. H. Smith, Pella of the Decapolis, 1: 1967 (Wooster, 1973); Smith and L. P. Day, Pella of the Decapolis, 2: 1979-1981 (Wooster, 1989).

W. Harold Mare

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PELLA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)