Scythopolis
Scythopolis
A titular metropolitan of Palaestina Secunda. It is the ancient Bethsan so often mentioned in the Bible, as proved by texts in the writings of Josephus. Its Greek name Scythopolis is very likely derived from a colony of Scythians who invaded Palestine in the seventh century B.C. (Herodotus, I, 103-5), and left some of their number behind (Pliny, “Hist. natur.”, V, 16; John Malalas, “Chronographia”, V, in P.G. XCVII, 236; George Syncellus, “Chronographia”, 214 etc.). The earliest known use of the name is in II Mach., xii, 29, and in the Greek text of Judith, iii, 10. Although Scythopolis was the only town situated on the right bank of the Jordan, it was the capital of Decapolis and in the fourth century became the civil and ecclesiastical metropolis of Palestina Secunda. Several bishops are known. Patropnilus, intimate friend of Arius and his adherents, assisted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and at various councils of the Arians till 360. Cruel and fanatical, he ill treated the Catholic bishops exiled to Scythopolis, especially St. Eusebius of Vercelli. He was deposed by the Council of Seleucia in 359 and died soon after; his remains were desecrated by the pagans in 361. We may also mention Philip and Athanasius, both Arians; Saturninus, present at the Council of Constantinople in 381; Theodosius, friend of St. John Crysostom; Acacius, friend of St. Cyril of Alexandria; St. Servianus, killed by Monophysites in 452, honoured on 21 February; John, who wrote in defence of the Council of Chalcedon; Theodore, who about 553 was compelled to sign an anti-origenist profession of faith, still preserved (Le Quien, “Oriens christianus.” III, 681-94).
At the time of Frankish occupation, the see was transferred to Nazareth; the Greeks long preserved the Sees of Scythopolis and Nazareth, but only the latter now exists. Among illustrious Christians of Scythopolis were: St. Procopius, martyr (8 July), who belonged to the clergy of the town (Delehaye, “Les Légendes hagiographiques”, Paris, 1905, 144-6); Asterius, commentator of the Psalms in the fourth century, cited with praise by St. Jerome; Cyril, charming historian of monastic life in Palistine, who wrote seven lives of saints. In the sixth century there were four churches at Scythopolis, dedicated to St. Thomas, St. John, St Procopius, and St. Basil, a local martyr. Many monks lived in the town and its environs, occupied in making baskets and fans from the palms in the neighboring forests (Sozomen, “Hist. ecclés.”, VIII, 13); with them the four Tall Brothers took refuge when expelled from Egypt by the patriarch Theophilus for so called origenist ideas. In 634 the Greeks were defeated by the Arabs in the marshes of Bethsan; in 1182 the little town fought valiantly against Saladin. Today Beisan is a Mussulman village, situated by the railway from Caipha to Mzerib in the Hauran. The ancient ruins still exist, especially those of the theatre which measures 130 metres in half-circumference; the ruined acropolis stands in the hill of Kalat el Hosn. The climate is charming, the land very fertile and well watered. Rabbi Simon ben Lakish said: “If paradise is in Palestine, its gate is at Beisan”.
———————————–
SMITH, Dict. Gr. and Roman Geog., s. v. Bethsan; ROBINSON. Biblical Researches, 326-9; Survey of Western Palestine. Mémoires 11 (London, 1882), 101-13; NEUBAUER, La géographie du Talmud (Paris, 1868), 174 sqq.; GUÉRIN, Description de la Palestine Samarie, I (Paris, 1874), 284-98; LEGENDRE in Dict. de la Bible, s. v. Bethsan; BOUILLON in Echos d’Orient, I, 371-8; THOMPSEN, Loca sacta (Halle. 1907), 106.
S. VAILHÉ Transcribed by Jeffrey L. Anderson
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Scythopolis
( ; Peshito- Syriac, Beisan; Vulg. ciritas Scytharum), that is, “the city of the Seythians,” occurs in the A. V. of Jdt 3:10 and 2Ma 12:29 only. In the Sept. of Jdg 1:27, however, it is inserted (in both the great MSS.) as the synonym of Beth-shean (q.v.), and this identification is confirmed by the narrative of 1Ma 5:52, a parallel account to that of 2Ma 12:29, as well as by the repeated statements of Josephus (Ant. v, 1, 22; 6:14, 8; 12:8, 5). He uniformly gives the name in the contracted shape (), in which it is also given by Eusebius (Onomast. passim), Pliny (H.N, v, 18), Strabo (xvi), etc., and which is inaccurately followed in the A.V. Polybius (v, 70, 4) employs the fuller form of the Sept. Beth-shean has now, like so many other places in the Holy Land, regained its ancient name, and is known as Beisan only. A mound close to it on the west is called Tell Shuk, in which it is perhaps just possible that a trace of Scythopolis may linger. But although there is no doubt whatever of the identity of the place there is considerable difference of opinion as to the origin of the name. The Sept. (as is evident from the form in which they present it) and Pliny (H. N. v, 16) attribute it to the Scythians, who, in the words of the Byzantine historian George Syncellus, “overran Palestine and took possession of Baisan, which from them is called Scythopolis.” This has been in modern times generally referred to the invasion recorded by Herodotus (i, 104-106), when the Scythians, after their occupation of Media, passed through Palestine on their road to Egypt (about B.C. 600 a few years before the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar), a statement now recognised as a real fact, though some of the details may be open to question (Rawlinson’s Herod. i, 246). It is not at all improbable that either on their passage through, or on their return after being repulsed by Psammetichus (Herod. i, 105), some Scythians may have settled in the country (Ewald, Gesch. iii, 694, note); and no place would be more likely to attract them than Beisan fertile, most abundantly watered, and in an excellent military position. In the then state of the Holy Land they would hardly meet with much resistance. SEE SCYTHIAN.
Reland, however (apparently incited thereto by his doubts of the truth of Herodotus’s account), discarded this explanation, and suggested that Scythopolis was a corruption of Succothopolis the chief town of the district of Succoth. In this he is supported by Gesenius (,Votes to Burckhardt, p. 1058) and by Grimm (Exeg. Handbuch on 1Ma 5:52). Sinee, however, the objection of Reland to the historical truth of Herodotus is now removed, the necessity for this suggestion (certainly most ingenious) seems not to exist. The distance of Succoth from Beisan, if we identify the former with Sakut, is ten miles; while if the arguments of Mr. Beke are valid, it would be nearly double as far. It is surely gratuitous to suppose that so large, independent, and important a town as Beth-shean was in the earlier history, and as the remains show it to have been in the Greek period, should have taken its name from a comparatively insignificant place at a long distance from it. Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. iii, 330) remarks with justice that had the Greeks derived the name from Succoth, they would have employed that name in its translated form as , and the compound would have been Scenopolis. Reland’s derivation is also dismissed without hesitation by Ewald, on the ground that the two names Succoth and Skythes have nothing in common (Gesch. iii, 694, note). Dr. Robinson suggests that, after all, City of the Scythians may be right, the word Scythia being used, as in the New Test., as equivalent to a barbarian or savage. In this sense he thinks it may have been applied to the wild Arabs, who then, as now, inhabited the Ghor, and at times may have had possession of Beth-shean.
The Canaanites were never expelled from Beth-shean, and the heathen appear to have always maintained a footing there. It is named in the Mishna as the seat of idolatry (Aboda Zara, i, 4), and as containing a double population Jews and heathens. At the beginning of the Roman war (A.D. 65), the heathen rose against the Jews and massacred a large number, according to Josephus (War, ii, 18, 3) no less than 13,000, in a wood or grove close to the town. Scythopolis was the largest city of the Decapolis, and the only one of the ten which lay west of Jordan. By Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v.” Bethsau”) it is characterized as and urbs nobilis. It was surrounded by a district of its own of the most abundant fertility. It became the seat of a Christian bishop, and its name is found in the lists of signatures as late as the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 536. The latest mention of it under the title of Scythopolis is probably that of William of Tyre (22:16, 26). He mentions it as if it was then actually so called, carefully explaining that it was formerly Bethshan. SEE BETH- SHEAN.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Scythopolis
SCYTHOPOLIS.See Beth-shean.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Scythopolis
s-thopo-lis, si-thopo-lis. See BETH-SHEAN.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Scythopolis
Scythop’olis. See Beth-Shean.