Hippos (Golan Heights)

Hippos (Ancient Greek: Ἵππος, lit. 'Horse') or Sussita (Aramaic, Hebrew: סוסיתא) is an ancient city and archaeological site located on a hill 2 km east of the Sea of Galilee, attached by a topographical saddle to the western slopes of the Golan Heights.

Hippos was a Hellenistic city in the northern Jordan Valley, and a long-time member of the Decapolis, a group of ten cities more closely tied to the Greco-Roman culture than to the local Semitic-speaking population. Later, Hippos became a predominantly Christian city, which declined towards the end of the Byzantine period and throughout the Early Muslim period, and was abandoned after the 749 earthquake.

Hippos was built on a flat-topped foothill 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of and 350 metres (1,150 ft) above the Sea of Galilee, 144 metres (472 ft) above sea level, near Ein Gev.

Besides the fortified city itself, Hippos had a harbor on the Sea of Galilee and a large area of the surrounding hinterland (Hippos' Territorium).

The city was founded in the mid-second century BCE as Antioch of Hippos (Ἀντιόχεια τοῦ Ἵππου) Hippos is Greek for horse and a common name among Seleucid monarchs. In the 5th-7th century Mosaic of Rehob, the site is identified by its Aramaic name, Sussita (Hebrew: סוסיתא) also meaning "horse". In Arabic it is Qal'at al-Ḥiṣn or Qal'at al-Ḥuṣn (قلعة الحصن) meaning "Fortress of the Horse/Stallion". Alternate spellings include Hippus, a Latinized version of the Greek name. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi identified the Land of Tob mentioned in Judges 11 as identical with Hippos.

Archaeological evidence shows habitation at Hippos from the Early/Middle Chalcolithic period.

The site was re-inhabited in the third century BCE by the Ptolemies, though whether it was an urban settlement or a military outpost is still unknown. During this time, Coele-Syria served as the battleground between two dynasties descending from captains of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. It is likely that Hippos, on a very defensible site along the border lines of the 3rd century BCE, was founded as a border fortress for the Ptolemies. The city of Hippos itself was established by Seleucid colonists, most likely in the middle of the second century BCE. Its full name, Antiochia Hippos (Latin: Antiocheia ad Hippum), reflects a Seleucid founding.

As the Seleucids took possession of all of Coele-Syria, Hippos grew into a full-fledged polis, a city-state with control over the surrounding countryside. Antiochia Hippos was improved with all the makings of a Greek polis: a temple, a central market area, and other public structures. The availability of water limited the size of Hellenistic Hippos. The citizens relied on rain-collecting cisterns for all their water; this kept the city from supporting a very large population.