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Raphanea

Coordinates: 34°56′03″N 36°23′48″E / 34.93417°N 36.39667°E / 34.93417; 36.39667
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(Redirected from Rafanīya)
Raphanea
الرفنية
1936 aerial view of Raphanea
Raphanea is located in Syria
Raphanea
Shown within Syria
LocationSyria
RegionHama Governorate
Coordinates34°56′03″N 36°23′48″E / 34.93417°N 36.39667°E / 34.93417; 36.39667

Raphanea or Raphaneae (Ancient Greek: Ῥαφάνεια;[1] Arabic: الرفنية, romanizedal-Rafaniyya; colloquial: Rafniye) was a city of the late Roman province of Syria Secunda. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Apamea.

History

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Josephus mentions Raphanea in connection with a river Σαββατικον, referred now to as Sambatiyon that flowed only every seventh days (probably an intermittent spring now called Fuwar ed-Deir) and that was viewed by Titus on his way northward from Berytus after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.[2]

Near Emesa, Raphanea was the fortified headquarters of the Legio III Gallica from which was launched the successful bid of 14-year-old Elagabalus to become Roman Emperor in 218.[3]

Raphanea issued coins under Elagabalus,[4] and many of its coins are extant.[5][6][7]

Hierocles[8] and Georgius Cyprius[9] mention Raphanea among the towns of Syria Secunda. The crusaders passed through it at the end of 1099; it was taken by Baldwin I and was given to the Count of Tripoli.[10] It was then known as Rafania.[11]

Episcopal see

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The only bishops of Raphanea known are:[11][12]

  • Bassianus, present at the Nicaea, 325;
  • Gerontius at Philippopolis, 344;
  • Basil at Constantinople, 381;
  • Lampadius at Chalcedon, 451;
  • Zoilus about 518;
  • Nonnus, 536.

The see is mentioned as late as the 10th century in the Notitia episcopatuum of Antioch.[11][13]

References

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  1. ^ Emil Schürer (2014). "A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ: Two Divisions in Five Volumes". Aeterna Press.
  2. ^ Josephus, The War of the Jews or The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, book 7, chapter 5, 1
  3. ^ Jasper Burns, Great Women of Imperial Rome (Routledge 2006 ISBN 978-1-13413185-3), p. 209
  4. ^ Kevin Butcher, Roman Syria and the Near East (Getty Publications 2003 ISBN 978-0-89236715-3), p. 117
  5. ^ American Numismatic Society: Raphanea
  6. ^ Elagabalus AE21mm Raphanea in Syria
  7. ^ Raphanea Genius Coin
  8. ^ Synecdemus, 712, 8.
  9. ^ 870 (Heinrich Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis romani, 44)
  10. ^ "Historiens des croisades", passim; Rey in "Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de France", Paris, 1885, 266.
  11. ^ a b c Sophrone Pétridès, "Rhaphanaea" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1912)
  12. ^ Le Quien, "Oriens christianus", II, 921.
  13. ^ Vailhé, "Échos d'Orient", X, 94.
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