Urban transformations through history: Romans’ legacy in Levantine cityscapes

AMMAN — The Near East was urbanised long before the conquests of Alexander the Great (356 BC – 323 BC) and his generals. When the Roman legions arrived in the area around 60 BC, the Levant already had sophisticated urban centres and civic culture for centuries. Due to the Greek military subjugation and political influence, Hellenistic ideas, language and taste became dominant while Greek became the common language, particularly among elites. However, there were other religious cults and myriad of other traditions that together created a mosaic of teachings and belief systems.

From the creation of the province of Syria in 64 BC by General Pompey, to the victory of the Muslims in the Battle of Yarmuk in the 7th century, the Roman Empire in the East underwent a clear transformation. 

“The Roman identity of the Republic and early Empire was successively merging with the local ones, creating new mentalities and religious practices,” said a Spanish scholar, adding that these interactions with indigenous cultures and the non-static character of the “Romanism” affected the urban style of the eastern Roman cities. 

Instead of funding new cities ex-novo, the Romans limited themselves to overlay distinctive features on pre-existing settlements. 

“These new elements might be representative public buildings such as theatres. But, most relevant for us is the introduction of one or more thoroughfares. These have been identified with processional ways in some cases, as the cardus of Gerasa [Jerash] or regarded as a dominating feature in the cityscape, which could have reflected ancient astrological beliefs,” said Andrea Rodriguez-Anton from the Spanish National Research Council.

Although the definition of Decapolis is still vague, ancient writers such as Pliny, who listed the ten cities that form Decapolis, mentioned it. Scholars studied eight cities from Decapolis as well as some military camps in the same area.

This situation arose mainly as a result of the stability in the 2nd century AD. The complex of military structures and camps formed the Limes Arabicus and were interlinked through communication roads, such as the Via Nova Traiana, which spanned from Bosra to Ayla (Aqaba). 

“Based on all these facts, and following the line of previous archaeo-astronomical studies on Roman urbanism, we would like to learn how the Romans adapted their traditions in this region. With this information, we seek to compare the results of the present work with those obtained in the western provinces of the Roman Empire,” Rodriguez-Anton underlined. 

Ancient treatises testify about a connection between astronomical observations and city layouts. 

“Since architecture was a key component in the consolidation of Roman power over the settled lands, we have analysed the orientation of many Roman cities and military settlements in modern day Jordan, Syria and Palestine. 

The sample consists of the measurements of the azimuth and the altitude of the horizon of the main urban features of 13 Roman cities, as well as the main axes of 17 forts and fortresses built and occupied in Roman times,” Rodriguez-Anton underlined. 

In the case of the cities, those features are their principal streets, except for Philadelphia (present-day Amman) where scholars have considered the sides of the forum. 

Typical main streets were cardus and decumanus, running north-south, she said.

“Even when the Romans populated those cities and introduced their own distinctive features, they would not change the entire layout. This does not mean that they had nothing to do in the reorganisation of the urban space but, in several cases, they probably limited themselves to adapting what they found to the Roman style,” said Rodriguez-Anton.

Nabataean capital Petra was included in the research because of colonnaded streets built by the Roman as well as a military camp Umm Al Jamal.

The orientation of the main streets and roads corresponded with the Solstice and it was related to the religious festivals of the Roman military and public institutions, Rodriguez-Anton added.