Pella, Jordan
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-17

Pella, Jordan, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1008575 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Archaeological_sites_in_Jordan
#Roman_towns_and_cities_in_Jordan
#Decapolis
#Former_populated_places_in_Jordan
Pella （Greek: Πέλλα, Hebrew: פחל） is located in northwest Jordan at a rich water source within the eastern foothills of the Jordan Valley,
close to the modern village of Ṭabaqat Faḥl （Arabic: طبقة فحل） some 27 km （17 mi） south of the Sea of Galilee （Lake Tiberias）.
The site is situated 130 km （81 mi） north of Amman: a drive of about an hour and a half （due to the difficult terrain）, and hour by car from Irbid, in the north of the country.
Today, the city's ruins - predominately temples, churches, and housing - have been partially excavated by teams of archaeologists; they attract thousands of tourists annually but especially in spring,
during which time the area is awash with spring flowers.
The Semitic name of the ancient, pre-Hellenistic site, was Pahil or Pihil.
Pehal is the name under which the city is mentioned in early Egyptian （Bronze Age） historical texts.
Pella is the name of Alexander the Great's birthplace in Macedonia.
It is not known （as of 2006） who founded the Hellenistic town of Pella in Transjordan, which makes it hard to assess who exactly gave it its Greek name and precisely why.
Stephanos （fl. 6th century CE）, a quite late source, seems to indicate that it was founded by Alexander himself, and Ptolemy III Euergetes is another possible founder.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites write that it was founded by veterans of Alexander's army, and named it after the Pella in Greece which was the birthplace of Alexander.
Getzel M. Cohen sees it as plausible that the name Pella was chosen either due to its similarity with the older Semitic name, or due to a common characteristic of both the Macedonian and Transjordan sites: their richness in springs.
For the Greek meaning of the name, see the Etymology paragraph in the article on the original Pella....