Hippos Sussita
- Albert Benhamou
- 10 hours ago
- 9 min read
The National Parks Authority in Israel recently opened the archaeological site of Hippos Sussita, on the slopes of the Golan Heights facing Lake Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee). This article takes you on a journey to discover this site and its history.
Origin of the Name
The site is located on a narrow, steep plateau on either side, giving the impression, with a little imagination, of a horse's saddle. This characteristic gave it its name in Greek, Hippos, meaning Horse. Sussita is the same name in Aramaic. The Romans called it Antiocheia ad Hippum in Latin, meaning Antioch of the Horse. The Arabs called it Qal'at al-Hisn, meaning Fortress of the Horse.
Ancient History
According to the Jerusalem Talmud, the region of Hippos Sussita was where Jephthah (Yiftah), the future biblical judge, settled with his band of raiders:
There was then a valiant warrior, Jephthah the Gileadite; he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilad was his father. But Gilad's wife also bore him sons. When these sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, saying to him, "You have no right to our father's inheritance, for you are the son of a foreign woman." Jephthah had to leave his brothers and went to settle in the land of Tov (אֶרֶץ טוֹב). There he became the center of a band of adventurers, who raided with him. (Judges 11:1-3)
The Talmudic text in question is as follows:
Jephthah settled in the land of Tov, which is Sussita. And why was it called Tov? Because it was exempt from tithing. (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shevi'it, 6:16)
It can be observed that Sussita is located just outside and to the north of the ancient biblical territory of Gad/Gilead (where Jephthah's family lived), and on the border with the pagan kingdom of Geshur further north.
Furthermore, the steep hill on which Sussita is situated was well-suited for establishing a fortified camp defensible on all sides. The only problem was finding water, an issue that must be resolved to establish a city, but one that posed no obstacle to a band of horsemen who could descend the hill and fill their water skins at the spring below.
Hellenistic period
Sussita's location was strategic because it allowed for the monitoring of the road coming from the Golan Heights along the eastern bank of Lake Kinneret. For this reason, during the Hellenistic period of the Ptolemies, when they ruled the land of Israel in the 3rd century BCE, the site of Sussita was used for a garrison. North of the Golan Heights lay the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom, which had a belligerent attitude toward the Ptolemies of Egypt and eventually conquered the land of Israel from their control in 200 BCE. It was the Seleucids who, after their conquest, established a city (a polis in Greek) on the site of Sussita and named it Antioch of Hippos, after Antioch, the name of their capital (in modern-day Syria). This Seleucid city did not expand much because, of course, the crucial problem was its water supply, which was met by digging cisterns to collect rainwater during the rainy season.
Hasmonean period
In 142 BCE, the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty began, following the Maccabean Revolt. This Hasmonean kingdom expanded as its kings reigned. It reached its zenith under the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, who conquered the territories east of the Jordan River, including Sussita. However, the settlement remained pagan.
Roman period
In 63 BCE, Pompey added to Rome realm its eastern territories, including the land of Israel. He employed a "divide and rule" strategy, extracting ten cities and their territories from the Hasmonean kingdom to create the Decapolis, meaning Ten Cities. These were primarily pagan cities. The capital of the Decapolis was Scythopolis (the city founded by Alexander the Great's Scythian mercenaries at the foot of the biblical city of Beth-Shean), which included Hippos-Sussita. The other eight cities of the Decapolis were located in what is now Jordan, including Amman, which at that time was called Philadelphia (and was previously the biblical city of Rabbath-Ammon).
Hippos-Sussita then gained independence, as the city created its own coinage, bearing the image of a horse (the symbol of Hippos). Furthermore, it counted the city's years from the conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE.
But in 37 BCE, Herod, appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate, was granted the territory of Sussita. Then, upon his death in 4 BCE, his kingdom was split between his sons and the territory along with the entire Golan Heights, including Hippos, was ceded to the Roman administration of Syria. The city, located on the eastern shore of Lake Kinneret, was opposite a new Jewish city, Tiberias, which was founded in 20 CE on the western shore by King Antipas, one of Herod's sons, and named in honor of Emperor Tiberius.
Jesus
A near-reference to Hippos-Sussita is found in the New Testament:
Jesus left the region of Tyre and returned by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee [Lake Kinneret], passing through the coasts of the Decapolis. A man who was deaf and could hardly speak was brought to him, and they begged Jesus to lay his hands on him. (Mark 7:31-32)
Jesus healed the deaf man in a city of the Decapolis, near the Sea of Galilee: this could only be the city of Hippos Sussita, close to the Sea of Galilee. From then on, Hippos Sussita held importance in the history of Christianity because, in effect, Jesus performed a miracle for Gentiles who, as a result, began to believe in him: this is the first instance of the "conversion" of Gentiles by Jesus.
Another text states:
"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)
According to commentators, the parable of the town built on a hill refers to Hippos-Sussita.
Roman city
Emperor Hadrian faced the last Jewish revolt against Rome, with Bar Kokhba. This revolt was quelled by several Roman legions, but not without heavy losses on both sides. Hadrian then decided to romanize the province of Judea and renamed it "Palestina." He established cities with Roman urban architecture, including Jerusalem, which was renamed Aelia Capitolina (to learn more, click here).
Hippos was also rebuilt according to the usual Roman urban planning, with a decumanus that bisects the city along an east-west axis.
To adorn the city, granite columns were imported from Egypt, and marble was brought from other Roman provinces. Later, Emperor Marcus Aurelius authorized Hippos to mint its own coins featuring a horse, the symbol of the city, and the image of the goddess Tyche: although Greek, Tyche was considered the guarantor of a city's prosperity.
But how to solve the problem of water supply? Water is plentiful in the area around Hippos, as the Golan Heights are full of springs and waterfalls, but it was necessary to channel it to the desired location. The urban planners arranged for water transport using gravity-fed canals, and to cross the deep valleys, they used stone conduits (visible at the Hippos site) to create an inverted siphon system. In this way, they succeeded in solving the water problem at Hippos, and the city could then develop, growing to several thousand inhabitants.
Christianity
By the Edict of Milan in 313, Emperor Constantine authorized Christianity in the Roman Empire. Given Hippos' importance as the region where Jesus had first converted pagans, the city was elevated to the status of a bishopric in 359. Over the years, the city became increasingly Christianized, especially under Emperor Theodosius, who, in 395, made Christianity the only religion permitted in the Roman Empire. From then on, it became necessary to baptize entire populations and allow for the celebration of Mass for a large number of worshippers. To accomplish this, the city's "basilica" was used. What was it? It was a large Roman public building, covered and surrounded by columns, serving as a place of justice, commerce, and assembly. When a city became Christian, these large halls were used as vast churches: these buildings of Roman, and therefore pagan, origin are still called basilicas today, but have since taken on a Christian context.
The remains of a "cathedral" can also be found in Hippos. The word comes from the Latin cathedralis, meaning "seat": it refers to a church that is the seat of a bishopric, i.e. where the bishop has his episcopal seat to govern his diocese. And, right next to it, there is a hall with a baptistery dating from the year 591, according to an inscription.
Over the years, no fewer than seven churches were built in Hippos. A distinctive feature of the city is that it exhibits two distinct periods of construction: at the beginning of Christianity, churches were built according to a T-shaped plan, with a single apse, and, from the 4th century onward, a plan with three naves, ending in three apses, was introduced. This plan was subsequently adopted as the model for all new churches at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
The End of Hippos Sussita
Around 640 CE, the Arabs conquered the land of Israel, renamed Palestine by Hadrian. During the first caliphate, that of the Umayyads, monotheistic religions were tolerated. However, the end of this caliphate was marked in 749 by a massive earthquake that destroyed most of the cities of Galilee, including Hippos-Susita. The last Byzantine Christians left the city, which never recovered from this destruction.
Archaeological excavations
The site had been known since the late 19th century, but excavations were not actually carried out until 1999, during annual seasons under the direction of Prof. Michael Eisenberg of the University of Haifa.
What to see at Hippos Sussita?
The site has been developed and opened to the public under the management of the National Parks. You enter from the east and follow the decumanus, which stretches for 500 meters. The paving stones are basalt, as the Golan Heights were formed by volcanic eruptions and, as in other Roman cities, they are laid diagonally to prevent the wheels of carriages and carts from breaking between the slabs.
Continuing along the path, you'll find the visitor center and shop on the left, and a projection room on the right with a 3-minute film that provides a good overview of the city's history and what it has to offer.
Then, on the left, are the cathedral and the baptistery. Note the columns that fell to the ground due to the 749 CE earthquake. They are all aligned in the same direction, along a northeast-southwest axis: this direction indicates that the tectonic plate has undergone longitudinal movement in a northeasterly direction. This shows that the Hippos-Susita site is located on the Asian Plate, which is still moving in this direction today and causing earthquakes further north, in Syria, Turkey, and Armenia. The geographical separation between the Asian Plate and the Levant Plate (which includes only Israel, southern Lebanon, and the Sinai Peninsula) is actually the great valley of the so-called Syro-African Fault, which extends from southern Syria to Ethiopia: it is on this fault that the Jordan Valley, Lake Kinneret, the Dead Sea, and the Red Sea were formed.
To the right was a residential area where the layout of Roman-era houses can be seen: they were called insula in Latin. Some of these houses had an upper floor, where the beginnings of staircases can still be seen. A church is also located in this area.
A little further on, still to the right, are the remains of the vast basilica, measuring 56 by 30 meters, surrounded by columns topped with beautiful Corinthian capitals.
Returning to the decumanus, you arrive at the ancient city forum, a vast open space which, unlike the basilica, was not covered. The forum is surrounded by 5-meter-high granite columns. At the far end of the forum, on its western side, lies the remains of a rectangular kalybe, measuring 8 by 9 meters and 3 meters high: it was a monument erected in a public space to glorify the emperor. This structure was quite typical of the Eastern Roman Empire and is the only kalybe found in Israel.
On the forum is the entrance to a large reservoir for storing rainwater, which was then potable. It is 9 meters deep and accessed by an L-shaped staircase. Rainwater drainage pipes are visible next to the reservoir's opening.
To the right (north) side of the forum lies the former residential quarter from the Hellenistic period, along with its religious center, dating from the 2nd century BCE. This area was later incorporated into the construction of churches during the Byzantine era.
Beyond the forum, on the right (north) side, is an odeon: a small theater dating from the Roman period that could accommodate 600 people. Its presence indicates that the city's population, or its elite, was quite literate and appreciated classical plays.
On the south side of the town, the remains of an ancient Roman bastion can be seen below. This was where war machines (ballistae, catapults, projectiles) were stored for the town's defense. It likely dates back to the 1st century CE, when the region was still experiencing unrest. However, in the 2nd century, finding this purpose obsolete, the structure was converted into public baths because the slope on this side made it easy to bring water to it.
More to come?
Archaeological excavations continue at Hippos Sussita, particularly in an area outside the town where burial caves and a cemetery have been discovered. To follow the news from the excavation team and see what is being unearthed, click here.
I hope this article inspires you to visit this new site to discover in Israel. Depending on the season, don't forget to bring sun protection (hat, sunscreen) as there is very little shade. And, of course, bring a bottle of water with you. If you need a guide to drive you there and show you the site, feel free to contact me or one of my colleagues with a car.
Albert Benhamou
Private tour guide in Israel
Kislev 5785, November 2025
