PELLA. - Ancient city east of the Jordan (Bihil in the letters of el-'Amārnah, p'-hjr' in the list of Thutmosis III and in the stele of Seti I found at Bejsān), called in the Talmud, faithful to the Semitic transcription, Fahl, a name preserved in the Arabic Hirbet el-Fahil, 12 km. southeast of Bejsān.

Macedonian colonists around 310 gave it the name of P. Conquered by Antiochus III in 218 B.C., it resisted the proselytism of Alexander Jannaeus and, liberated by Pompey, was incorporated into the Decapolis (v.). The city remained faithful to the Romans, and the Christians, as the siege of Jerusalem drew near, remembering the Master's precept (Lk. 21:20), took refuge in P., according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., III, 5: PG 20, 221) and St. Epiphanius (Haeres., 29th, chap. 7: PG 41, 401).

Archaeological surveys in Hirbet Fahil, Tabaqāt Fahil and on Tell el-Hosn, where the fortress dominates, have brought to light large buildings with secret passages, tombs adorned with sculptures, remains of a temple and of an amphitheater, churches and monasteries, and a quantity of Arab, Byzantine, Roman, Bronze III and Iron Age pottery.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: J. Richmond, Hirbet Fahil, in Palest. expl. fund. Quart. statem., 66 (1934), pp. 18-31; W. F. Albright, Two little understood Amarna letters from the middle Jordan valley, in Bull. of American Schools of oriental researches, 89 (1943), pp. 9 p. 11 n. 21; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, p. 405.

Donato Baldi

@incollection{ec9_pella, author = {Baldi, Donato}, title = {Pella}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1080}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/pella} }

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