The West Church at sunset (UJAP)
Religion and Society
Centuries of evolving beliefs at a socio-religious crossroad
While religion is often treated in isolation from other cultural aspects or as incidental to social and political dimensions of culture, the Umm Al-Jimāl Archaeological Project treats religion as a central component of the socio-political construction of security in ancient societies. In politics, local people may find themselves propelled by force at the point of a spear, but in religion people see themselves and their community acting as participants in a cosmic order that gives meaning even in the face of the most chaotic adversity. At Umm Al-Jimāl such socio-religious experience could be especially rich because its location in the Hauran puts it at a religious-cultural intersection: between Syria to the north, Arabia to the south, the Levantine coast to the west, and the desert to the east.
Polytheism
From the first to fourth centuries AD Umm Al-Jimāl’s religion was polytheistic of the eclectic sort typical of the post-Alexander the Great era. Because much of the architecture of this period was destroyed and later replaced with Byzantine structures, fragments of these centuries survive in inscriptions and material remains.
One source is a set of simple stele or altar of the pillar type, three of which have inscriptions on the die, which are representative of the different religious streams intersecting at Umm Al-Jimāl. One, dedicated to Doushara Arra’a (Dushara) represents the Nabataean influence, because this deity blends the main god of Petra with the city deity of Bostra. This example therefore gives a clue to the civic religion of Umm Al-Jimāl as a satellite village of the capital at Bostra. A second, dedicated to Holy Zeus Epikoos (”Who Listens”) represents the Hellenized religiosity of Syria, specifically the region of Lebanon where this particular Zeus is known. A third, dedicated to the god Solmos, ties worshippers of Umm Al-Jimāl more directly to its nomadic desert heritage. While these deities themselves are the rulers of civic or cosmic realms, each of the altars was dedicated by a local individual. Thus, the stelae express the direct access by individuals in the community to the guarantors of civic/cosmic order.
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Two faces of the Dushara block
(E. Littman)
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Another source for the identity of gods worshipped in Umm Al-Jimāl’s society are the numerous theophoric names on tombstones, such as ‘Abd-Doushara, “Servant of Dushara,” and Wahb-Allahi, “Gift of God.” The following deities occur in theophoric names at Umm Al-Jimāl:
Nabataean: Doushara, Obodat
Nabataean/Egyptian: Isis (tentative)
Arabic: Allah, Allat, ‘El
Safaitic: Yitha’, Gadd
These names indicate societal, even if not personal, relationship to these deities. It does not appear that Umm Al-Jimāl had its own sacred center and boundaries; rather, its residents would have traveled to places like Bostra and Si’ (on the Jebel Druze) for more public religious celebrations.
Sareidos' dedication to Solmos
(E. Littman)
Holy Zeus "Who Listens"
(E. Littman)
Christianity
One of the most exceptional features of Umm Al-Jimāl is its sixteen churches, located inside and outside the town walls. The churches, basilicas and hall churches in form, range in size and differ in public/private accessibility. Some churches bear inscriptions naming their donors, and others have yielded no social information. Only a few churches have been excavated, and therefore most are known through architectural study and surface survey. The UJAP is currently studying the churches in their social/neighborhood context, seeking to understand more about the role of religion and churches in the community.
There are three large, freestanding churches at Umm Al-Jimāl: the West Church, located outside the perimeter wall adjacent to the West Gate; the Cathedral, near the intersection of the three neighborhoods; and the Numerianos church, just north of the Barracks and House 119. Three smaller freestanding churches are the North West and North East Churches and the extramural East Chapel. Most churches at Umm Al-Jimāl were built within the many clusters of domestic complexes. Of the remaining ten churches, six were accessible from the public street: the South West, South East, Masechos, Klaudianos, and East Churches, and the Barracks Chapel. The last four churches could only be accessed through private domestic space: the Julianos Church, Double Church, and the House 95 chapel.
Aerial view of the Cathedral (UJAP)
As is typical of the region, most churches were built in the late fifth or early sixth centuries, and then remodeled in the late sixth or seventh centuries with the additions of narthexes, altar screens and synthronons (ecclesiastical seating in the apses) to reflect the effects of the growth of ecclesiastical hierarchy on the liturgy. Some churches had simple plaster floors, others were mosaicked in Madaba-School patterns, and one had simpler mosaics more typical of Umayyad-era flooring.
The entire community used Christian symbols like Byzantine crosses, especially to decorate lintels over entrances to houses and churches. A number of churches mention their endowers: for example, the Numerianos Church was called that by Butler because three inscriptions on its entry lintels announce that it was built as a vow by Numerianos, Maria, Ioannes (John), and their children.
Cathedral chancel mosaic (UJAP)
Cross architectural fragment (UJAP)
In addition to churches and homes, the military fort known as the Barracks or the later castellum was constructed in AD 411/12 under the commission of a Christian Duke, Flavius Pelagius Antipater, who flanked its dedicatory inscription with symbols of the cross. Later, a large tower was added that includes a number of Christian inscriptions: the names of the archangels on the upper window projections—Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Ouriel—and also numerous psalm-like prayers asking God to protect the community from its enemies. One, “This sign conquers and aids,” reflects a link between this monastery and the imperial center, while another, “Victory to the Blues!” goes farther in cheering the chariot racing faction that supported Justinian and orthodoxy against monophysitism on the streets of Constantinople.
Barracks tower inscriptions, E face (UJAP)
Translation of the inscriptions (E. Littman)
Islam
The Islamic conquest drew Umm Al-Jimāl into the political sphere of Islam in the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, but on the domestic side there was apparent cultural continuity and gradual rather than abrupt change. Many churches at Umm Al-Jimāl, and indeed in the wider region, continued to be used and refurbished after the Islamic conquest. It is also possible that one or more churches at Umm Al-Jimāl were converted into mosques, probably in the 8th century, as there is evidence of apse blocking, most prominently in the West and Numerianos Churches. Yet, walling off the apse of a church could also be due to conversion for domestic use and does not necessarily denote the presence of a mosque.
The best evidence of Muslim worship at the site is from a house in the southwest neighborhood. House 53’s great room was converted into a mosque, a venture which included the addition of a simple exterior minaret. The renovations are likely Middle or Late Islamic in date and therefore the mosque could have been visited by the eastern nomadic population or by travelers/pilgrims passing through.