Maiuma
Place
Maiuma is located in State of Palestine
Maiuma
Maiuma
Location of Maiuma within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°31′N 34°27′E / 31.517°N 34.450°E / 31.517; 34.450
StateState of Palestine
Founded1st century BCE

Maiuma (also Maiumas or Maiouma) was an ancient town and one of the two ports of Gaza along with Anthedon.[1] Its remains are situated at present-day Rimal near Gaza City, Palestine.

History

In antiquity, Maiuma was one of the two ports of Gaza,[1] serving as the Incense Road's principal port on the Mediterranean. Therefore, it was sometimes simply called "the port of Gaza", for instance Strabo[2] and Ptolemy referred to it as Gazaion limen. However, it was distinct from the city, which was located opposite it,[3] and recognised as an independent city since the early Christian era. The Greek name Neapolis ("the new city") seems to have also been used in reference to it.[4]

Nabataeans and Hasmoneans

The port of Gaza was at the end of the Nabataean spice road where trade was conducted in herbs, spices incense, drapery, glass and food. Goods arrived in the port on the backs of camels from Southern Arabia (the Kingdom of Sheba) through Petra, the Arava Valley and crossing the Negev Desert via Avdat. At the port of Gaza, these goods were dispatched to the European markets.[5][6] Alexander Jannaeus' conquest of Gaza (99 BCE) that denied the Nabateans access to the port and trade with Rome led to Obodas launching a military campaign against the Hasmonean king.[7]

Roman and Byzantine periods

Maiuma was rebuilt after it was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 63 BCE under the command of Pompey Magnus and trade routes were reopened.[8] Although the town grew to a community of no small importance with a population as high as 9,000 and increasingly sought independence of Gaza, it remained a dependent kōme (dependent settlement of a Greek polis).[9]

During the reign of Constantine the Great, who granted Maiuma the status of a separate city, it received the name Konstanteia after the emperor's sister (or son).[10] It has been suggested that Maiuma's residents "collectively opted to convert to Christianity"[11] or that it made some sort of public declaration of its Christianity.[9]

Under Emperor Julian, known as Julian the Apostate by Christians, it was downgraded and the name was changed to Maioumas ("harbour place"),[3] or as "the part of Gaza towards the sea".[12] Though it is sometimes associated with a pagan festival also called the Maiuma or Maiouma,[13][14] the similarity of these names may be a coincidence.[15] According to 6th-century scholar John Malalas, "the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite...is known as the Maioumas because it is celebrated in the month of May-Artemisios."[16] Following emperors did not reverse Julian's decision, though they allowed Maiuma to maintain an independent bishopric.[9]

Christianity in Maiuma

See also: Hilarion

Maiuma seems to have been an early center of the spread of Christianity, which may explain the treatment of its status by Constantine and Julian. Its population was said to have been largely Egyptian in origin.[17] As the city regained its independence from Gaza, for a certain period of time it had its own bishop, due to Gaza's relatively long resistance to introduction of Christianity. The first known bishop of Maiuma was a certain Zenon from around 395 to after 400, mentioned by Sozomenus.[18] Among others known are Paulianus (or Paulinianus), participant in the First Council of Ephesus in 431; Paul, who took part in the Second Council of Ephesus in 449; Peter the Iberian who was reluctant to serve in the office but was elected by the citizens in 452 nevertheless; John Rufus, his successor; and Procopius, chronologically the last known bishop of Maiuma, known to have participated in the Synod of Jerusalem of 581.[19] Mention must also be made of St. Cosmas of Maiuma.

The city was famous for the fact that the tomb of a Saint Victor was located in it (although it is unclear which Saint Victor this was).[20][21]

Severus of Antioch, disicple of Peter the Iberian, founded a monastery in the vicinity of Maiuma around the year 500. According to the Life of Severus, written by Zacharias Rhetor, this was done after Severus received a substantial inheritance and the monastery of Peter had been converted from a laura to a coenobium. John Moschus mentions a laura that might be that of Severus in the early seventh century, however, the exact location of the monastery remains unknown.[22]

Bishops of Maiuma

After its independence from the dioceses of Gaza under Constantine, Maiuma was the seat of an independent bishop. An incomplete list of bishops includes:

Remains of Maiuma

Main article: Port of Gaza

Maiuma is identified with al-Mina, about 4 kilometers from Gaza towards the sea. Remarkable archaeological findings from the site include the mosaic floor of the so-called Gaza synagogue representing King David with a lyre, dated to the early 6th century AD and discovered in the mid-1960s. The city appears to have been fortified, but the enclosure wall still seems hard to trace.[24]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Saliou, Catherine (2012). "Gaza (Hellenistic to Late Antiquity): Abstract". In Roger S. Bagnall (ed.). Gaza (Hellenistic to Late Antiquity). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah12091. ISBN 9781405179355. Retrieved 9 January 2024. During antiquity, Gaza was prosperous. Located at the point of arrival of caravans from the Arabian Peninsula and Arabian Gulf and connected with the Mediterranean Sea by two ports, Anthedon and Maiuma, the city was an important commercial center, which played a particularly significant role in the incense trade.
  2. ^ E. g. Strabo, Geography, 16. 2. 21
  3. ^ a b The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times, 1999, Raphael Patai
  4. ^ Cart. Mad. 114
  5. ^ Hecht Museum Archived 2018-11-20 at the Wayback Machine The Nabateans in the Negev Curator: Renate Rosenthal-Haginbottom
  6. ^ Israeli MFA
  7. ^ Hanan Eshel (2008), The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0-8028-6285-3, pp 117-133
  8. ^ "Gaza - (Gaza, al -'Azzah)". Studium Biblicum Franciscanum - Jerusalem. 2000-12-19. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
  9. ^ a b c Lenski, Noel (January 2016). Constantine and the Cities Imperial Authority and Civic Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated. pp. 132–133. ISBN 9780812292237. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  10. ^ Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 4. 37; Sozomenus, Ecclesiastical History, 5. 3
  11. ^ Sivan, Hagith (2008-02-14). Palestine in Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. pp. 29–30. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284177.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-928417-7.
  12. ^ Sozomenus, Ecclesiastical History, 5. 3; 7. 28
  13. ^ Gerald Butt (1995) Life at the crossroads: a history of Gaza Published by Rimal Publications, ISBN 1-900269-03-1 p 9
  14. ^ Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Oleg Grabar (1999) Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-51173-5 p 553
  15. ^ Bruria Bitton-Ashkelony and Arieh Kofsky (2004) Christian Gaza in late antiquity BRILL, ISBN 90-04-13868-4 p 3
  16. ^ Malalas, Chronicle 284-285
  17. ^ Marcus Diaconus, Life of St. Porphyrius, p. 49, 5. 11 ff
  18. ^ a b Trombley, Frank R. (1 May 2014). Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529, Volume I. BRILL. p. 275. ISBN 978-90-04-27677-2. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  19. ^ a b Madaba Map Centennary page at the Franciscan Christus Rex webpage[dead link]
  20. ^ Antoninus Placentinus 33; Cart. Mad. 125
  21. ^ Horn, Cornelia B. (2006). Asceticism and Christological Controversy in Fifth-Century Palestine. Oxford University Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-19-927753-7.
  22. ^ Kofsky, Arieh; Bitton-Ashkelony, Bruria (2004). Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity. Brill. pp. 75–76. ISBN 9789004138681. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  23. ^ James Strong; John McClintock (1880). "Samonas". Samonas from the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia. The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. New York: Haper and Brothers. Retrieved 3 December 2023 – via biblicalcyclopedia.com.
  24. ^ The Madaba Mosaic Map webpage

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