Sylvanus Street (Decumanus Maximus)

Abstract

~Settlement of Beth She'an first began in the 5th millennium BC and lasted until 749 AD, when a massive earthquake devastated the city. Sylvanus Street was the main east-west road (Decumanus Maximus) of the Roman and probably also the Byzantine City of Beth She'an (then called Scythopolis). Paved during the Roman period, a monumental colonnaded stoa was erected on its south side, as well as a pool with marble tiling. In the early 6th century, a new road was paved on the same route of the Roman street. An inscription found in the structure that was built upon the pool, whose roof was supported by the stoa columns, depicts the name of Sylvanus, a local lawyer who probably financed the construction of the hall above the pool. Archaeologists thus named the street 'Sylvanus Street'. In the early Islamic period (circa 732-747 AD), during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Hisham, shops fronted by a stoa supported by columns and arcades, were built. During the 749 AD, many of these structures and columns fell onto the street. A part of the shops' facade was reconstructed