Roman Legion Camp From 2nd Century C.E. Found at Megiddo - Archaeology

haaretz.com

Roman legion camp from 2nd centuryC.E. found at Megiddo - Archaeology

Noa Shpigel

Two years ago, it still did not seem completely real: Satellite photos

and ground-penetrating radar images marked out for archaeologists

the location of the permanent camp of the Roman legion that ruled

all of northern Israel almost 2,000 years ago. The camp, near

Kibbutz Megiddo, was discovered under a broad field used for

farming located between the archaeological site of Tel Megiddo,

where 24 layers of human settlement have been uncovered, and

the village of Otnai, which was discovered under the grounds of the

Megiddo Prison and includes one of the earliest churches ever

uncovered.

Last winters heavy rains exposed part of the camp, which housed

about 5,000 Roman soldiers, at the site known as Legio; and today

parts of the streets running through the camp can be identified, as

well as the orderly arrangement of the water pipes in the middle of

the streets and the sewerage channels on both sides of them. The

excavations also uncovered parts of the large bath house that was

part of the home of the commander of the camp, which is paved

with tiles bearing the stamp of the legion that was camped nearby.

Archaeologist Yotam Tepper, codirector of the excavation together

Roman legion camp from 2nd century C.E. found at Megiddo - Archaeology about:reader?url=http://www.haaretz.com/life/archaeology/.premium-1....

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with archaeologists Jonathan David and Matthew Adams, said the

findings clearly show the commanders importance and wealth.

The excavation is being carried out by the W.F. Albright Institute of

Archaeological Research with the cooperation of the Israel

Antiquities Authority, as part of the broader Jezreel Valley Regional

Project;

In the second century of the Common Era the Legio Secunda

Traiana, or Trajans Second Legion named after the emperor

himself arrived at the site, which became the Roman military

headquarters for the entire north. The legion built a permanent

camp, and 20 years later it was replaced by the Legio VI Ferrata

the Sixth Ironclad Legion, which stayed in the area for about 200

years in a camp that spread over some 150 dunams (about 37

acres), said Tepper.

As opposed to what is commonly thought, there was also a good

side to the military rule over the region: The soldiers of the Roman

legion did not only rape and loot, they also built and paved [roads],

Tepper said.

The legion had engineering and technology units that helped

develop the country, he noted. They were the masters of water and

sewerage systems. The Roman army, like the American army

today, brought new technologies with them, he said. The residents

of the village of Otnai used twisting paths that were washed away in

the winter, and the Romans arranged roads eight meters wide for

them for use throughout the year.


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This Roman exactitude can be seen clearly at the site in the water

system and the roads, says Tepper. The site was a major way

station on the road between Beit Shean and Caesarea, and the

original Megiddo junction was at its center, not far from todays

modern intersection.

There was a close relationship between Otnai and the legion camp,

and the families of Christian soldiers lived in the village, alongside

Jewish and Samaritan residents, with everyone keeping their own

traditions. The prayer hall in the village, with a mosaic floor, was

funded by one of the officers from the camp.

The camp is similar to legion camps in the western part of the

Roman Empire, which were usually built on the same model, and

previous excavations of such camps aided the archaeologists in

building their picture of where to dig. There are no other similar

camps in Israel, Tepper noted, though there is the camp of the 10th

Legion in Jerusalem, but this is buried under seven other layers of

archaeological finds from different periods.

The most important finding in this dig was to understand the camp

itself, said Tepper.

In archaeological terms, what is good about the site is that nothing

was ever built over it later, which made the excavations far simpler

and straightforward. The nearby Roman-Byzantine city was built

later on the nearby hills and not on the lower fields.

When the legion finally abandoned the camp, they did so in an

orderly fashion, which also makes this site rather exceptional. It


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means there were very few finds accidently left behind, and almost

everything was removed except for the buildings, roads and

infrastructure. But the archaeologists still found a number of small

items such as oil lamps, coins, metal tools, chiseled stone table

legs in the form of panthers, and pieces of Roman armor.


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Roman Legion Camp From 2nd Century C.E. Found at Megiddo - Archaeology