{
 "title": "Greek cities in present-day West Asia",
 "n": 176,
 "cyprus_note": "The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
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  {
   "no": 1,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 BC – c. 1000",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w005",
   "latin": "Amathus",
   "greek": "Ἀμαθοῦς",
   "other_names": "Old Limassol (medieval)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ruins between Agios Tychonas and Limassol, Limassol district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Limassol",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 34.7123,
   "lon": 33.1371,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707462",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Amathus)",
   "greek_from": -400,
   "greek_until": 1000,
   "phases": [
    [
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     1000
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   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek beside Eteocypriot by the 4th c. BC: bilingual royal and civic inscriptions and the Greek-named king Androkles, who sailed with Alexander at Tyre (Arrian 2.22.2). Euboean and other Greek pottery from the 10th c. BC shows trade, not speech. A Greek city after the end of the kingdom, c. 300 BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -1050,
   "until_text": "Eteocypriot disappears c. 300 BC; Amathus was a Greek city and see (Tychon, 5th c.; Heliodorus at Chalcedon, 451; Theodore after 614; Alexander at Nicaea, 787). The town was refortified in the 7th c., then shrank as its people moved to Neapolis/Nemesos (Limassol), 10 km west; it was almost deserted when Richard I took Cyprus in 1191.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    700,
    1191
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions to late antiquity; basilicas; the site was largely abandoned by the 8th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: decline after Mu'awiya's raids on Cyprus, 649 and 653/654 (al-Baladhuri; Theophanes AM 6140, 6146; the Soloi basilica inscriptions record the captives); the people moved to Limassol. Later accounts say Richard I destroyed what was left in 1191.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Founded c. 1050 BC by a non-Greek (Eteocypriot) community; its Eteocypriot name is not known. Amathus is missing from Esarhaddon's list of 673/672 BC unless Assyrian Nuria (usually taken as Marion) or Qartihadasti is Amathus, as a minority holds.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Eteocypriot",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Eteocypriot inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabary (6th-4th c. BC); bilingual Eteocypriot and Greek inscriptions of the 4th c. BC, among them the pedestals of statues dedicated by the last king, Androkles, and an honorific inscription of the city; Ps.-Skylax 103 calls the Amathusians autochthonous",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Amathus (Hdt. 5.104-114, Onesilos' siege); IACP Cyprus chapter; Ptolemaic and Roman city; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Bilingual (Eteocypriot and Greek) until c. 300 BC, then a Greek city; the bilingual period is recorded. Greek speech in the town may be older than the 4th c. BC.",
   "sources": [
    "Aupert, Guide d'Amathonte (2000)",
    "Ps.-Skylax 103",
    "Masson, ICS (1983), Amathus inscriptions",
    "Pleiades 707462",
    "Wikipedia: Amathus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 2,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 270 BC – 1974",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w021",
   "latin": "Ammochostos (Famagusta)",
   "greek": "Ἀμμόχωστος",
   "other_names": "Arsinoe (Ptolemaic name, Strabo 14.6.3; the identification is probable, not certain); Famagosta (Italian); Famagouste (French); Magusa, Gazimagusa (Turkish); Varosha (the suburb where Greeks lived after 1571)",
   "modern": "Famagusta (Ammochostos)",
   "modern_native": "Αμμόχωστος",
   "modern_alt": "Gazimağusa",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Walled city of Famagusta and the suburb of Varosha, Famagusta district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Famagusta",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.1189,
   "lon": 33.9438,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707485",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -270,
   "greek_until": 1974,
   "phases": [
    [
     -270,
     1974
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Probably the Ptolemaic Arsinoe, 'a city and harbour' after Salamis (Strabo 14.6.3), named after Arsinoe II and so founded or renamed under Ptolemy II, c. 270s BC. As Ammochostos it grew after the decline of Constantia (Salamis) in the later 7th c., and it became a major port after Christian refugees from Acre arrived in 1291.",
   "date_basis": "ancient foundation date",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": -270,
   "until_text": "Greek community through the Lusignan, Genoese (1373-1464) and Venetian (1489-1571) periods, beside Latins, Syrians, Armenians and Jews (St George of the Greeks, 14th c.). After the Ottoman conquest of 1571 Christians were barred from the walled city and lived in Varosha. Greek-speaking until 1974.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Greek cathedral of St George (14th c.); Varosha the Greek quarter from 1571; about 39,000 inhabitants of Varosha fled in August 1974; the suburb was fenced off, and part of it was reopened by the Turkish Cypriot authorities in 2020, contrary to UN Security Council resolutions 550 (1984) and 789 (1992).",
   "ended_by": "Turkish invasion of 1974: the landing west of Kyrenia on 20 July and the second offensive of 14-16 August. The Greek Cypriots of Famagusta and Varosha fled before the advancing Turkish army or were expelled (as the Turkish army entered the town on 15-16 August 1974; Varosha was then fenced off). At the third round of the Vienna talks (2 August 1975) it was agreed that Turkish Cypriots in the south could move north and that Greek Cypriots in the north could stay or move south; in the following years most of those who had stayed in the north left or were moved south, except the enclaved of the Karpas. Their homes were given to Turkish Cypriots displaced from the south and to settlers from Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights has held Turkey responsible for the continuing denial of the displaced owners' access to their homes (Loizidou v. Turkey, 1996, a Kyrenia property; Cyprus v. Turkey, 2001). Earlier: Lala Mustafa Pasha's siege of 1570-1571 ended with the surrender of 1 August 1571 and the execution of Marcantonio Bragadin. The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Ptolemy II (as Arsinoe)",
   "founder_group": "Ptolemies",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Grew into the chief port of eastern Cyprus after the later 7th c.; Lusignan port city from 1291",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Latin see from 1196; seat of a Greek bishop (resident at Karpasia from 1260); chief port of Lusignan Cyprus",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The Ptolemaic Arsinoe of Strabo is usually placed here, but no Hellenistic town has been excavated under Famagusta, so the early phase rests on the identification. The town is not documented between Strabo and the 7th c.",
   "sources": [
    "Edbury, The Kingdom of Cyprus and the Crusades (1991)",
    "Walsh, Coureas & Edbury, Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta (2012)",
    "Pleiades 707485",
    "Wikipedia: Famagusta",
    "UN Secretary-General reports on UNFICYP, 1974-1976",
    "ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (no. 25781/94), 2001"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 3,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 650",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w017",
   "latin": "Aphrodisium (Aphrodision)",
   "greek": "Ἀφροδίσιον",
   "other_names": "Aphrodisias (Stephanus)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ruins near Liastrika, Akanthou (Tatlısu), Famagusta district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Famagusta",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.3994,
   "lon": 33.7365,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "707468",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A town with a Greek name on the north coast, attested by Strabo (14.6.3) and Ptolemy (5.14.4); the remains are Hellenistic to late antique",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -300,
   "until_text": "Flourished from the Hellenistic period to late antiquity; declined and was abandoned after the first Arab raids of the mid-7th c.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    600,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Late antique remains; no see.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: abandoned after Mu'awiya's raids on Cyprus, 649 and 653/654 (al-Baladhuri; Theophanes AM 6140, 6146; the Soloi basilica inscriptions record the captives).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 14.6.3 (as a place on the north coast, not called a city); Ptolemy 5.14.4 (coastal list); remains of a Hellenistic-Roman settlement",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Strabo names Aphrodisium only as the point where the island is narrowest; its rank as a town rests on Ptolemy's list and the remains, and it may have been a dependency of Salamis. The Hellenistic start date is an estimate.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 14.6.3",
    "Ptolemy 5.14.4",
    "Pleiades 707468",
    "Wikipedia: Aphrodisium (Cyprus)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 4,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 350 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w016",
   "latin": "Carpasia (Karpasia)",
   "greek": "Καρπασία",
   "other_names": "Carpasium (Pliny); Karpasion (Hierocles); Rizokarpaso (the inland successor)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ruins at Agios Philon on the north coast, 2-3 km north of Rizokarpaso (Dipkarpaz), Famagusta district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Famagusta",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.6262,
   "lon": 34.3699,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707526",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Karpasia)",
   "greek_from": -350,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -350,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City of Cyprus in Ps.-Skylax 103 (c. 340s BC); stormed by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 306 BC (Diod. 20.47.2)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -650,
   "until_text": "Not ended. A Roman town and see (Philon, ordained by Epiphanius c. 400; Hermolaus at Chalcedon, 451); the coastal town was abandoned after the Arab raids of the 7th c. and its people moved inland to Rizokarpaso; from 1260 the seat of the Greek bishop of Famagusta. Rizokarpaso is the largest village of the enclaved Greek Cypriots in the north. The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Basilica of Agios Philon (5th-6th c.); Greek bishop at Karpasia under the Latins (Bulla Cypria, 1260); 343 enclaved Greek Cypriots in the north in 2014, most of them in Rizokarpaso.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. The coastal town declined after Mu'awiya's raids on Cyprus, 649 and 653/654 (al-Baladhuri; Theophanes AM 6140, 6146), and its people moved inland to Rizokarpaso. In August 1974 the Karpas came under Turkish control; its Greek Cypriots were cut off and could not flee. Most left or were moved south in the following years. A few hundred remain enclaved, most of them elderly, and UNFICYP supplies them. The European Court of Human Rights found that their living conditions were degrading treatment and violated their rights to private and family life, religion, expression, education and property (Cyprus v. Turkey, Grand Chamber, 10 May 2001).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "A Phoenician founder (Pygmalion) appears in Greek tradition only.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Ps.-Skylax 103; Diod. 20.47.2; IACP Cyprus chapter; Pliny NH 5.130; see (Hierocles 707)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Kept open because the community moved 3 km inland to Rizokarpaso (Ριζοκάρπασο, Turkish Dipkarpaz), whose name continues Karpasia and where Greek Cypriots still live. Archaeology dates the town from the 7th c. BC (town_from); the first Greek text is later.",
   "sources": [
    "Ps.-Skylax 103",
    "Diod. 20.47.2",
    "Pleiades 707526",
    "Wikipedia: Rizokarpaso",
    "ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (no. 25781/94), 2001"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 5,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 350 BC – 1974",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w009",
   "latin": "Cerynia (Keryneia)",
   "greek": "Κερύνεια",
   "other_names": "Kerynia; Kirboia? (Hierocles); Corineum (Pliny); Cerines (Frankish); Girne (Turkish)",
   "modern": "Kyrenia (Keryneia)",
   "modern_native": "Κερύνεια",
   "modern_alt": "Girne",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Kyrenia town (harbour and castle area), Kyrenia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Kyrenia",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.3373,
   "lon": 33.3214,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707531",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Keryneia)",
   "greek_from": -350,
   "greek_until": 1974,
   "phases": [
    [
     -350,
     1974
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a city of Cyprus by Ps.-Skylax 103 (c. 340s BC) and taken by Ptolemy I in 312 BC (Diod. 19.79.4); earlier Iron Age tombs",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -350,
   "until_text": "Greek city, Roman town and see; a Lusignan and Venetian fortress town; surrendered to the Ottomans in 1570. Greek-speaking until 1974.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Kyrenia had a Greek Cypriot majority in the 1960 census; the few Greek Cypriots who stayed after July 1974 left or were moved south in 1975-76.",
   "ended_by": "Turkish invasion of 1974: the landing west of Kyrenia on 20 July and the second offensive of 14-16 August. The Greek Cypriots of Kyrenia fled before the advancing Turkish army or were expelled (the Turkish landing at Pente Mili, west of the town, on 20 July 1974; the town was taken in the following days). At the third round of the Vienna talks (2 August 1975) it was agreed that Turkish Cypriots in the south could move north and that Greek Cypriots in the north could stay or move south; in the following years most of those who had stayed in the north left or were moved south, except the enclaved of the Karpas. Their homes were given to Turkish Cypriots displaced from the south and to settlers from Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights has held Turkey responsible for the continuing denial of the displaced owners' access to their homes (Loizidou v. Turkey, 1996, a Kyrenia property; Cyprus v. Turkey, 2001). The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Ps.-Skylax 103; Diod. 19.79.4; IACP Cyprus chapter; Ptolemy 5.14.4; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The legend of Achaean settlers (from Keryneia in Achaea) is a note. The town was probably Greek-speaking before the 4th c. BC, but no earlier text names it.",
   "sources": [
    "Ps.-Skylax 103",
    "Diod. 19.79.4",
    "Pleiades 707531",
    "Wikipedia: Kyrenia",
    "UN Secretary-General reports on UNFICYP, 1974-1976",
    "ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (no. 25781/94), 2001"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 6,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 673 BC – 1974",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w013",
   "latin": "Chytri (Chytroi)",
   "greek": "Χύτροι",
   "other_names": "Kitrusi (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); Chythroi; Kythrea (medieval and modern)",
   "modern": "Kythrea",
   "modern_native": "Κυθρέα",
   "modern_alt": "Değirmenlik",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Kythrea (Değirmenlik), at the springs below the Pentadaktylos range, Nicosia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Nicosia",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.2458,
   "lon": 33.4907,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707496",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Chytroi)",
   "greek_from": -673,
   "greek_until": 1974,
   "phases": [
    [
     -673,
     1974
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "King Pilagura (Philagoras, a Greek name) of Kitrusi in Esarhaddon's list of 673/672 BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": -673,
   "until_text": "Under Salamis in the Classical period; a Roman town and see (Hierocles); the medieval town of Kythrea with its water mills; Greek-speaking until 1974.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Chytroi; Kythrea had a Greek Cypriot majority in the 1960 census.",
   "ended_by": "Turkish invasion of 1974: the landing west of Kyrenia on 20 July and the second offensive of 14-16 August. The Greek Cypriots of Kythrea fled before the advancing Turkish army or were expelled (in the second Turkish offensive, 14-16 August 1974). At the third round of the Vienna talks (2 August 1975) it was agreed that Turkish Cypriots in the south could move north and that Greek Cypriots in the north could stay or move south; in the following years most of those who had stayed in the north left or were moved south, except the enclaved of the Karpas. Their homes were given to Turkish Cypriots displaced from the south and to settlers from Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights has held Turkey responsible for the continuing denial of the displaced owners' access to their homes (Loizidou v. Turkey, 1996, a Kyrenia property; Cyprus v. Turkey, 2001). The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom (Esarhaddon 673/672 BC); IACP Cyprus chapter; Pliny NH 5.130; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Kythrea had a Turkish Cypriot minority quarter. Founding legends (Chytros, grandson of Akamas) are notes only.",
   "sources": [
    "Pliny NH 5.130",
    "Hansen & Nielsen 2004 (IACP), Cyprus",
    "Pleiades 707496",
    "Wikipedia: Kythrea",
    "UN Secretary-General reports on UNFICYP, 1974-1976",
    "ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (no. 25781/94), 2001"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 7,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w004",
   "latin": "Citium (Kition)",
   "greek": "Κίτιον",
   "other_names": "Kty (Phoenician); Kittim (Hebrew Bible); Qartihadasti? (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC; disputed); Salines/Le Salines (Frankish); Larnaka (from the medieval period)",
   "modern": "Larnaca (Larnaka)",
   "modern_native": "Λάρνακα",
   "modern_alt": "Larnaka",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Larnaca town (Kathari, Bamboula and the acropolis), Larnaca district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Larnaca",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 34.9212,
   "lon": 33.632,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707534",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Kition)",
   "greek_from": -400,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -400,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek speakers among the residents by the 4th c. BC beside the Phoenician majority: Greek inscriptions and Zeno of Kition (born c. 334 BC). Greek city after Ptolemy I ended the Phoenician kingdom and killed Pumiyathon, 312 BC (Diod. 19.79.4)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -1300,
   "until_text": "Not ended. Phoenician speech faded in the 3rd c. BC; Kition was then a Greek city, a see (Hierocles), and as Larnaca a Greek-speaking town to the present.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Last Phoenician inscriptions at Kition, 3rd c. BC; Greek inscriptions from the Hellenistic period on; bishops of Kition; Larnaca Greek-speaking to the present.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Ptolemy I ended the Phoenician dynasty, 312 BC. Arab raids from 649 (Mu'awiya); Ottoman conquest, 1570.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Kty (Phoenician); Kittim (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Late Bronze Age town from the 13th c. BC; rebuilt c. 1200 BC in ashlar, which Karageorghis linked to Aegean settlers, but no Greek text supports this. Phoenician town from c. 800 BC. The Assyrian Qartihadasti ('new town') is Kition for many, Amathus or Limassol for others.",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Phoenician kingdom from c. 800 BC to 312 BC (royal Phoenician inscriptions and coins, Baalmilk I to Pumiyathon); Greek inscriptions and Greek-educated citizens in the 4th c. BC (Zeno, born at Kition c. 334 BC); Phoenician inscriptions end in the 3rd c. BC",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Kition (Phoenician kings, coins); IACP Cyprus chapter; city of the Ptolemaic and Roman period; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Bilingual start date is an estimate from 4th-c. evidence; the Greek majority dates from the 3rd c. BC. Cimon died besieging Kition in 450/449 BC.",
   "sources": [
    "Yon, Kition dans les textes (2004)",
    "Diod. 19.79.4",
    "Diog. Laert. 7.1",
    "Pleiades 707534",
    "Wikipedia: Kition"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 8,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 1050 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w006",
   "latin": "Curium (Kourion)",
   "greek": "Κούριον",
   "other_names": "Kuri (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); Episkopi (the medieval and modern village, from the bishop's seat)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Kourion archaeological site on the bluff above Episkopi Bay, within the Western (Akrotiri) Sovereign Base Area, Limassol district; Episkopi village 2 km north-east",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Limassol",
   "cy_area": "British Sovereign Base Area",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 34.6654,
   "lon": 32.8859,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707549",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Kourion)",
   "greek_from": -1050,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -1050,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Aegean-type tombs of the 11th c. BC at Kaloriziki (tomb 40, with the gold sceptre); Greek-named king Damasos (Damasu) of Kuri in 673/672 BC; Cypro-syllabic Greek inscriptions from the sanctuary of Apollo Hylates (Archaic period). Herodotus (5.113) calls the Kourians Argive colonists",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -1050,
   "until_text": "The city was ruined by the earthquakes of 365-370, rebuilt with a basilica and bishop's palace (5th c.), and abandoned in the 7th c. after the Arab raids; the bishop and people moved to Episkopi, which is Greek-speaking today.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop Zeno of Kourion at the Council of Ephesus, 431; the acropolis was destroyed in the Arab raids of 649 and the bishop's seat moved to Episkopi; Episkopi village Greek-speaking to the present.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended for the community. The site: earthquakes of 365-370 (no named act); abandoned in the 7th c. after Mu'awiya's raids on Cyprus, 649 and 653/654 (al-Baladhuri; Theophanes AM 6140, 6146; the Soloi basilica inscriptions record the captives).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Aegean (Greek-speaking) settlers",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Late Bronze Age town of Episkopi-Bamboula nearby was abandoned c. 1050 BC.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Kourion (Stasanor, Hdt. 5.113; Esarhaddon 673/672 BC); IACP Cyprus chapter; Roman city; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The 11th-c. date rests on archaeology, not on a text; the first Greek text from Kourion is later. Phase left open because the community moved to Episkopi, which kept the see.",
   "sources": [
    "Iacovou 2008, AJA 112",
    "Hdt. 5.113",
    "Soren & James, Kourion (1988)",
    "Pleiades 707549",
    "Wikipedia: Kourion"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 9,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 600 BC – c. AD 200",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w015",
   "latin": "Golgi (Golgoi)",
   "greek": "Γολγοί",
   "other_names": "Golgoi; Athienou (the nearby modern village)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Agios Fotios hill north-west of Athienou, Larnaca district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Larnaca",
   "cy_area": "UN buffer zone",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.0731,
   "lon": 33.5481,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707512",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -600,
   "greek_until": 200,
   "phases": [
    [
     -600,
     200
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Cypro-syllabic Greek inscriptions and Greek-style sculpture from the sanctuaries of Golgoi, from the 6th c. BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -700,
   "until_text": "Named as a town by Pliny (NH 5.130, AD 77) and Stephanus; not a see. The sanctuary finds run into the Roman period; the town's end is not documented, and the area's Greek speech continued at Athienou nearby.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    77,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Roman-period finds; no late antique city or bishop.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town is last attested in the early Roman period.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Pliny NH 5.130 (Golgi); Stephanus s.v. Golgoi; Theocritus and Catullus (Aphrodite of Golgoi); syllabic inscriptions",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Not a kingdom; probably under Idalion or Kition. The tradition of a founder Golgos from Sikyon is a note. Athienou and the site lie inside the UN buffer zone, farmed under the Republic's administration.",
   "sources": [
    "Pliny NH 5.130",
    "Masson, ICS (1983), Golgoi",
    "Athienou Archaeological Project (Toumazou)",
    "Pleiades 707512",
    "Wikipedia: Athienou"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 10,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 673 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w012",
   "latin": "Idalium (Idalion)",
   "greek": "Ἰδάλιον",
   "other_names": "Edi'il (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); 'dyl (Phoenician); Dali (modern village)",
   "modern": "Dali",
   "modern_native": "Δάλι",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Ambelleri and Moutti tou Arvili hills at Dali, Nicosia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Nicosia",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.016,
   "lon": 33.4239,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707519",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Idalion)",
   "greek_from": -673,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -673,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "King Ekishtura (Akestor, a Greek name) of Edi'il in Esarhaddon's list of 673/672 BC; the Idalion bronze tablet (c. 478-470 BC), a contract of king Stasikypros and 'the polis' with the physician Onasilos in Greek (Cypro-syllabic)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": -1200,
   "until_text": "Not ended. The kingdom fell to Kition c. 450 BC and had a Phoenician-speaking administration and community until the end of the 4th c. BC; it declined in the Hellenistic and Roman periods and survives as the village of Dali, which is Greek-speaking.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Greek syllabic and alphabetic inscriptions; Dali village Greek-speaking today.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Loss of independence: conquered by Kition, c. 450 BC; Kition's kingdom ended by Ptolemy I, 312 BC.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Late Cypriot fortified settlement on Ambelleri (13th-12th c. BC); its name before the Greeks is not attested.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Kition took Idalion c. 450 BC; Phoenician administrative archive of ostraca (5th-4th c. BC) and the Phoenician-Greek syllabic bilingual of 388 BC (dedication to Reshef-Mikal/Apollo Amyklaios)",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom (Esarhaddon 673/672 BC); the Idalion tablet names the polis; IACP Cyprus chapter",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Not a city in Hierocles; after the Classical period Idalion was a small town. Kept open-ended because Dali continues the community.",
   "sources": [
    "Idalion bronze tablet (ICS 217)",
    "Hadjicosti, Idalion (1997)",
    "Hansen & Nielsen 2004 (IACP), Cyprus",
    "Pleiades 707519",
    "Wikipedia: Idalium"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 11,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 BC – 1974",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w008",
   "latin": "Lapethus (Lapethos)",
   "greek": "Λάπηθος",
   "other_names": "Lpš (Phoenician); Lapathos (Strabo); Lambousa (the late antique coastal town); Lapithos (medieval and modern)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ancient town at Lambousa on the coast below Lapithos (Lapta), Kyrenia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Kyrenia",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.3576,
   "lon": 33.1982,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707555",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Lapethos)",
   "greek_from": -400,
   "greek_until": 1974,
   "phases": [
    [
     -400,
     1974
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek-named kings beside Phoenician ones: Demonikos (coins, c. 388 BC) and Praxippos (coins with Greek letters; Diod. 19.79.4). Strabo (14.6.3) calls it a foundation of Laconians and Praxander",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -1050,
   "until_text": "Greek city from the Hellenistic period; a see (Hierocles); Lambousa was a rich port in the 7th c. (the Lambousa treasure of silver plates). Lapithos remained a Greek-speaking town until 1974.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and the see in late antiquity; Lapithos had a Greek Cypriot majority in the 1960 census.",
   "ended_by": "Turkish invasion of 1974: the landing west of Kyrenia on 20 July and the second offensive of 14-16 August. The Greek Cypriots of Lapithos fled before the advancing Turkish army or were expelled (the town was taken as the Turkish bridgehead was widened westwards in late July and early August 1974). At the third round of the Vienna talks (2 August 1975) it was agreed that Turkish Cypriots in the south could move north and that Greek Cypriots in the north could stay or move south; in the following years most of those who had stayed in the north left or were moved south, except the enclaved of the Karpas. Their homes were given to Turkish Cypriots displaced from the south and to settlers from Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights has held Turkey responsible for the continuing denial of the displaced owners' access to their homes (Loizidou v. Turkey, 1996, a Kyrenia property; Cyprus v. Turkey, 2001). Earlier: the Arab raids on Cyprus of 649 and 653/654. The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Tombs of the 11th c. BC at Kastros are of Aegean type, so the town may have been Greek-speaking before its Phoenician dynasty; no early text survives. The Phoenician name Lpš renders the same name.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Phoenician kings and coin legends (Sidqmelek, c. 450-425 BC); king Demonikos (Greek name) with the Semitic legend 'Dmnks king of Lpš' (c. 388 BC); Phoenician inscriptions to 275 BC (Lapethos 3, under Ptolemy II); Ps.-Skylax 103 calls Lapethos Phoenician; the last king, Praxippos (c. 330-312 BC), struck coins with Greek letters",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Lapethos (Phoenician coins; Diod. 19.79.4); IACP Cyprus chapter; Ps.-Skylax 103; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Bilingual (Phoenician and Greek) in the 5th-4th c. BC, a Greek city afterwards. The start date is a cautious first attestation; Greek speech there may be older. The ruins at Lambousa lie on the coast about 3 km north of the present village of Lapithos (Λάπηθος, Turkish Lapta), which continues the name.",
   "sources": [
    "Ps.-Skylax 103",
    "Strabo 14.6.3",
    "Diod. 19.79.4",
    "Pleiades 707555",
    "Wikipedia: Lapithos",
    "UN Secretary-General reports on UNFICYP, 1974-1976",
    "ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (no. 25781/94), 2001"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 12,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 673 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w014",
   "latin": "Ledra / Leucosia (Nicosia)",
   "greek": "Λῆδραι / Λευκωσία",
   "other_names": "Lidir (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); Ledroi, Ledra; Leukousia, Leukosia (from the 4th-7th c.); Nicosie (Frankish); Lefkoşa (Turkish)",
   "modern": "Nicosia (Lefkosia)",
   "modern_native": "Λευκωσία",
   "modern_alt": "Lefkoşa",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Old Nicosia within the Venetian walls and the hills of Agios Georgios and Ambelokipi, Nicosia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Nicosia",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.1572,
   "lon": 33.3473,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707558",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Ledra)",
   "greek_from": -673,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -673,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "King Unasagusu (Onasagoras, a Greek name) of Lidir in Esarhaddon's list of 673/672 BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": -673,
   "until_text": "Not ended. A small town in antiquity and a see (Triphyllios, 4th c.); capital of Cyprus from the late 10th or 11th c., of the Lusignan kingdom and of Venetian Cyprus; taken by the Ottomans in 1570. Greek-speaking to the present.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Ledra/Leukosia; the Greek community under Latin and Ottoman rule; Greek-speaking city today.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Stormed by Lala Mustafa Pasha's army on 9 September 1570, with the killing of much of the garrison and population. The city has been divided by the Green Line since the intercommunal fighting of 1963-64; its northern part has been under Turkish control since 1974, and the Greek Cypriots still living there left in 1974.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom (Esarhaddon 673/672 BC); IACP Cyprus chapter; see (Hierocles 707, Leukousia); capital from the 11th c.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The ancient centre lies in the southern part of the divided city. Bronze Age sites lie under and around the city, but continuity with the Iron Age town is not shown.",
   "sources": [
    "Michaelides, Historic Nicosia (2012)",
    "Hansen & Nielsen 2004 (IACP), Cyprus",
    "Pleiades 707558",
    "Wikipedia: History of Nicosia"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 13,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 20 – c. AD 20",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w023",
   "latin": "Limenia",
   "greek": "Λιμηνία",
   "other_names": "Limnitis? (modern village name)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "Probably near Limnitis (Yeşilırmak), west of Soloi, Nicosia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Nicosia",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.1674,
   "lon": 32.7417,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "707563",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 20,
   "greek_until": 20,
   "phases": [
    [
     20,
     20
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Named by Strabo (14.6.3) as 'a city Limenia' inland above Soloi; Strabo wrote c. AD 20, probably from Hellenistic sources",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": 20,
   "until_text": "Known only from Strabo (14.6.3, c. AD 20), who names 'a city Limenia' inland above Soloi; Ptolemy's list of the inland towns of Cyprus (5.14.6) names only Chytroi, Tremithous and Tamassos, and no later source names it. Its later history is unknown.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    20,
    650
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No later attestation; not a see.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town is not attested after Strabo.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 14.6.3 (polis)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "A single mention and an uncertain site; the link with the village of Limnitis (Λιμνίτης, Turkish Yeşilırmak) rests on the name only. Limnitis was a Turkish Cypriot village before 1974. The Barrington Atlas places it, with a query, south-east of the islet of Petra tou Limniti.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 14.6.3",
    "Pleiades 707563"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 14,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 600 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w010",
   "latin": "Marion / Arsinoe",
   "greek": "Μάριον / Ἀρσινόη",
   "other_names": "Arsinoe (Ptolemaic refoundation, c. 270 BC); Nuria (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC; usual identification, king Bususu); Polis tis Chrysochous (medieval and modern)",
   "modern": "Polis Chrysochous",
   "modern_native": "Πόλις Χρυσοχούς",
   "modern_alt": "Poli",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Polis Chrysochous town (Marion to the north, Arsinoe under the town), Paphos district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Paphos",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.039,
   "lon": 32.4254,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707574; 707483 (Arsinoe)",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Marion)",
   "greek_from": -600,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -600,
     -312
    ],
    [
     -270,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Many Cypro-syllabic Greek inscriptions from the tombs of Marion, from the 6th c. BC; Ps.-Skylax 103 lists Marion as Greek",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -700,
   "until_text": "Not ended. Ptolemy I razed Marion in 312 BC and moved its people to Paphos (Diod. 19.79.4); Ptolemy II refounded it as Arsinoe c. 270 BC. Arsinoe was a see; from 1260 it was the seat of the Greek bishop of Paphos. Polis is a Greek-speaking town today.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Hellenistic and Roman inscriptions of Arsinoe; bishops of Arsinoe; Greek bishop of Paphos at Arsinoe 1260-1571; Polis Greek-speaking to the present.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Interrupted: razed by Ptolemy I, 312 BC, its people moved to Paphos (Diod. 19.79.4); refounded by Ptolemy II, c. 270 BC.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Ptolemy II (as Arsinoe), c. 270 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Marion (kings Stasioikos I and II; coins); IACP Cyprus chapter; Ps.-Skylax 103; Arsinoe a city and see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Marion had a king with a non-Greek name (Sasmas, 5th c. BC) and Phoenician finds, but no clear Phoenician-speaking community. Arsinoe lies on the same site, so the two are one entry with two phases.",
   "sources": [
    "Childs, Smith & Padgett, City of Gold (2012)",
    "Diod. 19.79.4",
    "Ps.-Skylax 103",
    "Pleiades 707574",
    "Wikipedia: Marion, Cyprus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 15,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 320 BC – today",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w002",
   "latin": "Nea Paphos",
   "greek": "Πάφος (Νέα Πάφος)",
   "other_names": "Paphos; Sebaste Claudia Flavia Paphos (Roman titles); Augusta (title after the earthquake of 15 BC); Baffo (Venetian); Baf (Ottoman Turkish); Kato Paphos and Ktima (medieval and modern quarters)",
   "modern": "Paphos (Pafos)",
   "modern_native": "Πάφος",
   "modern_alt": "Baf",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Kato Paphos, Paphos town, Paphos district (archaeological park)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Paphos",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 34.7572,
   "lon": 32.4066,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707586",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -320,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -320,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by Nikokles, last king of Paphos, c. 320 BC as the new royal seat",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": -320,
   "until_text": "Not ended. Capital of Ptolemaic and Roman Cyprus until the 4th c. AD; a see; damaged by the earthquakes of 332 and 342 and raided by the Arabs in the 7th c.; Latin see from 1196; taken by the Ottomans in 1570. Paphos is a Greek-speaking town today.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the Ptolemaic and Roman capital; bishops of Paphos (Cyril at Nicaea, 325); Greek bishops of Paphos relegated to Arsinoe under the Latins (Bulla Cypria, 1260); Greek-speaking town to the present.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Interruptions: earthquakes of 332 and 342 (no named act); Arab raids from 649 (Mu'awiya); Ottoman conquest, 1570 (Lala Mustafa Pasha's campaign).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Nikokles of Paphos",
   "founder_group": "client kings",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Ptolemaic and Roman capital (strategos; koinon of the Cypriots); city coins; see (bishop at Nicaea 325); Hierocles 706-707",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Founded by Nikokles, a Cypriot Greek king of Paphos, not by an outside power. A separate entry from Palaepaphos: a refoundation on a new site 16 km away.",
   "sources": [
    "Mlynarczyk, Nea Paphos III (1990)",
    "Mitford, ANRW II.7.2 (1980)",
    "Hierocles 706-707",
    "Pleiades 707586",
    "Wikipedia: Nea Paphos"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 16,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 450 – today",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w020",
   "latin": "Neapolis / Nemesus (Limassol)",
   "greek": "Νεάπολις / Νεμεσός",
   "other_names": "Theodosias/Theodosiana (5th c.); Nemesos; Lemesos (by the 10th c.); Limisso (Venetian); Leymosun (Turkish)",
   "modern": "Limassol (Lemesos)",
   "modern_native": "Λεμεσός",
   "modern_alt": "Leymosun",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Old Limassol around the castle, Limassol district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Limassol",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 34.6762,
   "lon": 33.0396,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707587",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 450,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     450,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Became a town and see in the 5th c. as Theodosias or Neapolis, probably around the time of the Council of Chalcedon (451); bishop Leontius of Neapolis wrote in Greek in the 7th c.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": 450,
   "until_text": "Not ended. Took over from Amathus in the 7th c.; Richard I landed here in 1191; seat of the Templars and Hospitallers; raided by the Genoese (1373) and the Mamluks (1424-1426); taken by the Ottomans in July 1570. Greek-speaking to the present.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Leontius of Neapolis (7th c.); bishop at the Council of 787; from 1260 the Greek bishop of Limassol resided at Lefkara.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Arab raids from 649 (Mu'awiya); Mamluk raids under Sultan Barsbay, 1424-1426; Ottoman conquest, July 1570.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "See (Theodosias/Neapolis, 5th c.; Leontius, 7th c.); Georgius Cyprius",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The date of the see's founding is not secure; the name Theodosias suggests Theodosius II (408-450).",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Limassol",
    "Wikipedia: Leontios of Neapolis",
    "Pleiades 707587",
    "Hill, History of Cyprus I (1940)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 17,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 1050 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w001",
   "latin": "Palaepaphos (Old Paphos)",
   "greek": "Πάφος (Παλαίπαφος)",
   "other_names": "Paphos (until c. 320 BC); Palaipaphos (Hellenistic and Roman); Pappa (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); Kouklia (medieval and modern)",
   "modern": "Kouklia",
   "modern_native": "Κούκλια",
   "modern_alt": "Kukla",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Kouklia village, Paphos district (sanctuary of Aphrodite and the hills of Marcello and Hadjiabdoullah)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Paphos",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 34.7053,
   "lon": 32.5791,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707596",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Paphos)",
   "greek_from": -1050,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -1050,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bronze spit (obelos) inscribed o-pe-le-ta-u, 'of Opheltas', in Greek of the Arcado-Cypriot type, from tomb 49 at Palaepaphos-Skales, Cypro-Geometric I (c. 1050-950 BC): the earliest Greek text from Cyprus",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -1600,
   "until_text": "Not ended. The kings of Paphos ruled here until Nikokles moved the capital to Nea Paphos c. 320 BC; Old Paphos remained a Greek town around the sanctuary of Aphrodite through Roman times, and Kouklia on the site is still a Greek-speaking village.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Cypro-syllabic Greek inscriptions of the kings of Paphos (6th-4th c. BC); Greek inscriptions of the sanctuary to the Roman period; Kouklia is a Greek Cypriot village today.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Loss of rank: Nikokles moved the royal seat to Nea Paphos, c. 320 BC. Kouklia was a mixed village; its Turkish Cypriots moved north in 1975 and its Greek Cypriots remain.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Aegean (Greek-speaking) settlers on a Late Bronze Age town",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Paphos was a Late Cypriot town and sanctuary from c. 1600 BC; its name in non-Greek sources before the Greeks is not known. Assyrian Pappa (673/672 BC) renders the Greek-period name.",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Paphos (Esarhaddon 673/672 BC: king Ituandar = Eteandros; Cypro-syllabic royal inscriptions and coins); IACP Cyprus chapter (Paphos)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The legend of Agapenor of Tegea as founder (Paus. 8.5.2) is a note, not a date. The Opheltas spit is the key evidence for Greek speakers by the 11th c. BC.",
   "sources": [
    "Iacovou 2008, AJA 112, 625-657",
    "Karageorghis, Kouklia-Skales tomb 49 (1983)",
    "Hansen & Nielsen 2004 (IACP), Cyprus",
    "Pleiades 707596",
    "Wikipedia: Palaepaphos"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 18,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 1050 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w003",
   "latin": "Salamis",
   "greek": "Σαλαμίς",
   "other_names": "Constantia (Κωνσταντία, from c. 346, after Constantius II); Sillu(w)a? (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "Salamis",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ruins near Agios Sergios (Yeni Boğaziçi), north of Famagusta, Famagusta district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Famagusta",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.1796,
   "lon": 33.9029,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707617",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Salamis)",
   "greek_from": -1050,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -1050,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "New town on the coast c. 1075-1050 BC, when nearby Enkomi was abandoned, with Aegean-type material; Greek kingship clear from the 6th c. BC (king Euelthon's coins with Cypro-syllabic Greek legends, c. 560-525 BC; Hdt. 4.162, 5.104)",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -1050,
   "until_text": "The city, renamed Constantia and made metropolis of Cyprus after the earthquakes of 332 and 342, was sacked in the first Arab raid of 649 and hit again in 653/654; it shrank in the later 7th c. and its people moved to Ammochostos (Famagusta) nearby. Administration: the see kept the name Constantia. Speech: the Greek community continued at Famagusta.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop Epiphanius (367-403); 7th-c. rebuilding and coin finds; the city was largely abandoned by the 8th c.",
   "ended_by": "Sacked in Mu'awiya's raid, 649 (al-Baladhuri; Theophanes AM 6140); second raid 653/654. In 691 Justinian II moved part of the Cypriot population to Nea Ioustinianoupolis on the Hellespont; they returned in 698/699. No single act of abandonment is recorded.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Aegean (Greek-speaking) settlers",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Constantius II (as Constantia), c. 346",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The predecessor, Enkomi (2 km west), was a Late Bronze Age town abandoned c. 1050 BC; its ancient name is not known (Alashiya is disputed). Assyrian Sillu(w)a is identified with Salamis by most, with Soloi by some.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Salamis (Hdt. 5.104, 8.11; Evagoras I, Isocrates); royal coins with Greek legends; IACP Cyprus chapter; metropolis of Cyprus (Constantia); Hierocles 706",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Teucer foundation legend is a note, not a date. Since 1974 the site lies in the north; the Greek Cypriots of the surrounding villages fled in August 1974.",
   "sources": [
    "Iacovou 2008, AJA 112",
    "Karageorghis, Salamis in Cyprus (1969)",
    "Hdt. 5.104",
    "Pleiades 707617",
    "Wikipedia: Salamis, Cyprus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 19,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 600 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w007",
   "latin": "Soli (Soloi)",
   "greek": "Σόλοι",
   "other_names": "Silli (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); Aipeia (legendary earlier town, Plut. Solon 26)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "Soli",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ruins at Potamos tou Kampou (Yedidalga), west of Lefka (Lefke), Nicosia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Nicosia",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.1382,
   "lon": 32.8131,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707624",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Soloi)",
   "greek_from": -600,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -600,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek-named kings: Philokypros, host of Solon (early 6th c. BC; Hdt. 5.113; Plut. Solon 26), and his son Aristokypros, killed in 498/497 BC; Cypro-syllabic Greek inscriptions",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": -673,
   "until_text": "A Greek city and see (Auxibius) into the 7th c.; the basilica was destroyed and the town abandoned after the Arab raids. Under the Latins (1260) the Greek bishop of Soloi was moved to Solea.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    1000
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Two Greek inscriptions in the basilica of Soloi record the Arab raids and the captives taken; no later town on the site.",
   "ended_by": "Mu'awiya's raids on Cyprus, 649 and 653/654 (al-Baladhuri; Theophanes AM 6140, 6146; the Soloi basilica inscriptions record the captives): the basilica was burnt and the town declined and was abandoned.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom of Soloi (Hdt. 5.113-115, five-month Persian siege); IACP Cyprus chapter; Roman city; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Assyrian Silli is usually taken as Soloi. The stories of a foundation by Akamas or Phaleros of Athens, and of Solon advising King Philokypros to move the town into the plain (Plut. Solon 26), are traditions, not evidence of a colony. The Greek Cypriots of the Morphou and Lefka area fled or were expelled in 1974.",
   "sources": [
    "Hdt. 5.113-115",
    "Plut. Solon 26",
    "Des Gagniers & Tinh, Soloi I (1985)",
    "Pleiades 707624",
    "Wikipedia: Soli, Cyprus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 20,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 673 BC – today",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w011",
   "latin": "Tamassus (Tamassos)",
   "greek": "Ταμασσός",
   "other_names": "Tamesi (Assyrian, Esarhaddon's prism (Nineveh A), 673/672 BC); Temese? (Homer, Od. 1.184, disputed); Politiko (modern village)",
   "modern": "Politiko",
   "modern_native": "Πολιτικό",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Politiko village (royal tombs and sanctuary), Nicosia district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Nicosia",
   "cy_area": "south",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.0296,
   "lon": 33.2444,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707628",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "Cyprus chapter (Tamassos)",
   "greek_from": -673,
   "greek_until": null,
   "phases": [
    [
     -673,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "King Admesu (Admetos, a Greek name) of Tamesi in Esarhaddon's list of 673/672 BC; Cypro-syllabic Greek inscriptions",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": -673,
   "until_text": "Not ended. Under Kition's kings in the 4th c. BC (bilingual period); Alexander gave it to Pnytagoras of Salamis; a Roman town and see (Herakleidios, by tradition its first bishop); later the village of Politiko, Greek-speaking today.",
   "until_basis": "still spoken today",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Tamassos (Hierocles lists the city); the monastery of Agios Herakleidios at Politiko; Greek-speaking village.",
   "ended_by": "Not ended. Loss of independence: sold by Pasikypros to Pumiyathon of Kition (4th c. BC); Arab raids from 649 (Mu'awiya).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek settlement of the migration era",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "migration-era settlers",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Homer's Temese, where copper was traded, may be Tamassos; it is a Greek text and gives no pre-Greek name.",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Phoenician and Greek (syllabic) bilingual dedications to Reshef/Apollo, 375 and 362 BC, under the kings of Kition; king Pasikypros sold the kingdom to Pumiyathon of Kition for 50 talents (Duris in Athen. 4.167c)",
   "status_evidence": "Kingdom (Esarhaddon 673/672 BC; Duris); royal tombs; IACP Cyprus chapter; see (Hierocles 706)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Greek date is the first text; the town is older (Cypro-Geometric). Whether its first Iron Age people spoke Greek is not known.",
   "sources": [
    "Athen. 4.167c (Duris)",
    "Buchholz & Untiedt, Tamassos (1996)",
    "Masson, ICS (1983)",
    "Pleiades 707628",
    "Wikipedia: Tamassos"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 21,
   "list_group": "Cyprus",
   "dates_shown": "c. 150 – 1974",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w019",
   "latin": "Tremithus (Trimithous)",
   "greek": "Τριμιθοῦς",
   "other_names": "Tremithous; Thremitus; Tremetousia (modern); Erdemli (Turkish)",
   "modern": "Tremetousia",
   "modern_native": "Τρεμετουσιά",
   "modern_alt": "Erdemli",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tremetousia (Erdemli), Larnaca district",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "admin1": "Larnaca",
   "cy_area": "north (under Turkish occupation since 1974)",
   "ancient_region": "Cyprus",
   "lat": 35.0724,
   "lon": 33.6038,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "707636",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 150,
   "greek_until": 1974,
   "phases": [
    [
     150,
     1974
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First listed as an inland city of Cyprus by Ptolemy (5.14.6), 2nd c. AD; its bishop Spyridon (early 4th c.) is said by Rufinus, Socrates and Sozomen to have attended the Council of Nicaea, 325, though his name is not in the surviving signature lists",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": 150,
   "until_text": "A see from the 4th c. (Spyridon; bishops in 381, 681 and 787); Richard I defeated Isaac Komnenos here in 1191 and the town declined to a village. Greek-speaking until 1974.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Trimithous to the 11th c.; the church of Agios Spyridon in the village.",
   "ended_by": "Turkish invasion of 1974: the landing west of Kyrenia on 20 July and the second offensive of 14-16 August. The Greek Cypriots of Tremetousia fled before the advancing Turkish army or were expelled (in the second Turkish offensive, August 1974). At the third round of the Vienna talks (2 August 1975) it was agreed that Turkish Cypriots in the south could move north and that Greek Cypriots in the north could stay or move south; in the following years most of those who had stayed in the north left or were moved south, except the enclaved of the Karpas. Their homes were given to Turkish Cypriots displaced from the south and to settlers from Turkey. The European Court of Human Rights has held Turkey responsible for the continuing denial of the displaced owners' access to their homes (Loizidou v. Turkey, 1996, a Kyrenia property; Cyprus v. Turkey, 2001). Tremetousia is one of the few villages of the Larnaca district under Turkish control. The north of Cyprus has been under Turkish military occupation ever since, an occupation illegal under international law: the UN General Assembly demanded 'the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from the Republic of Cyprus' (Res. 37/253, 1983), and the Security Council declared the secession of the north 'legally invalid' and called on all states not to recognise any Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus (Res. 541, 1983); only Turkey recognises the breakaway state.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Greek",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Ptolemy 5.14.6; see (bishop Spyridon, early 4th c.: Rufinus, HE 10.5; Socrates 1.12; Sozomen 1.11); Hierocles 707; Georgius Cyprius",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The town may be older than its first mention. Its pre-1974 Greek Cypriot population is inferred from the village's history; the village had 169 inhabitants in 2011.",
   "sources": [
    "Ptolemy 5.14.6",
    "Life of Spyridon (Theodore of Paphos)",
    "Pleiades 707636",
    "Wikipedia: Tremetousia",
    "UN Secretary-General reports on UNFICYP, 1974-1976",
    "ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey (no. 25781/94), 2001"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 22,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 150 BC – c. AD 640",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w030",
   "latin": "Antaradus",
   "greek": "Ἀντάραδος",
   "other_names": "Constantia (Constantius II, 346); Antartus, Tartus (Arabic); Tortosa (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Tartus",
   "modern_native": "طرطوس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tartus (old town), Tartus Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Tartus",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.8974,
   "lon": 35.8837,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668190",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -150,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     -150,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The mainland town of the Aradian state; Greek civic life of Aradus from the 2nd c. BC; Antaradus is named as a separate town by Ptolemy and Pliny and as a see from the 4th c.; Constantius II refounded it as Constantia in 346.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit, c. 636; al-Baladhuri says the inhabitants evacuated it, and Mu'awiya later rebuilt it, settled soldiers and gave them fiefs. Speech: the Greek-speaking population left with the conquest; later Christians spoke Arabic.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Refounded by Constantius II, 346; bishops Cymatius (under Constantine, shared with Aradus), Musaeus, Alexander, Paulus, Atticus, Theodorus (d. 518), Asyncretius (553); Hierocles (Phoenice); Notitia Antiochena; flight of the inhabitants at the conquest (al-Baladhuri).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit, c. 636; the inhabitants evacuated it and Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan resettled it with soldiers (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Constantius II (Constantia, 346)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (as part of the Aradian state)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Mainland town of Aradus; Phoenician until the Hellenistic period.",
   "status_evidence": "Hierocles (Phoenice); Notitia Antiochena; bishops from the 4th c.; Ptolemy 5.15",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The earliest separate civic evidence for Antaradus is late; the start date follows the Greek civic life of the Aradian state.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces",
    "Wikipedia: Tartus",
    "Pleiades 668190"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 23,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – AD 650",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w031",
   "latin": "Aradus",
   "greek": "Ἄραδος",
   "other_names": "Arwad (Phoenician, Arabic); Ruad",
   "modern": "Arwad",
   "modern_native": "أرواد",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Arwad island, Tartus Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Tartus",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.8576,
   "lon": 35.8594,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668197",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Aradus received autonomy and began a civic era in 259 BC; Greek civic institutions (boule, demos) and city coins with the Greek legend ΑΡΑΔΙΩΝ are attested in the 2nd c. BC, alongside Phoenician.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together. Mu'awiya's first assault (winter 649) failed, and the islanders arrested his envoy, the bishop Thomarichos; at the second (spring 650) they surrendered for safe passage. Some left for Roman territory and some for Syria; the island was emptied, its walls destroyed and the town razed so that it could not serve the Roman fleet (Theophanes; Syriac chronicles).",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the 2nd c. BC to the Roman period; bishops Cymatius (under Constantine), Mocimus (381), Paulus (451), Atticus (458), Asyncretius (553); Hierocles (Phoenice); evacuation in 650.",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, governor of Syria for Caliph Uthman, spring 650; the inhabitants were made to leave and the town was razed (Theophanes; Syriac chronicles).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Arwad (Phoenician ʾrwd; Akkadian Arwada; Hebrew Bible Arvad)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (until about the 1st c. BC)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Coins with Greek legend ΑΡΑΔΙΩΝ but Phoenician letters and dates in the 2nd c. BC; Greek civic decrees of boule and demos.",
   "status_evidence": "Civic era 259 BC (Antiochus II); city coins with Greek legends (2nd c. BC on); Greek decrees of boule and demos; bishops from Constantine's reign; Hierocles (Phoenice); Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Phoenician survived beside Greek through the late Hellenistic period; the date of the end of Phoenician is uncertain.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.13-14",
    "Rey-Coquais, Arados et sa pérée",
    "Theophanes, Chronographia AM 6140-6141",
    "Wikipedia: Conquest of Arwad (649-650)",
    "Pleiades 668197"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 24,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 149 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w035",
   "latin": "Arca",
   "greek": "Ἄρκη",
   "other_names": "Caesarea ad Libanum / Καισάρεια ἡ ἐν τῷ Λιβάνῳ (Roman); Colonia Caesarea Libani (Severan); Arqa (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Arqa",
   "modern_native": "عرقة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tell Arqa, Akkar Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "Akkar",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.5331,
   "lon": 36.0428,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668198",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": 149,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     149,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins with the Greek legend 'of the Caesareans in the Lebanon', dated year 461 of the Seleucid era (AD 149/150) under Antoninus Pius; the Caesar name implies an earlier Roman (re)foundation.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Mu'awiya c. 636 (al-Baladhuri). Speech: the Roman inhabitants largely fled; Christians who stayed came to speak Arabic. Crusaders besieged Arqa in 1099. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Birthplace of Severus Alexander (208); colony under the Severans; bishops in the 5th-6th c.; Hierocles (Phoenice); Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan with Mu'awiya, c. 636; most Roman inhabitants fled (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "renamed Caesarea under Roman rule (date unknown); colonia under Elagabalus or Severus Alexander",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Irqata (Amarna Akkadian; Egyptian ʿrqt)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic/Phoenician (the native town of the Ituraean period)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "An Ituraean-ruled native town in the 1st c. BC; Greek civic coinage only from the Roman period.",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Antoninus Pius on); Roman colony; bishops; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Earlier coins may exist; the first Greek civic evidence could be older than AD 149.",
   "sources": [
    "RPC IV.3, 6770",
    "Thalmann, Tell Arqa",
    "Wikipedia: Arqa",
    "Pleiades 668198"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 25,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "37 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w029",
   "latin": "Balanea",
   "greek": "Βαλανέαι",
   "other_names": "Leucas / Claudia Leucas (Roman coins); Bulunyas, Baniyas (Arabic); Valania (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Baniyas",
   "modern_native": "بانياس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Baniyas, Tartus Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Tartus",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda (Theodorias from 528)",
   "lat": 35.1747,
   "lon": 35.9433,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668206",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -37,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -37,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First city coins with the Greek legend ΒΑΛΑΝΕΩΤΩΝ, dated year 1 (37/36 BC) under Mark Antony (RPC I 4456); later issues under Augustus and, as 'Claudian Leucadians', under Claudius. Strabo (16.2.12) lists Balanaia among the Aradian towns.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit in 637/638; on the emperors' side by the treaty of 969/970 and taken by John Tzimiskes in 975, the seat of a strategos; the date of its loss is not recorded (the Muslims built al-Marqab above it in 1062; probably lost with Gabala c. 1081); held by soldiers from Cyprus c. 1102-1104; Crusader 1109-1188 (the Latin bishop lived at Margat); Saladin 1188. Speech: shift to Arabic by the 9th c.; under the emperors only officials and soldiers are attested. The end is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop at Nicaea 325 and three more to the 6th c.; Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai). Under the emperors (969/975 to c. 1081): the seal of Veken, strategos of Balaneus (DO Seals 5, 15.1); 'the soldiers of Eumathios' from Cyprus, c. 1102-1104 (Anna Komnene XI).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri). Later rulers: the emperors in Constantinople, 969/975 to c. 1081; the Crusaders, 1109; Saladin, 1188.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (an Aradian town before the Roman period)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "An Aradian dependency (Strabo 16.2.12) before Roman times.",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (from 37/36 BC, Mark Antony, to the 1st c. AD; as Claudia Leucas from Claudius); bishop at Nicaea 325 (Euphration); Hierocles (Syria Secunda); Notitia Antiochena; Theodorias 528",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The coins name the Balaneotai and, from Claudius, the Claudian Leucadians, so Leucas and Balanea are one city (RPC I lists them together). Under the emperors (969/975 to c. 1081) only officials and soldiers are attested, so no second phase is counted (earlier versions of this set had one, 969-1081).",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "RPC I",
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Balanaea",
    "Pleiades 668206",
    "Nesbitt et al., Catalogue of Seals at Dumbarton Oaks 5 (2005), 15.1",
    "Anna Komnene, Alexiad XI"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 26,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 170 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w038",
   "latin": "Berytus",
   "greek": "Βηρυτός",
   "other_names": "Laodicea in Phoenicia / Λαοδίκεια ἡ ἐν Φοινίκῃ (Seleucid); Colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Berytus (Roman); Bayrut (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Beirut",
   "modern_native": "بيروت",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Beirut (downtown), Beirut Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "Beirut",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.8986,
   "lon": 35.5112,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678060",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -170,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -170,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Renamed Laodicea in Phoenicia under Antiochus IV; its city coins with Greek and Phoenician legends date from 175-164 BC; Berytian merchants formed a Greek-speaking association (the Poseidoniasts) on Delos in the 2nd c. BC.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the earthquake of 551 and the fire of 560 ruined the city and its law school moved to Sidon; Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Mu'awiya took it c. 636 (al-Baladhuri). Speech: most Roman inhabitants fled; the Christians who stayed shifted to Arabic. John Tzimiskes held the town briefly in 975. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Law school teaching in Greek in the 5th-6th c.; bishops from the 4th c.; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena (metropolis after 451); the 551 earthquake (Malalas, Agathias); Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "Destroyed by Diodotus Tryphon, c. 140 BC (Strabo 16.2.19); refounded by Agrippa as a colony, 15/14 BC; ruined by the earthquake of 551; taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan with Mu'awiya, c. 636 (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Antiochus IV (renaming); Augustus and Agrippa (colonia, 15/14 BC)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Agrippa for Augustus, colonia with veterans of legions V Macedonica and VIII Augusta, 15/14 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Biruta (Amarna Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (Hellenistic period); Latin (the Roman colony, 1st-3rd c. AD)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Seleucid coins of Laodicea in Phoenicia with Greek and Phoenician legends; the Roman colony used Latin in its public life and law school until Greek took over in the 4th-5th c.",
   "status_evidence": "Seleucid city coins; Roman colony; law school; bishops from 325; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Roman colony of 15/14 BC is the same site and keeps one entry; Latin was the language of the colony's public life for about three centuries while Greek remained the language of much of the population.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.19",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Hall, Roman Berytus",
    "Wikipedia: Berytus",
    "Pleiades 678060"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 27,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "64 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w036",
   "latin": "Botrys",
   "greek": "Βότρυς",
   "other_names": "Batrun (Arabic); Le Boutron (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Batroun",
   "modern_native": "البترون",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Batroun, North Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "North",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.2536,
   "lon": 35.6597,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668214",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -64,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -64,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins with the Greek legend ΒΟΤΡΥΗΝΩΝ dated year 28 (37/36 BC) of a civic era starting 64/63 BC, the year of Pompey's settlement (RPC I 4523).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the town was badly hit by the earthquake of 551 (a landslide at Theouprosopon blocked the harbour) and passed to the Arabs with the Lebanese coast, c. 636. Speech: gradual shift to Arabic. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "City coins to the 3rd c.; bishops in the 5th-6th c.; Hierocles (Phoenice); Notitia Antiochena; the 551 earthquake (Malalas, Agathias); Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "No named act recorded for Botrys itself: it passed to Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Mu'awiya with the neighbouring coast, c. 636 (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Batruna (Amarna Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (until about the 1st c. BC)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Phoenician town founded by Ithobaal of Tyre (Menander in Josephus, AJ 8.324); Greek civic coins only from the 1st c. BC.",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (37/36 BC to the 3rd c. AD); bishops; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Botrys was founded as a Phoenician town by Ithobaal I of Tyre (Menander in Josephus, AJ 8.324).",
   "sources": [
    "RPC I 4523",
    "Josephus, AJ 8.324",
    "Wikipedia: Batroun",
    "Pleiades 668214"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 28,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 170 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w037",
   "latin": "Byblos",
   "greek": "Βύβλος",
   "other_names": "Gebal; Jubayl (Arabic); Gibelet (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Byblos (Jbeil)",
   "modern_native": "جبيل",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Jbeil, Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "Keserwan-Jbeil",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.1192,
   "lon": 35.6461,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668216",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -170,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -170,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Municipal coins of Antiochus IV (175-164 BC) with Greek and Phoenician legends; Greek inscriptions follow; Philo of Byblos wrote in Greek in the late 1st-2nd c. AD.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Mu'awiya c. 636 (al-Baladhuri). Speech: the Roman elite fled; the Christians who stayed shifted to Arabic by the 9th c. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Philo of Byblos (c. 64-141); city coins to the 3rd c.; bishops from the 4th c.; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena; damaged in 551; Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan with Mu'awiya, c. 636 (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Gubla (Phoenician gbl; Akkadian Gubla; Hebrew Bible Gebal)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (until about the 1st c. BC/1st c. AD)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Municipal coins of Antiochus IV with Greek and Phoenician legends ('of holy Byblos' / lgbl qdšt); Phoenician inscriptions into the late Hellenistic period.",
   "status_evidence": "Municipal coins of Antiochus IV; city coins of the Roman period; Philo of Byblos; bishops; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Grainger, Hellenistic Phoenicia",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Wikipedia: Byblos",
    "Pleiades 668216"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 29,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 47 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w027",
   "latin": "Gabala",
   "greek": "Γάβαλα",
   "other_names": "Jabala (Arabic); Gibel (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Jableh",
   "modern_native": "جبلة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Jableh (Roman theatre), Latakia Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Latakia",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima (Theodorias from 528)",
   "lat": 35.3781,
   "lon": 35.9223,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668250",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -47,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -47,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The city counted a civic era from 47/46 BC (Caesar's grant of autonomy); its city coins with the Greek legend ΓΑΒΑΛΕΩΝ are dated by that era from year 16 (31/30 BC; RPC I 4449) and continue under Augustus (e.g. AD 13/14, RPC I 4452).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit in 637/638 (Mu'awiya built a new fort beside the Roman town); ruled from Constantinople from 968 (Yaqut) and the seat of a strategos ('Zebel') from 975 until 1080/81, when the qadi Ibn Sulayha expelled the Romans with the help of the Banu Ammar of Tripoli; Crusader from 23 July 1109 (Tancred with the Genoese); Saladin 1188. Speech: the Greek-speaking population shifted to Arabic by the 9th c. Under the emperors the only Greek speakers recorded are the officials and the garrison, the 'Rum' who left for Tripoli in 1080/81 (Yaqut); the townspeople were Muslims with their own qadi and Arabic-speaking Orthodox, and a local Arab, Abdellas, was the imperial judge. The end is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Severian of Gabala, Greek preacher and bishop (fl. c. 400); bishops to the 6th c.; Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai). Under the emperors (968/975-1080/81): the seal of the strategos Eustratios Botaneiates (DO Seals 5, 13.1); Abdellas, judge of Zebel; the qadi Mansur, 'ra'is Jabala', and his son Ibn Sulayha (Sato 1991); 'those of the Rum who were in it moved to Tripoli' (Yaqut, s.v. Jabala, 473 AH).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri). Later rulers: the emperors in Constantinople, 968-1080/81 (expelled by the qadi Ibn Sulayha with the Banu Ammar of Tripoli); Tancred, 1109; Saladin, 1188.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Gibʿala (Ugaritic gbʿly; Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Bronze and Iron Age town of Gibʿala is usually placed at Tell Tweini, 1.5 km from the Roman town.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician/Aramaic (the native town of the Aradian coast, before the Roman period)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A native coastal town in the Aradian sphere before the Roman period; no Greek civic evidence before the 1st c. BC.",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Augustus to the 3rd c.); Roman theatre; bishop Severian (c. 400); Hierocles (Syria Prima); Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Under the emperors (968/975-1080/81) Gabala was the seat of a strategos, but the only Greek speakers attested there are officials and the garrison, so no second phase is counted (earlier versions of this set had one, 969-1081).",
   "sources": [
    "RPC I 4452",
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-buldan",
    "Wikipedia: Jableh",
    "Pleiades 668250",
    "Yaqut, Mu'jam al-buldan, s.v. Jabala",
    "Nesbitt et al., Catalogue of Seals at Dumbarton Oaks 5 (2005), 13.1",
    "Sato, 'Qadis in the Syrian Coastal Towns of Tripoli and Jabala', Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan 34.2 (1991)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 30,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 246 BC – c. AD 0",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w025",
   "latin": "Heraclea ad Mare",
   "greek": "Ἡράκλεια ἡ πρὸς θαλάσσῃ",
   "other_names": "Heraclea (Strabo 16.2.12)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ras Ibn Hani, north of Latakia, Latakia Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Latakia",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima",
   "lat": 35.5875,
   "lon": 35.7359,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668262",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -246,
   "greek_until": 0,
   "phases": [
    [
     -246,
     0
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A new fortified Hellenistic town was laid out on the cape in the mid-3rd c. BC, probably by Ptolemy III in the Third Syrian War (246-241 BC; large finds of Ptolemaic bronzes); civic weights of the 'Herakleotai by the sea' are dated 108/107 and 103/102 BC.",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The Hellenistic town on the cape shrank in the late Hellenistic period; Strabo (16.2.12) still lists Heraclea near Laodicea, but no later civic evidence is known. Laodicea absorbed the area.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -100,
    200
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Civic weights dated 108/107 and 103/102 BC (legend ΗΡΑΚΛΕΩΤΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΘΑΛΑΣΣΗΙ); Strabo 16.2.12 (c. AD 20).",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town faded into the territory of Laodicea; the date is uncertain.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Ptolemy III? (or a Seleucid king)",
   "founder_group": "Ptolemies",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Reʾsi-ṣuri? (Akkadian/Ugaritic texts)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Late Bronze Age palace town on the cape belonged to Ugarit; the Ugaritic/Akkadian name is not securely identified.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Civic lead weights with the ethnic of the Herakleotai by the sea (SE 205 and 210); Strabo 16.2.12; Hellenistic town plan at Ras Ibn Hani",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The identification of Heraclea with Ras Ibn Hani is the usual one but not certain. The founder is inferred from coin finds; Seleucid foundation is also possible.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "Cohen 2006, Heraclea by the Sea",
    "Bounni and Lagarce, Ras Ibn Hani",
    "Pleiades 668262"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 31,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w026",
   "latin": "Laodicea ad Mare",
   "greek": "Λαοδίκεια ἡ ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ",
   "other_names": "Laodicea in Syria; Iulia Laodicea (after 47 BC); Septimia Aurelia Laodicea (colonia, AD 198); al-Ladhiqiyya (Arabic); La Liche (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Latakia",
   "modern_native": "اللاذقية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Latakia (old city), Latakia Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Latakia",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima (Theodorias from 528)",
   "lat": 35.5189,
   "lon": 35.7766,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668290",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by Seleucus I c. 300 BC as one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis and named after his mother Laodice (Strabo 16.2.4; Appian, Syr. 57).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit for Abu Ubayda, c. 637; ruled again from Constantinople from 968/970 to c. 1082, when the Banu Munqidh held it; Seljuk from 1086/87; held by imperial garrisons in 1099-1103 and 1104-1108; Principality of Antioch to 1188; Saladin 1188; Mamluks 1287. Speech: the Greek-speaking city lost its elite at the conquest and its Christians shifted to Arabic by the 9th c. Under the emperors Laodicea had governors, garrisons and a metropolitan with a Greek seal, but no resident Greek-speaking community is recorded: Ibn Butlan (c. 1050) describes Muslims with their own qadi and Friday mosque beside Orthodox Christians ('Rum') who rang their bells against the call to prayer, and the only Greek speakers he mentions are 'strangers from the Rum' lodging in the port's inns. The end is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai). Under the emperors (968/970 to c. 1082): governors, garrisons, the Muslim townspeople deported in 992 after a revolt, and the seal of Theodore, metropolitan of 'Laodikeia the Great' (DO Seals 5, 12.1); Ibn Butlan's letter of c. 1050 (Yaqut, s.v. al-Ladhiqiyya). The Antiochene Melkites read Arabic: 'Abdallah ibn al-Fadl translated the Greek Fathers for them (c. 1050).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit, c. 637 (al-Baladhuri). Later rulers: the emperors in Constantinople, 968/970 to c. 1082; the Banu Munqidh; the Seljuks, 1086/87; the Principality of Antioch, 1108-1188; Saladin, 23 July 1188; the Mamluk sultan Qalawun, 20 April 1287.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Julius Caesar (Iulia, 47 BC); Septimius Severus (colonia, 198); Justinian (metropolis of Theodorias, 528)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Greek writers give the earlier names Ramitha and Leuke Akte (Philo of Byblos in Stephanus); Pleiades also lists Mazabda. No securely identified name in a non-Greek source.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Seleucid foundation; city coins with Greek legends from the 2nd c. BC; bishop at Nicaea 325; Hierocles (Syria Prima); Notitia Antiochena (metropolis of Theodorias)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Ruled again from Constantinople c. 968-1082, and held by imperial garrisons in 1099-1103 and 1104-1108, Laodicea had governors, soldiers and a metropolitan with a Greek seal, but no source shows a resident Greek-speaking community, so no second phase is counted (earlier versions of this set had one, 970-1086).",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.9",
    "Cohen 2006, 111-116",
    "Grainger 1990",
    "Wikipedia: Latakia",
    "Pleiades 668290",
    "Yaqut, Mu'jam al-buldan, s.v. al-Ladhiqiyya (Ibn Butlan's letter, c. 1050)",
    "Nesbitt et al., Catalogue of Seals at Dumbarton Oaks 5 (2005), 12.1",
    "Holmes, Basil II and the Governance of Empire (2005)",
    "Anna Komnene, Alexiad XI and XIII"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 32,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 223 BC – c. 148 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w032",
   "latin": "Marathus",
   "greek": "Μάραθος",
   "other_names": "Amrit (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Amrit, south of Tartus, Tartus Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Tartus",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.8388,
   "lon": 35.907,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668306",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -223,
   "greek_until": -148,
   "phases": [
    [
     -223,
     -148
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Civic tetradrachms with the Greek legend ΜΑΡΑΘΗΝΩΝ dated year 37 of the city's era (223/222 BC), with a Semitic numeral; the civic era began in 259 BC, as at Aradus.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Destroyed by its rival Aradus in the reign of Alexander Balas (c. 148 BC); Strabo (16.2.12) says it lay in ruins and the Aradians had divided its land.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    -149,
    -145
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Diodorus 33.5 (the Aradians kill the Marathene envoys and plan to take the city); Strabo 16.2.12.",
   "ended_by": "Destroyed by the Aradians, c. 148 BC (Diodorus 33.5; Strabo 16.2.12).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Phoenician town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Phoenician name is assumed to survive in Amrit, but no secure pre-Greek attestation is known to me.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Phoenician",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Civic coins of the late 3rd and early 2nd c. BC with the Greek legend ΜΑΡΑΘΗΝΩΝ and Semitic (Phoenician/Aramaic) numerals; the city sent envoys to the Seleucid king (Diodorus 33.5).",
   "status_evidence": "Civic coins with Greek legends; Diodorus 33.5; Strabo 16.2.12; temple of Amrit (Persian period)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Marathus was a Phoenician town with Greek civic coinage for about 70 years; Greek speech among its citizens is likely but its extent is uncertain.",
   "sources": [
    "Diodorus 33.5",
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "Grainger, Hellenistic Phoenicia",
    "Pleiades 668306"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 33,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 120 BC – c. AD 600",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w033",
   "latin": "Orthosias",
   "greek": "Ὀρθωσιάς",
   "other_names": "Orthosia; Artusia (medieval)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ard Artousi, by the mouth of the Nahr al-Bared, North Governorate (Minieh-Danniyeh)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "North",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.5109,
   "lon": 35.9548,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668325",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -120,
   "greek_until": 600,
   "phases": [
    [
     -120,
     600
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Civic bronze coins with the Greek city name, late 2nd or early 1st c. BC (BMC Phoenicia 136-137; SNG Copenhagen), assigned by some to the reigns of Antiochus VIII and IX; the town existed by 138 BC, when Tryphon fled there (1 Macc 15:37); later civic coins are dated by the Pompeian era (RPC I 4503, 29/28 BC).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The earthquake and tsunami of 9 July 551 destroyed the Roman town; the see is still recorded in 553, but the town then vanishes from the record. Speech ended with the town, before or at the Arab conquest of the Tripolis coast.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    551,
    640
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops Phosphorus (451), Nilus (536) and Stephen (553); city coins to Elagabalus; remains exposed in 2007 at the Nahr al-Bared camp.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 551; any survivors came under the Arabs with the Tripolis coast, c. 636-644.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "unknown (perhaps a Seleucid king)",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ullaza? (Amarna Akkadian; Egyptian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Bronze Age port of Ullaza is often linked with Orthosias, but the identification is not secure.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Seleucid and Roman city coins; 1 Macc 15:37; Strabo 16.2.12; Hierocles (Phoenice); Notitia Antiochena; bishops 451-553",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Greek name (after Artemis Orthosia) and the civic coins show a Greek town. No founder, settlers or new layout are attested, so it is counted as a Greek town grown into a city. The local name Ard Artousi continues Orthosia.",
   "sources": [
    "1 Macc 15:37",
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "Wikipedia: Orthosias in Phoenicia",
    "Pleiades 668325"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 34,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 222 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w028",
   "latin": "Paltos",
   "greek": "Πάλτος",
   "other_names": "Paltus (Latin); Balda (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Arab al-Mulk",
   "modern_native": "عرب الملك",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Arab al-Mulk (Balda), south of Jableh, Latakia Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Latakia",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima (Theodorias from 528)",
   "lat": 35.2727,
   "lon": 35.9274,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668332",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": 222,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     222,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Strabo (16.2.12) lists Paltos as a town of the Aradian coast; the first positive Greek civic evidence is the city coinage with the legend ΠΑΛΤΗΝΩΝ under Severus Alexander (222-235); bishops follow from the 4th c.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit in 637/638 (al-Baladhuri names Balda); the see survived in the Notitia of Anastasius and in the 10th c. Speech: no evidence for Greek-speaking residents after the conquest; the Christians shifted to Arabic. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops: Cymatius (4th c.), Severus 381, Sabbas 451, John 518; autocephalous see under Antioch in the Notitia of Anastasius (c. 570) and still in the 10th c. Regional markers: flight of Roman inhabitants at the conquest and resettlement of the coast (al-Baladhuri); Greek in the registers until c. 700-707; Arabic Melkite writing by c. 800 (Theodore Abu Qurra).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Ubada ibn al-Samit, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri); no later named act.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (an Aradian town before the Roman period)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Founded from Aradus (Strabo 16.2.12); no Greek civic evidence before the Roman period.",
   "status_evidence": "City coins of Severus Alexander (RPC VI); bishops 4th c. to 518; Hierocles (Syria Prima); Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek speech is surely older than the first city coins, but no earlier civic Greek evidence is known. Paltos was founded by Aradus as a Phoenician town.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.12",
    "RPC VI (Paltus)",
    "Wikipedia: Paltus",
    "Pleiades 668332"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 35,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "3 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w082",
   "latin": "Caesarea Philippi (Paneas)",
   "greek": "Πανεάς / Καισάρεια ἡ Φιλίππου",
   "other_names": "Paneion (the sanctuary of Pan); Neronias (under Agrippa II); Caesarea Paneas; Baniyas (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Banias, Golan Heights",
   "country": "Golan Heights",
   "admin1": "Golan Heights (Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.2475,
   "lon": 35.6935,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678324",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -3,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -3,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Philip the Tetrarch founded the city of Caesarea at the spring and sanctuary of Pan, 3/2 BC (city era of 3 BC; Josephus AJ 18.28); the Greek sanctuary of Pan existed from the 3rd century BC (battle of Panion, 200 BC)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by the Arabs in 635-636 with the Damascus region. Speech: no evidence for a Greek-speaking community after the conquest; the medieval town of Baniyas was Arabic-speaking. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "City coins from Philip to Elagabalus; the statue said to show Christ and the woman healed of bleeding (Eusebius HE 7.18), removed under Julian (Sozomen); bishops to the 6th century. Regional markers: flight of Roman inhabitants at the conquest and resettlement of the coast (al-Baladhuri); Greek in the registers until c. 700-707; Arabic Melkite writing by c. 800 (Theodore Abu Qurra).",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town passed to the Arabs in the conquest of 635-636; no later Greek evidence.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Philip the Tetrarch",
   "founder_group": "client kings",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Agrippa II, as Neronias (c. AD 61)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The identification with biblical Baal-gad or Baal-hermon is speculative.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "City coins with Greek legends (Philip to Elagabalus); Josephus AJ 18.28, BJ 2.168; bishop at Nicaea 325; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena (under Tyre)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The site is in the Golan Heights, at the foot of Mount Hermon. Herod built a temple of Augustus at the Paneion in 20 BC before Philip founded the city.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 18.28",
    "Wilson, Caesarea Philippi: Banias, the Lost City of Pan (2004)",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 169-171",
    "Pleiades 678324"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 36,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "451 – c. 670",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w039",
   "latin": "Porphyreon",
   "greek": "Πορφυρεών",
   "other_names": "Porphyrion (Polybius 5.69)",
   "modern": "Jiyeh",
   "modern_native": "الجية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Jiyeh, Chouf District, Mount Lebanon Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "Mount Lebanon",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.6631,
   "lon": 35.4287,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678338",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": 451,
   "greek_until": 670,
   "phases": [
    [
     451,
     670
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First attested as a bishop's see: bishop Thomas at Chalcedon, 451; the town at Jiyeh had a large church of the 4th-5th c.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The see appears in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570) but not in the 10th-c. list. The town at Jiyeh was abandoned in the second half of the 7th c., without a destruction layer (Polish-Lebanese excavations).",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops Thomas (451), Alexander (late 5th c.), Theodore (518), Christophorus (536), Paul (late 6th c.) (Le Quien); 7th-c. coins and pottery are the last at Jiyeh.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town was left in the later 7th c., after the Arab conquest of the coast (c. 636).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Bishops 451-6th c.; Notitia Antiochena (suffragan of Tyre); Polybius 5.69 (the place, 218 BC)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Le Quien placed the see at Haifa, which some still follow; most now place it at Jiyeh, north of Sidon. The town grew from a Phoenician and Hellenistic settlement.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.69",
    "Waliszewski, Jiyeh excavations (PAM)",
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Porphyreon",
    "Pleiades 678338"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 37,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 650 BC – c. AD 640",
   "period": "1 Before Alexander (to 334 BC)",
   "id": "w024",
   "latin": "Posideion",
   "greek": "Ποσιδήιον",
   "other_names": "Posidium (Latin); Ποσείδιον (Strabo)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Ras al-Bassit, Latakia Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Latakia",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima",
   "lat": 35.8478,
   "lon": 35.8248,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668340",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -650,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     -650,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Archaeology places the Greek settlement in the 7th c. BC (Courbin's excavations, with Greek pottery from the late 8th c.); Herodotus 3.91 calls Posideion a polis on the Cilician-Syrian border.",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The town was destroyed in the 5th or 4th c. BC and rebuilt with a fortified acropolis under Seleucus I after 312 BC; it thrived in the late Roman period (larger harbour, villas, a 6th-c. church complex). The site was largely abandoned after the Arab conquest of the 630s; a Crusader chapel of the 12th-13th c. and later Venetian shipping do not show a continuing Greek town.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    630,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Hellenistic, Roman and late Roman levels at Ras al-Bassit (Courbin); 6th-c. church complex; abandonment after the 630s.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the coast north of Laodicea passed to the Arabs in the campaign of Ubada ibn al-Samit for Abu Ubayda, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri names Laodicea and Gabala, not Posideion); the town was then largely abandoned.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "colony",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Greek traders (legend: Amphilochus son of Amphiaraus, Hdt. 3.91)",
   "founder_group": "colonists",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Seleucus I (fortified acropolis, after 312 BC)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Herodotus 3.91 (polis); Greek pottery and houses from the 8th-6th c. BC; Strabo 16.2.12",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Herodotus names the hero Amphilochus as founder; this is legend. The mother city is unknown; the first Greeks were probably Euboean and East Greek traders, as at Al Mina. Whether the early Greek presence was a self-governing polis or a trading community in a native town is debated, and some doubt that Herodotus' Posideion is Ras al-Bassit.",
   "sources": [
    "Herodotus 3.91",
    "Courbin, Fouilles de Ras el Bassit",
    "Wikipedia: Ras al-Bassit",
    "Pleiades 668340"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 38,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 261 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w044",
   "latin": "Ptolemais",
   "greek": "Πτολεμαΐς",
   "other_names": "Ake (Greek); Antiochia Ptolemais (Seleucid coins, 2nd c. BC); Colonia Claudii Caesaris Ptolemais (Claudius); Akka (Arabic); Acre, Saint-Jean d'Acre (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Akko/Acre",
   "modern_native": "עכו / عكا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tel Akko (Tell el-Fukhkhar) and the Old City of Akko, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 32.9213,
   "lon": 35.0798,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678010",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -261,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -261,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Ptolemy II refounded Phoenician Akko as Ptolemais in the 260s BC; the Zenon papyri of 259 BC already use the new name",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended when the Arab armies took the coast, c. 636-638. Speech: the Greek-speaking élite of the coastal cities left or was replaced; Baladhuri says Mu'awiya settled Muslims, including Persians, in the coastal towns of al-Urdunn and built a shipyard at Akka. No Greek-speaking community is attested here after the 7th c.",
   "until_basis": "conquest and resettlement",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and bishops of Ptolemais to the 6th c.; Mu'awiya's resettlement and naval base (Baladhuri); later Christians of Akka are Arabic-speaking Melkites",
   "ended_by": "Taken by the Arab armies, c. 636-638; Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan resettled the coastal towns with Muslims and made Akka a naval base (Baladhuri)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Ptolemy II",
   "founder_group": "Ptolemies",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Antiochus IV (Antiochia Ptolemais, c. 170 BC); Claudius (Roman colonia, AD 51-54)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʿAkko (Phoenician; Hebrew Bible, Judges 1:31); Akkû (Akkadian); ʿk (Egyptian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Ptolemaic refoundation; Greek civic coins (Seleucid and Roman); Roman colonia; bishops from the 2nd c.; Aeneas at Nicaea 325",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Hellenistic city spread from the old tell to the peninsula, a new layout, which is why it is counted as a royal foundation. Greek mercenaries gathered here for the Persian campaigns against Egypt in the 4th c. BC, before the Greek city.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006 (Ptolemais Ake)",
    "Strabo 16.2.25",
    "Baladhuri, Futuh al-Buldan (coastal towns)",
    "Pleiades 678010",
    "Wikipedia: Acre, Israel"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 39,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 570 – c. 700",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w043",
   "latin": "Sarepta",
   "greek": "Σάρεπτα",
   "other_names": "Zarephath (Hebrew Bible); Sarafand (Arabic); Sarepta (Crusader see)",
   "modern": "Sarafand",
   "modern_native": "الصرفند",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Ras al-Qantara by Sarafand, South Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "South",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.4631,
   "lon": 35.295,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678374",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 570,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     570,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a see under Tyre in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570); the Piacenza pilgrim (c. 570) calls it a small and very Christian town. Greek-speaking Sareptans are attested abroad from the 1st c. AD, but the town was then a dependency of Sidon.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: passed to the Arabs with Sidon, c. 636. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Notitia Antiochena and the Piacenza pilgrim (c. 570) are the last evidence of the Christian town before the conquest. Regional markers: Greek stayed in the caliphate's registers until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the dated Greek inscriptions of Syria nearly stop in the early 7th c.; the Melkites of Syria wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra).",
   "ended_by": "No named act: it passed to Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan and Mu'awiya with Sidon, c. 636 (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Phoenician town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ṣarepta (Phoenician ṣrpt; Akkadian Ṣariptu; Hebrew Bible Ṣārǝpat)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (earlier Phoenician)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Phoenician town of the territory of Sidon; Sareptans abroad wrote Greek (their dedication to the 'Holy God' of Sarepta at Puteoli, AD 79); a see of the Greek-speaking church c. 570.",
   "status_evidence": "A see under Tyre in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570); no bishop is known by name (Latin titular bishops only from the 14th c.). The Madaba map calls the place 'the long village' (Makra Kome); the Piacenza pilgrim calls it a small town.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The see rests on the Notitia Antiochena alone and may have been short-lived; Sareptans who wrote Greek are known only abroad (Puteoli, AD 79).",
   "sources": [
    "Notitia Antiochena (Devreesse 1945)",
    "Itinerarium Antonini Placentini 2",
    "Pritchard, Recovering Sarepta (1978)",
    "Pleiades 678374"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 40,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w040",
   "latin": "Sidon",
   "greek": "Σιδών",
   "other_names": "Colonia Aurelia Pia Sidon (Elagabalus); Ṣayda (Arabic); Sagette (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Sidon (Saida)",
   "modern_native": "صيدا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Saida, South Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "South",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.5619,
   "lon": 35.3728,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678393",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The Greek epigram for the Sidonian Diotimos, victor in the chariot race at Nemea, set up in Sidon c. 200 BC, speaks for a Greek-speaking civic elite; municipal coins of Antiochus IV with the Greek legend ΣΙΔΩΝΙΩΝ follow (175-164 BC).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan with Mu'awiya, c. 636 (al-Baladhuri). Speech: most Roman inhabitants fled; the Christians who stayed shifted to Arabic by the 9th c. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop at Nicaea 325; the Berytus law school moved here after 551; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena; Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan with Mu'awiya, c. 636 (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "colonia under Elagabalus (Colonia Aurelia Pia)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ṣīdūn (Phoenician ṣdn; Akkadian Ṣiduna; Hebrew Bible Ṣīdōn)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (until about the 1st c. BC)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Phoenician and Greek on the civic coins of the 2nd-1st c. BC; Greek-Phoenician bilingual inscriptions; Sidonians abroad wrote both.",
   "status_evidence": "Diotimos inscription; civic coins from Antiochus IV; era of autonomy 111 BC; Roman colony; bishops from 325; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek was spoken at the royal court of Sidon from the 4th c. BC (the 'philhellene' king Abdashtart I); that alone does not date the city's Greek community.",
   "sources": [
    "Bickerman, Sur une inscription grecque de Sidon (Diotimos)",
    "Grainger, Hellenistic Phoenicia",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Pleiades 678393"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 41,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 112 BC – c. AD 644",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w034",
   "latin": "Tripolis",
   "greek": "Τρίπολις",
   "other_names": "Tripolis of Phoenicia; Ṭarābulus al-Sham (Arabic); Tripoli",
   "modern": "Tripoli",
   "modern_native": "طرابلس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tripoli (al-Mina peninsula), North Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "North",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 34.449,
   "lon": 35.812,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668394",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -112,
   "greek_until": 644,
   "phases": [
    [
     -112,
     644
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Civic coinage with the Greek legend ΤΡΙΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ from 112/111 BC; autonomy from Antiochus IX (c. 105/104 BC), with tetradrachms inscribed ΤΡΙΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΝΟΜΟΥ. The Phoenician joint settlement existed by the 4th c. BC (Diodorus 16.41 for 351 BC).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together: Mu'awiya's general Sufyan ibn Mujib al-Azdi besieged the town and its Roman inhabitants escaped by sea in imperial ships; Mu'awiya settled Jews and later garrisons there (al-Baladhuri). Christians who stayed came to speak Arabic.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop Hellanicus at Nicaea 325; Hierocles (Phoenice); Notitia Antiochena; damaged in the 551 earthquake; the flight by sea at the conquest (al-Baladhuri).",
   "ended_by": "Besieged by Sufyan ibn Mujib al-Azdi for Mu'awiya; the inhabitants fled by sea in imperial ships, and under Uthman (644-656) Mu'awiya settled Jews there (al-Baladhuri). Other accounts date the conquest to 635.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Athar? (Phoenician)",
   "pre_greek_note": "A Phoenician name Athar is often given in modern works, but I know no secure ancient attestation; the Greek name describes its three quarters.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (until about the 1st c. BC)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "The federal town of Aradus, Sidon and Tyre (Diodorus 16.41; Strabo 16.2.15); Phoenician the language of its founders; Greek on the civic coinage from 112/111 BC.",
   "status_evidence": "Civic coins (from 112/111 BC; autonomy under Antiochus IX, c. 105/104 BC; Pompeian era 64/63 BC; Roman city coins to the 3rd c. AD); bishop at Nicaea 325; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The date of the Arab conquest of Tripolis is given variously between 636 and the 640s. Tripolis began as a joint Phoenician settlement of Aradus, Sidon and Tyre (Diodorus 16.41).",
   "sources": [
    "Diodorus 16.41",
    "Strabo 16.2.15",
    "al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-buldan",
    "Pleiades 668394"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 42,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "c. 170 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w041",
   "latin": "Tyre",
   "greek": "Τύρος",
   "other_names": "Tyrus; Colonia Septimia Severa Tyrus (Septimius Severus); Ṣur (Arabic); Sur",
   "modern": "Tyre (Sour)",
   "modern_native": "صور",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Sour (al-Mina and al-Bass), South Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "South",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.2693,
   "lon": 35.2018,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678437",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -170,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -170,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Municipal coins of Antiochus IV (175-164 BC) with Greek and Phoenician legends; a Greek decree of the association of Tyrian Herakleistai, merchants and shipowners, on Delos, c. 150 BC (I.Délos 1519); Greek writers from Tyre follow (Antipater of Tyre, Stoic, 1st c. BC).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by the Arabs c. 636-640; Mu'awiya settled Persian and other Muslim garrisons in Tyre and the coast towns (al-Baladhuri). Speech: the Greek-speaking elite emigrated; the Christians who stayed shifted to Arabic by the 9th c. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek writers (Antipater, Maximus, Porphyry, Marinus); metropolitan see of Phoenice; Greek tomb inscriptions of al-Bass to the 6th-7th c.; Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by the army of Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, c. 636-640; Mu'awiya resettled the coast towns (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Septimius Severus (colonia, c. 198); Alexander's siege and resettlement, 332 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ṣur (Phoenician ṣr; Akkadian Ṣurru; Hebrew Bible Ṣōr)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Phoenician (until about the 1st c. BC/1st c. AD)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Civic coins with Greek and Phoenician legends ('of the Tyrians' / lṣr) under Antiochus IV and after autonomy (126/125 BC); Tyrian Heracleists on Delos wrote Greek (153 BC).",
   "status_evidence": "Civic coins from Antiochus IV; era of autonomy 126/125 BC; Greek writers; Roman colony; metropolitan see; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Alexander took Tyre in 332 BC and sold or killed much of its population, but the city was resettled and stayed Phoenician-speaking for at least another century.",
   "sources": [
    "Arrian, Anabasis 2.24",
    "Grainger, Hellenistic Phoenicia",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Pleiades 678437"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 43,
   "list_group": "Phoenicia and the north Syrian coast",
   "dates_shown": "518 – c. 700",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w177",
   "latin": "Zenopolis (Rachlea)",
   "greek": "Ζηνούπολις",
   "other_names": "Rachlea, Raclea (Notitia Antiochena, see under Tyre); Rakhlah (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Rakhlah",
   "modern_native": "رخلة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Rakhlah, Qatana District, Rif Dimashq Governorate (eastern slope of Mount Hermon)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Rif Dimashq",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice",
   "lat": 33.5164,
   "lon": 35.9728,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678354",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 518,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     518,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First attested as a city in 518, when its bishop Elias signed the synodal letter of the council of Tyre as 'bishop of Zenopolis'. The name implies that the village was raised to city rank under the emperor Zeno (474-491).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the Hermon district fell to the Arab armies with Damascus in 634-636. Speech: the town has no evidence of its own after its bishop Anastasius at Constantinople in 553, so its end follows the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800), not a dated event.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek sanctuary inscriptions to 379; bishop Elias of Zenopolis, 518; bishop Anastasius at the council of Constantinople, 553",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the area was taken with Damascus by the Arab armies in 634-636; no later evidence from the town.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Zeno (city rank and the name Zenopolis, inferred from the name)",
   "founder_group": "emperors in Constantinople 330–conquest",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The modern name continues Rachlea of the Notitia Antiochena, probably a Semitic name, but it is not attested in a non-Greek source.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the village sanctuary of Leucothea, written by and for its officials and treasurers, from AD 60 to 379 (a building of 253, a new door of 379); a native mountain cult of the Hermon villages",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop Elias 'of Zenopolis' at the council of Tyre, 518; bishop Anastasius at Constantinople, 553; see Rachlea under Tyre in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570); identification: Aliquot, IGLS XI, pp. 18-19",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "The identification of Rachlea/Zenopolis with Rakhlah rests on the name and is accepted by Aliquot and, with a query, by the Barrington Atlas; Marakya has also been proposed. The temple inscriptions show a Greek-writing village community centuries before it became a city.",
   "sources": [
    "Aliquot, IGLS XI (Mont Hermon), 2008, pp. 18-19",
    "Wikipedia: Rakhlah",
    "Wikipedia (it): Diocesi di Raclea",
    "Devreesse 1945 (Notitia Antiochena)",
    "Pleiades 678354"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 44,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 – c. 650",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w130",
   "latin": "Anasartha",
   "greek": "Ἀνάσαρθα",
   "other_names": "Theodoroupolis/Theodorias (6th c., after the empress Theodora); Khunasira (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Khanasir",
   "modern_native": "خناصر",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Khanasir, al-Safira District, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima",
   "lat": 35.8099,
   "lon": 37.519,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668187",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 400,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     400,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "a see of Syria Prima with Greek building and dedicatory inscriptions of residents, 5th c.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the Arab conquest of northern Syria, 637. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is an estimate.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    637,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see, its bishops' Greek subscriptions and a few Greek inscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of northern Syria by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah and Khalid ibn al-Walid, 637.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "renamed after Theodora under Justinian",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac) and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek dedications and building inscriptions of residents (5th-6th c.); the Greek-Syriac-Arabic inscription of nearby Zebed (512) shows the mixed milieu",
   "status_evidence": "see of Syria Prima; Hierocles; Greek inscriptions (IGLS II)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "IGLS II",
    "Mouterde & Poidebard 1945",
    "Pleiades 668187",
    "Wikipedia: Khanasir"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 45,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 431 – c. 637",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w132",
   "latin": "Barbalissos",
   "greek": "Βαρβαλισσός",
   "other_names": "Emar (Akkadian, the Bronze Age city on the same site); Balis (Arabic); Barbalissos (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Maskanah (Meskene), Old Meskene (Balis), on the shore of Lake Assad, Maskanah District, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 35.987,
   "lon": 38.1111,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668208",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 637,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     637
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Aquilinus of Barbalissos, exiled c. 431 as a supporter of Nestorius (Greek sources); an Antonius of Barbalissus appears only in the Arabic version of the Nicaea list (325).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended when the town surrendered on terms to Habib ibn Maslama, c. 637. Speech: the people could stay and pay tax or leave, and most left for Mesopotamia or Hierapolis (al-Baladhuri); Arabs of Qays were settled on the abandoned estates, and the place became Balis. Any Greek speakers who stayed are not attested.",
   "until_basis": "deportation/emigration",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    637,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Most inhabitants emigrated at the surrender, c. 637.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered on terms to Habib ibn Maslama, c. 637; most inhabitants chose to leave for Mesopotamia or Hierapolis, and Qays tribesmen were settled on their estates (al-Baladhuri). Earlier Shapur I defeated a Roman army here, c. 253 (Shapur I's inscription); Justinian refortified it (Procopius, Buildings 2.9).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Emar (Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Bronze Age Emar lies under the same site; it was destroyed c. 1185 BC and the link to the later town is not continuous.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see of Euphratensis with Greek-signing bishops; otherwise Aramaic-speaking",
   "status_evidence": "See of Augusta Euphratensis under Hierapolis (Notitia Antiochena): bishops Aquilinus (c. 431) and Marinianus (5th c., in Theodoret), later Jacobite bishops (Michael the Syrian); a city of Euphratensis in Hierocles; the town is in Ptolemy (2nd c.).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Greek is otherwise attested only through bishops and the garrison (Dalmatian cavalry).",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Balis (Syria)",
    "al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-buldan",
    "Procopius, Buildings 2.9",
    "Pleiades 668208"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 46,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w125",
   "latin": "Beroea",
   "greek": "Βέροια",
   "other_names": "Ḫalab/Ḫalpa (Akkadian, Hittite); Halman (Assyrian); Ḥalab (Arabic); Aleppo",
   "modern": "Aleppo",
   "modern_native": "حلب",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Aleppo city (old city and citadel), Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima",
   "lat": 36.1994,
   "lon": 37.1629,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "658409",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucus I refounded Halab as Beroea, named after Macedonian Beroea, c. 300 BC, with a new street grid",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah and Khalid ibn al-Walid in 637; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek bishops and writers (Acacius of Beroea, bishop 378-437). Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah and Khalid ibn al-Walid, 637 (al-Baladhuri). Earlier burned by Khosrow I, 540, while the citadel held out (Procopius, Wars 2.7); taken by Khosrow II's army, c. 611. No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ḫalab/Ḫalpa (Akkadian, Hittite; Egyptian ḫrb)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "the old name Halab stayed in use; Syriac-speaking Christians and bilingual clergy in the 4th-6th c.",
   "status_evidence": "Appian Syr. 57; city coins; see of Syria Prima; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 153-155",
    "Grainger 1990",
    "Pleiades 658409",
    "Wikipedia: History of Aleppo"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 47,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w126",
   "latin": "Chalcis ad Belum",
   "greek": "Χαλκὶς ἡ πρὸς Βήλῳ",
   "other_names": "Flavia Chalcis (Roman city coins); Qenneshrin (Syriac); Qinnasrin (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Qinnasrin (al-Eis)",
   "modern_native": "قنسرين / العيس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tell Qinnasrin and al-Hadir, south of Aleppo, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima",
   "lat": 36.008,
   "lon": 37.0097,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668226",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "listed by Appian (Syr. 57) among the cities Seleucus I named after Greek and Macedonian places; named after Chalcis in Euboea, c. 300 BC",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with Khalid ibn al-Walid's capture of the city in 637; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. Qinnasrin became the capital of an Arab jund and later declined. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Khalid ibn al-Walid after his victory at Hazir, 637 (al-Baladhuri, al-Tabari). Earlier Khosrow I extracted a ransom from it, 540 (Procopius, Wars 2.12).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I?",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian Syr. 57; Pliny NH 5.81; Ptolemy; see of Syria Prima; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The 'Flavia Chalcis' city coins of the 1st-2nd c. may belong to this Chalcis or to Chalcis under Lebanon. The philosopher Iamblichus came from a Chalcis in Syria, probably this one.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 156-158",
    "Procopius, Wars 2.12",
    "Pleiades 668226",
    "Wikipedia: Qinnasrin"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 48,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "451 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w141",
   "latin": "Circesium",
   "greek": "Κιρκήσιον",
   "other_names": "Krksy' (Parthian, Shapur I's inscription); Qerqesin (Syriac); Qarqisiya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Al-Busayrah",
   "modern_native": "البصيرة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "al-Busayrah, at the Khabur-Euphrates confluence, Deir ez-Zor Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Deir ez-Zor",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Osrhoene",
   "lat": 35.1566,
   "lon": 40.43,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "893974",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 451,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     451,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Abrahamius of Circesium at the Council of Chalcedon, 451.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: surrendered to Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri, sent by Iyad ibn Ghanm, c. 640. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered without a fight to Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri, sent by Iyad ibn Ghanm, c. 640 (some sources 637).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Diocletian (fortress)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Justinian (walls)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The earlier posts Phaliga and Nabagath lay nearby; no pre-Greek name of the site is secure.",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a fortress town with a see whose bishops signed in Greek (from 451); otherwise Syriac-speaking",
   "status_evidence": "See of Osrhoene under Edessa: bishops Abrahamius (Chalcedon 451; letter of 458), Nonnus (expelled 518), Davithas (536) and Thomas (553), then Jacobite bishops to the 11th c. (Michael the Syrian); Ammianus 23.5.1; Procopius, Buildings 2.6.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. A fortress town; Greek is otherwise attested only through the garrison and the clergy. The Romans may have retaken it after 640; it was firmly Umayyad from 'Abd al-Malik's time (c. 690).",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Circesium",
    "Procopius, Buildings 2.6",
    "al-Baladhuri, Futuh al-buldan",
    "Pleiades 893974"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 49,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w127",
   "latin": "Cyrrhus",
   "greek": "Κύρρος",
   "other_names": "Hagioupolis (late antique, after Saints Cosmas and Damian); Qurus (Arabic); Corice (Crusader)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Nebi Huri, Afrin District, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 36.7451,
   "lon": 36.9597,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "658446",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucus I founded it c. 300 BC and named it after Cyrrhus in Macedonia",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's army in 637; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The city declined to a small town. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Theodoret of Cyrrhus wrote in Greek in the 5th c.; Justinian restored the walls (Procopius, Buildings 2.11). Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's army, 637 (al-Baladhuri). Earlier taken by Shapur I, c. 253 (Shapur I's inscription). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Theodoret (bishop 423-c. 460) describes a Syriac-speaking countryside and monks; the city itself wrote Greek",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 16.2.8; Tacitus Ann. 2.57 (legionary base); city coins; see (Theodoret); Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The ruins lie in Syria, a few km south of the Turkish border.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 159-162",
    "Frézouls on Cyrrhus",
    "Pleiades 658446",
    "Wikipedia: Cyrrhus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 50,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "553 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w184",
   "latin": "Dausara",
   "greek": "Δαύσαρα",
   "other_names": "Dawsar (Arabic); Qal'at Ja'bar (Arabic, later name of the castle)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Qal'at Ja'bar, on Lake Assad, al-Thawrah District, Raqqa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Raqqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Osrhoene",
   "lat": 35.8973,
   "lon": 38.481,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668235",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 553,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     553,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Nonnus of Dausara at the Council of Constantinople, 553.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest of the Jazira, 639/640. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest of the Jazira, 639/640.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A fortified place on the Euphrates with a see of the Greek-speaking church in the 6th c.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Osrhoene under Edessa in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570); bishop Nonnus at Constantinople 553 (Le Quien; Janin).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Mainly a fortress on the Euphrates; the see is the only sign of a town. The medieval castle of Qal'at Ja'bar stands on the site, now an island in Lake Assad.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia (it): Diocesi di Dausara",
    "Janin, DHGE XIV (1960) 107-108",
    "Pleiades 668235"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 51,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – AD 257",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w129",
   "latin": "Dura-Europos",
   "greek": "Δοῦρα / Εὐρωπός",
   "other_names": "Dura (local name, Isidore of Charax 1); Europos (Macedonian name)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tell al-Salihiyah, Abu Kamal District, Deir ez-Zor Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Deir ez-Zor",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Osrhoene",
   "lat": 34.7479,
   "lon": 40.7299,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "893990",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 257,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     257
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "founded c. 300 BC by Nicanor for Seleucus I as a Macedonian colony (Isidore of Charax 1); archaeology gives the early 3rd c. BC",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together: Shapur I besieged and took the city in 256/257; its people were deported or scattered and the city was never resettled. Ammianus (23.5.8) passed it deserted in 363.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Greek parchments and papyri down to 256; the last coins in the siege deposits date to 256.",
   "ended_by": "Besieged and taken by Shapur I, 256/257 (siege works and mines excavated); then abandoned. Earlier Parthian conquest, c. 113 BC; Roman from 165.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Nicanor for Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The local name Dura is Semitic ('fortress'); there is no clear earlier town on the site.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (local, Palmyrene, Jewish), also Safaitic Arabic, Middle Persian and Latin",
   "bilingual_evidence": "in the Parthian and Roman periods Semitic names and Aramaic and Palmyrene inscriptions, the synagogue's Aramaic texts; Greek stayed the language of contracts, most inscriptions and papyri",
   "status_evidence": "Isidore of Charax 1; Greek civic institutions (strategos, epistates) in the parchments and papyri; excavated Hippodamian city",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek city with a long bilingual Parthian and Roman phase; Greek remained dominant in its documents.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2013, 156-169",
    "Isidore of Charax 1",
    "Baird 2018",
    "Pleiades 893990",
    "Wikipedia: Dura-Europos"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 52,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "325 – c. 640",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w131",
   "latin": "Gabbula",
   "greek": "Γάββουλα",
   "other_names": "Gabula; Jabbul (Arabic); Gbwl (Syriac)",
   "modern": "Al-Jabbul",
   "modern_native": "الجبول",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "al-Jabbul, by the salt lake Sabkhat al-Jabbul, al-Safira District, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Prima",
   "lat": 36.0857,
   "lon": 37.5161,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "658470",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 325,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     325,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Bassones of Gabbula at the Council of Nicaea, 325.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of northern Syria under Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 637. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of northern Syria under Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 637.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Gabbulu? (Akkadian, Assyrian records)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Assyrian texts name a Gabbulu in north Syria; the identification with Jabbul is plausible, not certain.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see whose bishops signed in Greek (Nicaea 325; 458); otherwise an Aramaic-speaking district",
   "status_evidence": "See of Syria I: bishop Bassones at Nicaea 325; a bishop in the letter of 458; Ptolemy 5.15.17.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The district around the salt lake of Jabbul spoke Aramaic.",
   "sources": [
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus II",
    "Ptolemy 5.15.17",
    "Pleiades 658470",
    "Wikipedia: Gabula (Syria)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 53,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "325 – c. 640",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w179",
   "latin": "Gindarus",
   "greek": "Γίνδαρος",
   "other_names": "Gindaros (Strabo; Ptolemy); Jindires (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Jindires",
   "modern_native": "جنديرس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Jindires (the tell in the town), Afrin District, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 36.3841,
   "lon": 36.7021,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "658475",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 325,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     325,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Peter of Gindarus at the Council of Nicaea, 325, and at the council of Antioch, 341.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the see had lapsed by the 6th c.; taken in the conquest of northern Syria, 637. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Its see is last attested in 341; in the 6th c. it had only a periodeutes. Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of northern Syria under Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 637.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of the Greek-speaking church in 325-341 in the Aramaic-speaking district of Cyrrhestice.",
   "status_evidence": "A town in Strabo (16.2.8, 'acropolis of Cyrrhestice'), Ptolemy and Stephanus ('a small town near Antioch'); a see with bishop Peter at Nicaea 325 and Antioch 341; under Theodosius I a small village that he fortified, with only a periodeutes under Justinian; absent from Hierocles and the Notitia Antiochena (Catholic Encyclopedia: Gindarus).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The see was short-lived: by the 6th c. Gindarus was a large village. Before the province of Euphratensis was created its bishop signed among those of Coele Syria.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.8",
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Gindarus",
    "Wikipedia: List of attendees of the First Council of Nicaea",
    "Pleiades 658475"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 54,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 170 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w128",
   "latin": "Hierapolis Bambyce",
   "greek": "Ἱεράπολις",
   "other_names": "Bambyce (Βαμβύκη); Mabbog (Aramaic; Syriac Mabbug); Nappigu (Assyrian); Manbij (Arabic); Manbuk (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription)",
   "modern": "Manbij",
   "modern_native": "منبج",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Manbij, Manbij District, Aleppo Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 36.5262,
   "lon": 37.9555,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "658480",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -170,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -170,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "the Aramaic temple town became the polis Hierapolis under the Seleucids; Seleucid bronzes struck there from Antiochus IV (175-164 BC), later Greek city coins",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the city's surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's army in 637; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "By the 5th-6th c. the city's church leaders (Philoxenus) wrote in Syriac. Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's army, 637 (al-Baladhuri). Earlier Khosrow I extracted a ransom of 2,000 pounds of silver, 540 (Procopius, Wars 2.6); taken by Shapur I, c. 253 (Shapur I's inscription). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Seleucids (renaming)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Mnbg (Aramaic, coin legends); Nappigu (Assyrian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Assyrian Nappigu is usually identified with Manbij.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Aramaic/Syriac",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (later Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Aramaic coin legends of the priest-kings (4th c. BC), the native cult of Atargatis (Lucian, De Dea Syria); Greek city coins and inscriptions; Syriac writers (Philoxenus of Mabbug, bishop 485-519)",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 16.1.27; Lucian, De Dea Syria; city coins; metropolis of Augusta Euphratensis; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The date of the first Greek coinage is not certain; a Seleucid date is generally accepted.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 172-178",
    "Lucian, De Dea Syria",
    "Pleiades 658480",
    "Wikipedia: Manbij"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 55,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 1",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w137",
   "latin": "Ichnae",
   "greek": "Ἴχναι",
   "other_names": "Achnai",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "on the Balikh, Raqqa Governorate (perhaps at or near Tell Hammam et-Turkman)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Raqqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Osrhoene",
   "lat": 36.2222,
   "lon": 39.0336,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "543730",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 1,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     1
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "'Ichnai, a Greek city, founded by Macedonians' (Isidore of Charax 1); early Seleucid",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Last recorded by Plutarch (Crassus 25, for 53 BC) and Isidore of Charax (c. AD 1); its end is unknown.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    1,
    300
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No record after the early Roman period.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the city disappears from the record after c. AD 1.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Macedonian settlers under the Seleucids",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Isidore of Charax 1; Plutarch, Crassus 25",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The site is not securely identified.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2013, 83-84",
    "Isidore of Charax 1",
    "Pleiades 543730"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 56,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "325 – c. 640",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w133",
   "latin": "Neocaesarea (Euphratensis)",
   "greek": "Νεοκαισάρεια",
   "other_names": "Athis (Tabula Peutingeriana?)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Dibsi Faraj, on the right bank of the Euphrates east of Maskanah, Aleppo Governorate; the site is now under the waters of Lake Assad (Tabqa Dam)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 35.9632,
   "lon": 38.1826,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668201",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 325,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     325,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Its bishop Paul attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, with both hands crippled in the persecution under Licinius (Theodoret, HE 1.7, who calls Neocaesarea \"a fortress on the banks of the Euphrates\"); later a see of Augusta Euphratensis in Hierocles",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the Arab conquest of the Euphrates valley, 637/638. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is an estimate.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    637,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see, its bishops' Greek subscriptions and a few Greek inscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the Euphrates valley, 637/638.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Roman emperors (name only)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see with Greek-signing bishops; Greek inscriptions in the excavated late Roman town at Dibsi Faraj",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop Paul at Nicaea 325 (Theodoret HE 1.7); see of Augusta Euphratensis; Hierocles; excavations at Dibsi Faraj (Harper)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Dibsi Faraj is usually identified with Athis in the early Roman period and with Neocaesarea later; the identification is probable, not certain. Occupied from the 1st to the 10th century, it was excavated before the dam flooded it. Theodoret calls the place a fortress; it counts as a city by its see.",
   "sources": [
    "Theodoret, HE 1.7",
    "Harper 1975 (Dibsi Faraj)",
    "Jones 1971",
    "Pleiades 668201",
    "Wikipedia: Dibsi Faraj"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 57,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w136",
   "latin": "Nicephorium / Callinicum",
   "greek": "Νικηφόριον / Καλλίνικον",
   "other_names": "Callinicum (after Seleucus II); Leontopolis (Leo I, 466); Qalliniqos (Syriac); al-Raqqa and al-Rafiqa (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Raqqa",
   "modern_native": "الرقة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Raqqa city, Raqqa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Raqqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Osrhoene",
   "lat": 35.95,
   "lon": 39.057,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668318",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "'a Greek city founded by Alexander' (Isidore of Charax 1; Pliny NH 6.119); probably founded under Seleucus I; refounded as Callinicum by Seleucus II (Chronicon Paschale)",
   "date_basis": "ancient foundation date",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Iyad ibn Ghanm in 639/640; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Syriac dominated in late antiquity; Khosrow I razed the city and enslaved its people in 542. Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Iyad ibn Ghanm, 639/640 (al-Baladhuri). Earlier taken and razed by Khosrow I, who enslaved its people, 542 (Procopius, Wars 2.21). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Alexander (Isidore, Pliny) or Seleucus I; refounded by Seleucus II",
   "founder_group": "Alexander",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Seleucus II (Callinicum, c. 242 BC); Leo I (Leontopolis, 466); Justinian (walls)",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "in late antiquity a largely Syriac-speaking town with Syriac monasteries and a Jewish community (synagogue burned in 388)",
   "status_evidence": "Isidore of Charax 1; Strabo 16.1.23; see of Osrhoene; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Cohen doubts Alexander as founder and prefers Seleucus I.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2013, 89-92",
    "Isidore of Charax 1",
    "Procopius, Wars 2.21",
    "Pleiades 668318",
    "Wikipedia: Raqqa"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 58,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 570 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w186",
   "latin": "Oriza (Oresa)",
   "greek": "Ὄριζα",
   "other_names": "Oresa, Oruba (itineraries; Notitia Dignitatum); al-Taybeh (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Al-Taybeh",
   "modern_native": "الطيبة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "al-Taybeh, north-east of Palmyra, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 35.0992,
   "lon": 38.9273,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668323",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 570,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     570,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a see under Sergiopolis in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the Palmyrene, 634-637. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the Palmyrene, 634-637.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A town of the Palmyrene in Ptolemy and a fort of the Strata Diocletiana, with a see in the 6th c.",
   "status_evidence": "See under the metropolis of Sergiopolis in the Notitia Antiochena ('Orizon'); a town in Ptolemy (Palmyrene); base of a legion (legio IV Scythica) in the Notitia Dignitatum.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Mainly a legionary fortress of the desert frontier; no bishop is known by name. A close call between a fort and a town.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia (it): Arcidiocesi di Sergiopoli",
    "Notitia Dignitatum Or. 33",
    "Pleiades 668323"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 59,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "325 – c. 640",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w140",
   "latin": "Resaina / Theodosiopolis",
   "greek": "Ῥέσαινα",
   "other_names": "Resh Aina (Syriac 'head of the spring'); Colonia Rhesaena (Septimius Severus); Theodosiopolis (Theodosius I); Ras al-Ayn (Arabic); Serê Kaniyê (Kurdish)",
   "modern": "Ras al-Ayn",
   "modern_native": "رأس العين",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Ras al-Ayn, Hasakah Governorate, on the Turkish border opposite Ceylanpınar",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Hasakah",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Osrhoene",
   "lat": 36.833,
   "lon": 40.0496,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "874662",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 325,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     325,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Antiochus of Resaina at the Council of Nicaea, 325. Theodosius I enlarged the town as Theodosiopolis, c. 380; the 3rd-c. colony coins of Septimius Severus are Latin.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest of the Jazira, 640 (al-Baladhuri). Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "Taken, by some accounts by storm, in Iyad ibn Ghanm's conquest of the Jazira, 640 (al-Baladhuri). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Theodosius I (Theodosiopolis); earlier a colonia of Septimius Severus",
   "founder_group": "emperors in Constantinople 330–conquest",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Justinian (walls)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Adjacent Tell Fakhariya is Iron Age Sikani (Assyrian-Aramaic bilingual statue); it is a separate mound, so its name is not given as Resaina's.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Aramaic/Syriac",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a Roman colony and then a see with Greek-signing bishops in a Syriac-speaking region; Sergius of Reshaina (d. 536) translated Greek medicine and philosophy into Syriac",
   "status_evidence": "See of Osrhoene under Edessa: bishop Antiochus at Nicaea 325 and later bishops; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena; Roman colony (Septimius Severus).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Its people spoke Syriac; its native Sergius of Reshaina (d. 536) wrote in Syriac and translated from Greek. The ruins lie on the Syrian side of the border.",
   "sources": [
    "Jones 1971",
    "Pleiades 874662",
    "Wikipedia: Ras al-Ayn"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 60,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 431 – c. 700",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w138",
   "latin": "Sergiopolis (Resafa)",
   "greek": "Σεργιούπολις",
   "other_names": "Rhesapha; Raṣappa (Akkadian); Reṣeph (Hebrew Bible); Anastasiopolis (under Anastasius); Rusafa, Rusafat Hisham (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Resafa, south of the Euphrates, Raqqa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Raqqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 35.629,
   "lon": 38.7576,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668354",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "the pilgrim town at the shrine of St Sergius got its first bishop shortly after 431 (from John of Antioch); city rank and metropolis under Anastasius (491-518)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the Arab conquest after the Yarmuk, c. 637-639; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town stayed Christian and became the residence of the caliph Hisham (724-743). The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions into the later 6th c. Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest after the Yarmuk, c. 637-639. Earlier Khosrow I extorted its church treasures from bishop Candidus, 542 (Procopius, Wars 2.20).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Anastasius (city rank); Justinian (walls)",
   "founder_group": "emperors in Constantinople 330–conquest",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Raṣappa (Akkadian); Reṣeph (Hebrew Bible, 2 Kings 19:12)",
   "pre_greek_note": "An Assyrian provincial centre; the Roman fort and pilgrim town grew on or near it.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Syriac and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek building and dedicatory inscriptions of the 5th-6th c.; Syriac-speaking clergy and Arab (Ghassanid) patrons of the shrine of St Sergius",
   "status_evidence": "see from c. 431; metropolis of Augusta Euphratensis under Anastasius; Procopius, Buildings 2.9",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Bilingual rather than Greek: a pilgrim town of an Aramaic- and Arabic-speaking region with Greek as the written language.",
   "sources": [
    "Fowden 1999",
    "Procopius, Wars 2.20",
    "Pleiades 668354",
    "Wikipedia: Sergiopolis"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 61,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "451 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w134",
   "latin": "Sura",
   "greek": "Σοῦρα",
   "other_names": "Sura (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Al-Suriyya, al-Suriyya, near al-Mansura, al-Thawrah District, Raqqa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Raqqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 35.8974,
   "lon": 38.7795,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668376",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 451,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     451,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Uranius of Sura, for whom the metropolitan Stephen signed at Chalcedon, 451; the town was the base of legio XVI Flavia Firma.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: finally taken in the Arab conquest of the Euphrates valley, 637/638. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "Taken and burned by Khosrow I, who enslaved its people, 540 (Procopius, Wars 2.5); bishop Candidus of Sergiopolis tried to ransom 12,000 captives. Rebuilt by Justinian (Buildings 2.9). Finally taken in the Arab conquest, 637/638 (no commander recorded for the town).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Justinian (walls, after 540)",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see and a city in Procopius' narrative; Aramaic-speaking population",
   "status_evidence": "See of Augusta Euphratensis under Hierapolis (Notitia Antiochena): bishops Uranius (451) and Marius (deposed 518); an unnamed bishop in Procopius' account of 540; a city in Hierocles and Procopius (Wars 2.5).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Greek is otherwise attested only through its garrison, officials and bishops.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Sura, Syria",
    "Procopius, Wars 2.5",
    "Pleiades 668376"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 62,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 100",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w135",
   "latin": "Thapsacus / Amphipolis",
   "greek": "Θάψακος / Ἀμφίπολις",
   "other_names": "Tourmeda (Syrian name, Stephanus of Byzantium); Tiphsah? (Hebrew Bible)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "an Euphrates crossing in north Syria; not securely located (sites proposed between Jerablus and Raqqa)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Aleppo",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 36.3535,
   "lon": 38.1758,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "658377",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 100,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     100
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucus I refounded Thapsacus as Amphipolis (Pliny NH 5.87; Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. Amphipolis)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "No record of the city after Pliny; the end of Greek speech there is unknown.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -100,
    400
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last mentioned as Amphipolis by Pliny (1st c. AD).",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the city disappears from the record after the 1st c. AD.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Tiphsah? (Hebrew Bible, 1 Kings 5:4)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Tiphsah is commonly equated with Thapsacus, but the identification is not certain; Xenophon (Anab. 1.4.11) knew Thapsacus as a large city.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian Syr. 57 (Amphipolis among Seleucus I's cities); Pliny NH 5.87; Stephanus of Byzantium; Cohen 2006",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The site is unlocated; the coordinates are Pleiades' rough placement.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 184-186",
    "Pliny NH 5.87",
    "Pleiades 658377"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 63,
   "list_group": "Northern Syria and the Euphrates",
   "dates_shown": "c. 570 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w185",
   "latin": "Zenobia",
   "greek": "Ζηνοβία",
   "other_names": "Halabiye (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Halabiye, on the right bank of the Euphrates, Deir ez-Zor Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Deir ez-Zor",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Augusta Euphratensis",
   "lat": 35.6893,
   "lon": 39.8216,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "894185",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 570,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     570,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a see under Sergiopolis in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the Euphrates valley, 637-640. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the Euphrates valley, 637-640.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Palmyra (under Zenobia, 3rd c.); rebuilt by Justinian",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A walled town of the Euphrates with a see of the Greek-speaking church in the 6th c.",
   "status_evidence": "See under the metropolis of Sergiopolis in the Notitia Antiochena; Procopius (Buildings 2.8) calls it a small city, walled anew by Justinian.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. A fortified town founded under Palmyra and named after its queen; Greek building inscriptions of Justinian's works belong to the builders. No bishop is known by name.",
   "sources": [
    "Procopius, Buildings 2.8",
    "Wikipedia (it): Arcidiocesi di Sergiopoli",
    "Pleiades 894185"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 64,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 20 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w081",
   "latin": "Abila Lysaniou",
   "greek": "Ἄβιλα (ἡ Λυσανίου)",
   "other_names": "Abila of Lysanias; Abilene (the tetrarchy, Luke 3:1)",
   "modern": "Suq Wadi Barada",
   "modern_native": "سوق وادي بردى",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Suq Wadi Barada, Wadi Barada, Rif Dimashq Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Rif Dimashq",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 33.6271,
   "lon": 36.1159,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "677993",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 20,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     20,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek dedication by Nymphaios, freedman of the tetrarch Lysanias, under Tiberius (OGIS 606); the town was the seat of the tetrarchy of Abilene",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration passed to the Arabs with the Damascus region in 634-636. There is no later evidence for Greek speakers here; Aramaic survived in the nearby Qalamun villages. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Latin inscriptions of the road cut through the Barada gorge under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus at the expense of the Abilenes (CIL III 199-201); Greek inscriptions of residents; a see of Phoenice Libanensis in the 5th-6th centuries. Regional markers: flight of Roman inhabitants at the conquest and resettlement of the coast (al-Baladhuri); Greek in the registers until c. 700-707; Arabic Melkite writing by c. 800 (Theodore Abu Qurra).",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town came under the Arabs with the Damascus region in Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign, 634-636; the evidence for Greek speakers ends then.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Ituraean population)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Capital of an Ituraean tetrarchy with Semitic names in its Greek inscriptions; Greek dedications by residents from the reign of Tiberius; the Abilenes paid for the Roman road as a civic body (163-165)",
   "status_evidence": "Capital of the tetrarchy of Abilene (Josephus; Luke 3:1); Ptolemy 5.15; bishop's see of Phoenice Libanensis (Notitia Antiochena, Le Quien)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The local shrine of Nabi Habil ('Abel') preserves the name. Civic status in the Roman period rests on its role as tetrarchic capital and later see.",
   "sources": [
    "OGIS 606",
    "Josephus AJ 19.275, 20.138",
    "Wikipedia: Abila Lysaniou",
    "Pleiades 677993"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 65,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w116",
   "latin": "Apamea",
   "greek": "Ἀπάμεια",
   "other_names": "Pella (name of the Macedonian settlement, Strabo 16.2.10); Pharnake (earlier name, Strabo); Chersonesos (Strabo); Afamiya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Qalaat al-Madiq (Afamia)",
   "modern_native": "قلعة المضيق / أفاميا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Qalaat al-Madiq, al-Suqaylabiyah District, Hama Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Hama",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 35.4214,
   "lon": 36.4024,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668335",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucus I founded it c. 300 BC on the site of Pharnake, also called Pella, as the military and elephant base of the kingdom (Strabo 16.2.10)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah in 637/638; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. Apamea had already been plundered by Khosrow I in 540 and burned, with its people deported, in 573. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek city inscriptions, mosaics and the Neoplatonist school (Numenius, Amelius) to the 3rd c.; Greek church inscriptions into the 6th c.; mass deportation by the Persians in 573 (Evagrius 5.10). Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri). Earlier blows: plundered by Khosrow I, 540 (Procopius, Wars 2.11); taken and burned by Khosrow I's general Adarmahan, who deported its people, 573 (Evagrius 5.10; John of Ephesus 6.6).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Pharnake is attested only in Greek (Strabo); the identification of the site with Bronze Age Niya (Akkadian, Egyptian) is disputed; the citadel tell has Bronze Age levels.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 16.2.10; city coins from the 2nd c. BC; metropolis of Syria Secunda; bishops from 325; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 94-101",
    "Strabo 16.2.10",
    "Grainger 1990",
    "Pleiades 668335",
    "Wikipedia: Apamea, Syria"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 66,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w119",
   "latin": "Arethusa",
   "greek": "Ἀρέθουσα",
   "other_names": "Arastan (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription); al-Rastan (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Al-Rastan",
   "modern_native": "الرستن",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Al-Rastan, al-Rastan District, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 34.9267,
   "lon": 36.7324,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668199",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "listed by Appian (Syr. 57) among the cities Seleucus I named after places in Macedonia; c. 300 BC",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah in 637; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 637 (al-Baladhuri). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "held by the Emesene dynasts (Sampsigeramus) in the 1st c. BC (Strabo 16.2.10)",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian Syr. 57; Strabo 16.2.10; Roman city coins with Greek legends; see of Syria Secunda (Mark of Arethusa, 4th c.); Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Modern al-Rastan is generally held to continue the name Arethusa.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 102-103",
    "Appian, Syr. 57",
    "Pleiades 668199",
    "Wikipedia: Al-Rastan"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 67,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "451 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w180",
   "latin": "Chonochora (Qara)",
   "greek": "Χονοχώρα",
   "other_names": "Konochora, Chonacara; Cara (itineraries); Qara (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Qara",
   "modern_native": "قارة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Qara, Qalamoun, Rif Dimashq Governorate (proposed)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Rif Dimashq",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.1683,
   "lon": 36.7534,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668221",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 451,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     451,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Dadas of Chonochora, for whom the metropolitan Theodore of Damascus signed at Chalcedon (451); Dadas signed the letter of the bishops of Phoenice II to Leo I in 458.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the Damascus-Homs road, 634-636. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last bishop known: Alexander, expelled in 518. Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the Damascus-Homs road, 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of the Greek-speaking church under Damascus in the Aramaic-speaking Qalamoun.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Phoenice Libanensis under Damascus: bishop Dadas (451, 458); Alexander, a Miaphysite expelled in 518; Notitia Antiochena (c. 570). Identified with Qara (Wikipedia it, after Vailhe, Honigmann and Janin); 'Chonacara?' at Qara in the Barrington Atlas.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The identification with Qara is usual but tentative in the Barrington Atlas. Corada, a separate see under Damascus, is not this place. Le Quien wrongly gave it three bishops of Carrhae (Harran).",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia (it): Diocesi di Conocora",
    "Pleiades 668221",
    "Honigmann, BZ 25 (1925)",
    "Devreesse 1945"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 68,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 90 BC – c. AD 800",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w080",
   "latin": "Damascus",
   "greek": "Δαμασκός",
   "other_names": "Demetrias (civic coins, c. 87-84 BC); Colonia Damascus (under Philip the Arab); Dimashq, al-Sham (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Damascus",
   "modern_native": "دمشق",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Old City of Damascus, Damascus Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Damascus",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 33.5116,
   "lon": 36.3091,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678106",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -90,
   "greek_until": 800,
   "phases": [
    [
     -90,
     800
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Civic bronze coins naming the city Demetrias, c. 87-84 BC (after Demetrius III, who ruled from Damascus 96-87 BC); before that a Ptolemaic and, from 200 BC, Seleucid stronghold with a royal mint (from 128 BC)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the city capitulated to the Arabs in 635 and was the Umayyad capital from 661; Greek stayed in the caliphal offices of Syria until the order to keep the registers in Arabic, c. 700-705 (al-Baladhuri). Speech: the Greek-speaking Melkite elite (the family of Mansur ibn Sarjun, John of Damascus) lasted into the 8th century; by the 9th century the Melkites of Damascus wrote and spoke Arabic.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    750,
    900
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "John of Damascus (c. 675-c. 750) wrote in Greek and served in the caliph's administration before retiring to Mar Saba; Andrew of Crete was born at Damascus c. 660; Peter, metropolitan of Damascus, had his tongue cut out and was exiled to Arabia Felix (Yemen) by al-Walid II, 743 (Theophanes AM 6234; Chronicle of 1234); a fragment of Psalm 77 in Arabic written in Greek letters, found in the Umayyad mosque, was first dated to the late 8th c. but is now placed in the late 9th or early 10th c., and shows Greek script used by Arabic-speaking Christians; Melkite writing turns to Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Pauline Epistles of Sinai Ar. 151, translated from Syriac by Bishr ibn al-Sirri at Damascus, 867).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Khalid ibn al-Walid and Abu Ubayda after a siege, 635, and again after the battle of the Yarmuk, 636; Greek dropped from the registers by order of 'Abd al-Malik or al-Walid I, c. 700-705. No named act ended Greek speech, which faded with the Melkite shift to Arabic.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "colonia under Philip the Arab (244-249)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Dimašqa (Akkadian, Amarna letters); Tmśq (Egyptian, list of Thutmose III); Dammeśeq (Hebrew Bible); Darmeśeq (Aramaic)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Aramaic/Syriac",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic, later Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Aramaic was spoken in the city and its villages (Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts); Arabic-speaking tribes in the hinterland; Greek was the civic and church language",
   "status_evidence": "Civic coins as Demetrias (c. 87-84 BC) and Roman city coins; listed in the Decapolis by Pliny (NH 5.74); Roman colonia; metropolis of Phoenice Libanensis; bishops at Nicaea 325 and later councils; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek settlers were probably present earlier: the grid plan of the Old City is usually dated to the Hellenistic period, but the first civic evidence is the Demetrias coinage. Nicolaus of Damascus (b. c. 64 BC) and his father were leading Greek-speaking citizens. After c. 800 Greek lived on in Damascus only as the church language of Arabic-speaking clergy: a Greek scroll of the Liturgy of St James was copied for Damascus in the late 9th or early 10th c. (Vat. gr. 2282, with Arabic notes for the priest). From the mid-14th c. Damascus was the seat of the Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch, Arabic-speaking until 1724, with a few Greeks at their court in the 17th c. (Euthymios III of Chios, 1635-1647). From 1724 to 1898 Constantinople named Greek patriarchs, but they were often away (Sylvester for years at a time in the Danubian lands and Constantinople), and only single Greek clerics lived with them; the secretaries, the parish clergy and the people spoke Arabic. A small Greek community has existed since 1913 (about 150 members today), mostly Syrians of Greek descent. Neither is counted as a return of Greek speech.",
   "sources": [
    "Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces",
    "Sartre, D'Alexandre a Zenobie",
    "Burns, Damascus: A History (2005)",
    "British Museum 1861,1112.90",
    "Pleiades 678106",
    "Panchenko, Arab Orthodox Christians under the Ottomans 1516-1831 (2016)",
    "Radle, 'The Liturgy of St James in Medieval Damascus', OCP 87 (2021) 341-352",
    "Walbiner, 'The split of the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Antioch (1724)', Chronos 7 (2003) 9-36",
    "Tipau, Sylvester of Antioch (2024)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 69,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "451 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w144",
   "latin": "Danaba",
   "greek": "Δάναβα",
   "other_names": "Danova",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "probably al-Hafar, a village about 8 km south-east of Sadad, Homs Governorate (Sadad and Mahin have also been proposed); not at Hawwarin, which is Evaria",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.26,
   "lon": 36.99,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 451,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     451,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Theodore of Danaba at the Council of Chalcedon, 451.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the Damascus-Homs road, 634-636. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last known bishop: Eulogius, 553. Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see with Greek-signing bishops (451, 458, 553)",
   "status_evidence": "See of Phoenice Libanensis under Damascus: bishop Theodore at Chalcedon 451 and in the letter of 458 to Leo I; Eulogius at Constantinople 553; Notitia Antiochena; Danova on the Tabula Peutingeriana.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The Barrington Atlas puts 'Danova' at Hawwarin, which is Evaria, a separate see counted on its own; Danaba is placed here near al-Hafar, its most likely separate site (Wikipedia: Danaba), and the point is only regional. Pleiades 668236 ('Danova') is plotted at Hawwarin and is not used.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Danaba",
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Danaba",
    "Devreesse 1945"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 70,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 78 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w120",
   "latin": "Emesa",
   "greek": "Ἔμεσα",
   "other_names": "Hemesa; Ḥimṣ (Arabic); Colonia Emesa (from Caracalla/Elagabalus); Hims",
   "modern": "Homs",
   "modern_native": "حمص",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Homs city, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.7377,
   "lon": 36.7193,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668261",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 78,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     78,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek epitaph of the Emesene prince C. Iulius Sampsigeramus on his tomb, AD 78/79; city coins with Greek legends from Antoninus Pius (138-161)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah early in 636 and again after the Yarmuk; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek writers from Emesa: Heliodorus (Aethiopica), bishop Nemesius (c. 400), Romanos the Melodist (born c. 490). Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah (with Khalid ibn al-Walid), 636, and reoccupied after the Yarmuk, 636/637 (al-Baladhuri, al-Tabari). Earlier taken by Khosrow II's army, 613. No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Roman colonia under Caracalla or Elagabalus (early 3rd c.)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The citadel tell has Bronze and Iron Age levels; no pre-Greek name of the town is securely attested.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Arab dynasty (Sampsigeramus) and the cult of Elagabal; Greek city coins, inscriptions and writers (Heliodorus, Nemesius, Romanos the Melodist)",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 16.2.10; city coins from 138-161; colonia; metropolis of Phoenice Libanensis (5th c.); Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Homs continues Emesa/Hemesa, the Greek and Latin form of the local name. Bilingual rather than Greek because of the Arab dynasty and the native cult; the balance is a judgment.",
   "sources": [
    "Millar 1993, 300-309",
    "Sartre 2001",
    "Pleiades 668261",
    "Wikipedia: Emesa"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 71,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 170 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w118",
   "latin": "Epiphania",
   "greek": "Ἐπιφάνεια",
   "other_names": "Hamath (Aramaic; Hebrew Bible); Amattu (Assyrian); Amathe (Greek); Hama (Arabic); Hamat (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription)",
   "modern": "Hama",
   "modern_native": "حماة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Hama city, Hama Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Hama",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 35.133,
   "lon": 36.7488,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668182",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -170,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -170,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Antiochus IV (175-164 BC) renamed Hamath Epiphania; Seleucid and later Roman city coins with Greek legends show a polis; the renaming alone would not prove one",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah in 637/638; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered on terms to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Antiochus IV (renaming)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ḥamath (Aramaic; Hebrew Bible Ḥămāt; Assyrian Amattu)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (later Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "the Aramaic name Hamath stayed in use beside Epiphania; Syriac-speaking Christians in late antiquity",
   "status_evidence": "Seleucid and Roman city coins; see of Syria Secunda (bishops from 325); Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "No Greek settlers are attested; a renamed Aramaean royal city.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 109-111",
    "Grainger 1990",
    "Pleiades 668182",
    "Wikipedia: Hama"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 72,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "451 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w143",
   "latin": "Evaria",
   "greek": "Εὐαρία",
   "other_names": "Euhara (Notitia Dignitatum); Haurina; Huwwarin (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Huwwarin",
   "modern_native": "حوارين",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Huwwarin, near Sadad, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.2692,
   "lon": 37.0781,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668202",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 451,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     451,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "bishop Thomas of Euaria, 451; a suffragan of Damascus in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the Arab conquest of the Damascus-Homs road, 634-636. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is an estimate.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    634,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see, its bishops' Greek subscriptions and a few Greek inscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Yazid I died at Huwwarin in 683.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ḫaurina (Akkadian, Neo-Assyrian texts)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac) and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see in the Notitia Antiochena; Greek inscriptions of the district",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop of Euaria, 451; native bishop John; made a city in 573; suffragan of Damascus (Georgius Cyprius); Greek and Syriac inscriptions in its churches",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Evaria is the modern Hawwarin, beside Mahin. The Barrington Atlas places 'Danova' (Danaba) at Hawwarin and Euareia 5 km to the north-east; the coordinates here follow the modern identification with Hawwarin.",
   "sources": [
    "Devreesse 1945",
    "Pleiades 161546548",
    "Wikipedia: Huwwarin"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 73,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 15 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w042",
   "latin": "Heliopolis",
   "greek": "Ἡλιούπολις",
   "other_names": "Colonia Iulia Augusta Felix Heliopolitana (Roman); Baʿlabakk (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Baalbek",
   "modern_native": "بعلبك",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Baalbek, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "admin1": "Baalbek-Hermel",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.0064,
   "lon": 36.2039,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678179",
   "tm_geo": null,
   "iacp": null,
   "greek_from": -15,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -15,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Augustus settled veterans here as part of the colony of Berytus, 15/14 BC; Septimius Severus made Heliopolis a colony of its own (c. 193-201). Greek is attested among residents from the 1st c. AD.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Abu Ubayda took the city after the Roman defeat at Yarmuk (634, 636 or 637 in different accounts), by agreement according to most; it became a fortress (al-Qalʿa); Marwan II sacked it in 748. Speech: Greek-speaking residents left or shifted to Arabic; no evidence of a Greek-speaking community after the early 8th c. The date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800); the town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the 1st-6th c.; Constantine built a basilica and installed a bishop (Eusebius, Life of Constantine 3.58); pagan cult to the 6th c. (Malalas); Hierocles (Phoenice Libanensis); Greek stayed in the caliphate's offices until 'Abd al-Malik's order of c. 700; the Melkite (Chalcedonian) Christians of Syria and Lebanon wrote Arabic by the 9th c. (Theodore Abu Qurra; the Arabic Melkite manuscripts of Mar Saba and Sinai).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah after Yarmuk, 636/637 (al-Baladhuri); sacked by the Umayyad caliph Marwan II, 748.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Augustus (veteran colony with Berytus); Septimius Severus (separate colony)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Semitic name bʿlbk is first attested in the Mishnah (2nd c. AD, as a kind of garlic) and in 5th-c. Syriac; no securely identified pre-Greek name in earlier sources.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (and Latin, the official language of the colony in the 1st-3rd c.)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek dedications and epitaphs of residents beside the Latin of the colony; Aramaic-speaking population of the Bekaa and its pagan villagers in late antiquity (Theodoret; the Life of Rabbula).",
   "status_evidence": "Roman colony; Greek and Latin inscriptions; bishops; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "A Roman foundation with Latin public life, a Greek-speaking element and an Aramaic-speaking population; recorded as bilingual (Greek and Aramaic).",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.10",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Hajjar, La triade d'Héliopolis-Baalbek",
    "Pleiades 678179"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 74,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 – c. 700",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w084",
   "latin": "Iabruda",
   "greek": "Ἰάβρουδα",
   "other_names": "Yabrud (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Yabrud",
   "modern_native": "يبرود",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Yabrud, Qalamun, Rif Dimashq Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Rif Dimashq",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 33.9722,
   "lon": 36.6311,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678196",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 400,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     400,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A bishop's see of Phoenice Libanensis by late antiquity (Notitia Antiochena, under Damascus); a Roman temple of Jupiter (Zeus) of Iabruda, later the church of Constantine and Helena; Greek inscriptions of residents from the Roman period",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Passed to the Arabs with the Damascus region in 634-636. The see survived as an Arabic-speaking Melkite community; no evidence for Greek speech after the conquest. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the cult of Zeus Yabroudes; bishops of Iabruda in Melkite lists. Regional markers: flight of Roman inhabitants at the conquest and resettlement of the coast (al-Baladhuri); Greek in the registers until c. 700-707; Arabic Melkite writing by c. 800 (Theodore Abu Qurra).",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Damascus region, 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Iabrudu? (Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Pleiades records an Akkadian form Jabrudu; the attestation should be checked.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Aramaic/Syriac",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "An Aramaic-speaking district (Aramaic is still spoken in nearby Ma'loula); Greek dedications at the temple of Zeus Yabroudes and Greek epitaphs of residents",
   "status_evidence": "Ptolemy 5.15 (Iabruda); bishop's see of Phoenice Libanensis (Notitia Antiochena; Le Quien)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Civic status rests on the see; Greek is the language of its public inscriptions, Aramaic the language of the district.",
   "sources": [
    "Ptolemy 5.15",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus II",
    "Pleiades 678196"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 75,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 20 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w121",
   "latin": "Laodicea ad Libanum",
   "greek": "Λαοδίκεια ἡ πρὸς Λιβάνῳ",
   "other_names": "Qadesh (Egyptian qdš; Hittite Kinza); Laodicea Scabiosa (Tabula Peutingeriana)",
   "modern": "Tell Nebi Mend",
   "modern_native": "تل النبي مندو",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tell Nebi Mend, al-Qusayr District, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.5571,
   "lon": 36.5194,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668291",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 20,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     20,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The Seleucid name Laodicea is attested from 221 BC, when Antiochus III set out from it into the Marsyas valley (Polybius 5.45.7-8), but no Hellenistic coins, inscriptions or settlers of the town are known. It is first named as a town of the region by Strabo (16.2.18, c. AD 20) and Pliny (NH 5.82, \"Laodiceni ad Libanum\"); its city coins with Greek legends (LAODIK. PROS LIBANO) begin under Septimius Severus.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the conquest of the Homs region by Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, 636/637; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The site later shrank to a village. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of the Homs region, 636/637; the town then declined.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucids (foundation or renaming)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Qadesh (Egyptian qdš; Hittite Kinza)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 16.2.18; Pliny NH 5.82; Ptolemy 5.15; city coins with Greek legends under Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Severus Alexander; see of Phoenice Libanensis; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "A Seleucid foundation or renaming on the site of Qadesh; whether the kings settled Greeks or laid the city out anew is not known, so the Greek date follows the first sure evidence of a town (Strabo), as for Seleucia on the Belus. If only the city coins count, the date is c. 200.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 117-120",
    "Polybius 5.45.7-8",
    "Strabo 16.2.18",
    "Pleiades 668291",
    "Wildwinds/RPC: Laodikeia ad Libanum (provincial coins, Severans only)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 76,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w117",
   "latin": "Larissa",
   "greek": "Λάρισα",
   "other_names": "Sizara (Ptolemy 5.15.16); Sezer; Sinzar (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription); Shaizar (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Shaizar",
   "modern_native": "شيزر",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Shaizar, Mahardah District, Hama Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Hama",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 35.2663,
   "lon": 36.5664,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668292",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucid foundation settled by colonists from Thessalian Larissa, who served in the first cavalry agema at Apamea (Diodorus 33.4a); c. 300 BC",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the surrender to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's army in 637/638; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The Roman garrison that held Shaizar from Basil II's conquest in 999 to the Banu Munqidh in 1081 does not count as a resident community. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's army, 637/638 (al-Baladhuri). No named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I or Antiochus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Zinzar? (Akkadian, Amarna letters; Egyptian Snḏr)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Sinzar/Zinzar of the Amarna letters and the Egyptian lists is usually identified with Shaizar, but not certainly.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian Syr. 57; Diodorus 33.4a; Strabo 16.2.10; see of Syria Secunda; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Its Thessalian settlers are among the few attested Greek colonists in Seleucid Syria.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 116-118",
    "Diodorus 33.4a",
    "Pleiades 668292",
    "Wikipedia: Shaizar"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 77,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w123",
   "latin": "Mariamme",
   "greek": "Μαριάμμη",
   "other_names": "Mariamin (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Maryamin",
   "modern_native": "مريمين",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Maryamin, northwest of Homs, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 34.9069,
   "lon": 36.4943,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "668308",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 400,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     400,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A see of Syria Secunda in the council lists and Hierocles, from about the 5th c.; the native town is attested from 333 BC (Arrian 2.13.8).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of the Orontes valley, 637/638. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is the estimate for Syriac-majority towns, c. 640 (636-750).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see and its bishops' Greek subscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of the Orontes valley, 637/638.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Hecataeus (in Stephanus) calls it a Phoenician city; Arrian (2.13.8) names Mariamme among the towns that surrendered to Parmenion in 333 BC; no non-Greek attestation of the name.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (earlier Phoenician)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Phoenician town of the Aradian hinterland (Arrian 2.13.8); in Roman times a see whose bishops signed in Greek, in an Aramaic-speaking district.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Syria II under Apamea (council lists; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The mosaic of women musicians (late 4th c.) is the town's best-known find. Located at Maryamin after the Barrington Atlas; some place it at Qal'at al-Hosn.",
   "sources": [
    "Jones 1971",
    "Arrian 2.13.8",
    "Pleiades 668308",
    "Wikipedia: Mariamme"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 78,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 30 – c. 650",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w139",
   "latin": "Palmyra",
   "greek": "Πάλμυρα",
   "other_names": "Tadmor (Palmyrene Aramaic Tdmr; Akkadian Tadmar; Hebrew Bible); Hadriana Palmyra (Hadrian); Tadmur (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Tadmur",
   "modern_native": "تدمر",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Palmyra ruins beside the town of Tadmur, Homs Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Homs",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 34.5528,
   "lon": 38.2649,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668331",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 30,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     30,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek-Palmyrene bilingual inscriptions of residents from the 1st c. AD, after the city came under Roman control (Tiberius); boule and demos attested in the later 1st c.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the city surrendered to Khalid ibn al-Walid in 634. Speech: Palmyrene Aramaic disappears from inscriptions after 272-274; Greek inscriptions continue, fewer, until 562 (IGLS XVII). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    562,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Over 500 Greek inscriptions; the last dated Greek inscription is of 562; bishops from 325 (Marinus at Nicaea).",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Khalid ibn al-Walid on his desert march, 634 (al-Baladhuri, al-Tabari). Earlier sacked by Aurelian after its second revolt, 273; Marwan II razed its walls, 745.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Hadrian (Hadriana Palmyra, 129); colonia in the early 3rd c.; Diocletian's camp; Justinian (walls)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Tadmar (Akkadian, Mari and Assyrian texts); Tadmor (Hebrew Bible); Tdmr (Palmyrene Aramaic)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Palmyrene Aramaic (Arabic among tribal residents)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "hundreds of Greek-Palmyrene bilingual inscriptions, the bilingual Tariff of 137; boule and demos in Greek; Palmyrene Aramaic the first language of most citizens",
   "status_evidence": "boule and demos in bilingual inscriptions; Tariff of 137; Roman colonia; see (Marinus at Nicaea 325); Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "IGLS XVII.1",
    "Millar 1993, 319-336",
    "Yon 2002",
    "Pleiades 668331",
    "Wikipedia: Palmyrene inscriptions"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 79,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 70 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w122",
   "latin": "Raphaneae",
   "greek": "Ῥαφάνεαι",
   "other_names": "Raphanea; Rephania (Middle Persian, Shapur I's inscription); Rafaniya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Rafniyah",
   "modern_native": "رفنية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Rafniyah, Masyaf District, Hama Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Hama",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 34.9664,
   "lon": 36.393,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668350",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 70,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     70,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "1st c. AD: the Raphanaei in Pliny (NH 5.82) and Raphanea in Josephus (BJ 7.97), beside the legionary fortress; city coins with Greek legends under Elagabalus",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of the Orontes valley, 637/638; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of the Orontes valley, 637/638; earlier taken by Shapur I, c. 253 (Shapur I's inscription).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus BJ 7.97; base of legio III Gallica; city coins under Elagabalus; see of Syria Secunda (bishops from 325, Bassianus at Nicaea, to 536); Hierocles; Georgius Cyprius",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The town grew beside a Roman legionary fortress; the Greek-speaking civilian community is inferred from its coins and see.",
   "sources": [
    "Jones 1971",
    "Josephus, BJ 7.97",
    "Pleiades 668350",
    "Wikipedia: Raphanea"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 80,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "512 – c. 640",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w142",
   "latin": "Salamias",
   "greek": "Σαλαμιάς",
   "other_names": "Salaminias; Salamiyah (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Salamiyah",
   "modern_native": "سلمية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Salamiyah, Salamiyah District, Hama Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Hama",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Phoenice Libanensis",
   "lat": 35.0117,
   "lon": 37.0525,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "668362",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 512,
   "greek_until": 640,
   "phases": [
    [
     512,
     640
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "bishop Julian of Salamias at the consecration of Severus of Antioch, 512",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with the Arab conquest, 636. Speech: the small Greek-speaking element (clergy, notables) is not attested after the conquest; the Aramaic-speaking Christians who stayed turned to Arabic. The date is an estimate.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    636,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek here is known mainly from the see, its bishops' Greek subscriptions and a few Greek inscriptions; the townspeople mostly spoke Aramaic (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community is attested after the conquest.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the Homs region, 636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Syriac)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "a see by 512 and Greek inscriptions (temple of Zeus, later a church); an Aramaic-speaking district",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop Julian at the consecration of Severus of Antioch, 512; church inscriptions of the 6th-7th c. (a church of the Theotokos dated 604)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Its province is uncertain (Phoenice Libanensis or Syria Secunda). The Greek date is the first sure one; Greek may be older.",
   "sources": [
    "Devreesse 1945",
    "Pleiades 668362",
    "Wikipedia: Salamiyah"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 81,
   "list_group": "Central Syria, Damascus and Palmyra",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 77 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w124",
   "latin": "Seleucia ad Belum",
   "greek": "Σελεύκεια ἡ πρὸς Βήλῳ",
   "other_names": "Seleucobelus (late Roman); Seleucenses ad Belum (Pliny NH 5.82)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "probably near Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib Governorate (Pleiades); al-Suqaylabiyah, Hama Governorate, has also been proposed",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Idlib",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Syria Secunda",
   "lat": 35.8369,
   "lon": 36.328,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "668364",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 77,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     77,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First named as a town of Syria by Pliny (NH 5.82, AD 77) and Ptolemy; later the see of Seleucobelus in Syria Secunda. The dynastic name shows a Seleucid settlement, but no Hellenistic polis is attested.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended with Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of the Orontes valley, 637/638; Greek remained in the tax offices until c. 700. Speech: part of the Greek-speaking elite left with the Roman army; the Christians who stayed spoke Aramaic and turned to Arabic. The town has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for inner Syria and Phoenicia, c. 700 (640-800).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek stayed in the caliphal tax offices until the switch to Arabic c. 700 (Abd al-Malik, al-Walid I); by the 9th c. the Melkites of Syria wrote in Arabic (Theodore Abu Qurra); no later Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah's conquest of northern Syria, 637/638.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucids (Seleucus I?)",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Pliny NH 5.82; Ptolemy; see of Syria Secunda (Seleucobelus); Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "The dynastic name shows a Seleucid settlement, but a city is attested only from Pliny and the later see. The site is not securely located: Pleiades and Cohen point to the Jisr al-Shughur area; others place it at al-Suqaylabiyah in the Ghab (Hama Governorate), whose name is usually derived from Seleucobelus.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 138-139",
    "Pliny NH 5.82",
    "Pleiades 668364"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 82,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w054",
   "latin": "Anthedon",
   "greek": "Ἀνθηδών",
   "other_names": "Agrippias (Herod); Tida/Teda (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tell Blakhiyah (Anthedon Harbour), north-west of Gaza City, Gaza Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Gaza Strip",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.548,
   "lon": 34.452,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "687826",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic town with a Greek name; taken by Alexander Jannaeus c. 100 BC (Josephus AJ 13.357) and rebuilt by Gabinius (BJ 1.166); Herod renamed it Agrippias",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the Gaza coast, 634-637. Speech: no later Greek-speaking community is attested; the site was later abandoned. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Late Roman harbour town; bishops of Anthedon to the 6th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken with Gaza by the army of Amr ibn al-As, 634-637",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Gabinius 57-55 BC; Herod (Agrippias)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 13.357, BJ 1.166, AJ 15.217; see of Palaestina I (Hierocles)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Coordinates are for the excavated harbour town at Blakhiyah; the Pleiades point lies about 3 km inland. The Greek name may point to Greek settlers, but this is not attested.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus BJ 1.166, 1.416",
    "Humbert et al., Blakhiyah excavations",
    "Pleiades 687826",
    "Wikipedia: Anthedon Harbour"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 83,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 9 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w067",
   "latin": "Antipatris",
   "greek": "Ἀντιπατρίς",
   "other_names": "Pegai (Hellenistic); Ras al-'Ayn (Arabic); Migdal Afek / Mirabel (later fort)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Afek (Ras el-Ein) in the Yarkon National Park (Mekorot HaYarkon), between Rosh HaAyin and Petah Tikva, Central District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Central District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.1052,
   "lon": 34.931,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687996",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -9,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -9,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Herod founded Antipatris for his father Antipater, c. 9 BC (Josephus AJ 16.142-143), on the site of Hellenistic Pegai",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Speech: the town had declined after the earthquake of 363; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "City coins under Elagabalus with Greek legends; bishops of Antipatris to the 6th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Herod",
   "founder_group": "client kings",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʾĂp̄ēq (Hebrew Bible); Apqu (Akkadian, Esarhaddon); ʾIpq (Egyptian, Thutmose III)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 16.142-143; city coins (Elagabalus); see of Palaestina I",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 16.142-143",
    "Kochavi, Aphek-Antipatris",
    "Pleiades 687996",
    "Wikipedia: Antipatris"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 84,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w047",
   "latin": "Apollonia",
   "greek": "Ἀπολλωνία",
   "other_names": "Sozusa (Σώζουσα, late Roman); Arsuf (Arabic); Arsur (Crusader)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Arsuf (Apollonia National Park), Herzliya, Tel Aviv District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Tel Aviv District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.1964,
   "lon": 34.8108,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678025",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic town with the Greek name Apollonia; held by Alexander Jannaeus and rebuilt by Gabinius (Josephus AJ 13.395; BJ 1.166)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken with the other coastal towns in the Arab conquest, c. 640. Speech: Arsuf became a Muslim coastal stronghold; no later Greek-speaking community is attested. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Late Roman town with churches and Greek inscriptions (Sozusa); Samaritan presence; Umayyad and Abbasid fortified town. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Mu'awiya's forces with the other coastal towns, c. 640 (Baladhuri)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Gabinius 57-55 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Arabic Arsuf is often derived from the Phoenician god Reshef, but no non-Greek name of the town is attested.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus BJ 1.166; Pliny 5.69; Ptolemy 5.16.2; Hierocles (Sozusa); see of Palaestina I, with bishops in 449, 518 and 553",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The Greek date rests on the name and on Josephus; the excavations show a Hellenistic town over a Persian-period Phoenician settlement. The ruins lie in the Apollonia National Park at the northern edge of Herzliya; the site is also known by its medieval name, Arsuf.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus BJ 1.166",
    "Roll and Ayalon, Apollonia and Southern Sharon",
    "Pleiades 678025",
    "Wikipedia: Apollonia-Arsuf"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 85,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 448 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w078",
   "latin": "Archelais",
   "greek": "Ἀρχελαΐς",
   "other_names": "Khirbat al-Beiyudat (Arabic, the ruin)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Khirbat al-Beiyudat, Jordan valley north of Jericho, Jericho Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "West Bank",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.9694,
   "lon": 35.473,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "687831",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 448,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     448,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by the ethnarch Archelaus c. AD 6 for the workers of his date groves (Josephus AJ 17.340); first attested as a see with bishop Timotheus at the synods of Constantinople, 448 and 449, and Antiochus at Chalcedon, 451",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s. Speech: no later Greek-speaking community is attested; the site was later abandoned. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Church mosaic with Greek inscriptions of the 560s. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Archelaus (founded the settlement, c. AD 6)",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 17.340; Pliny 13.44 (its dates); bishops 448, 449 and 451; Madaba map; dated church mosaic inscriptions of the 560s at Khirbet el-Beiyudat",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "A village-town that became a see; the Greek of its church is attested, but the speech of its early, probably Jewish, plantation workers is not, so it is dated only from the see.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 17.340",
    "Wikipedia: Archelais",
    "Pleiades 687831"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 86,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 700",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w052",
   "latin": "Ascalon",
   "greek": "Ἀσκάλων",
   "other_names": "Ashkelon (Hebrew Bible); Asqaluna (Akkadian); 'Asqalan (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Ashkelon",
   "modern_native": "אשקלון / عسقلان",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tel Ashkelon National Park, Ashkelon, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.6648,
   "lon": 34.5505,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687839",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic Greek city: Ascalonites in Greek inscriptions at Delos and Athens in the 2nd c. BC; its own era of freedom from 104 BC; the philosophers Antiochus and Aristus of Ascalon",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: Mu'awiya took the city c. 640-644. Speech: Baladhuri says Roman forces later raided it and removed its people, and 'Abd al-Malik rebuilt and garrisoned it; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c.",
   "until_basis": "conquest and resettlement",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    640,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and bishops to the 6th c.; Baladhuri on the Roman raid and the Umayyad resettlement",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, c. 640-644; later emptied in a Roman raid and resettled by 'Abd al-Malik (Baladhuri)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʾAšqəlōn (Hebrew Bible); Ashkelon (Egyptian, Merneptah stele); Asqaluna (Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Free city with its own era (104 BC) and Greek civic coins; Greek writers; see of Palaestina I (Longinus at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek pottery in the city sacked by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 BC is evidence of trade, not of a Greek city. Its harbour, Maiumas of Ascalon, is noted as a close call.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.2.29",
    "Fuks, Ascalon in the Hellenistic and Roman periods",
    "Baladhuri, Futuh al-Buldan",
    "Pleiades 687839",
    "Wikipedia: Ashkelon"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 87,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w050",
   "latin": "Azotus",
   "greek": "Ἄζωτος",
   "other_names": "Azotus Mesogaios, Azotus Hippenos (late Roman); Ashdod (Hebrew Bible); Isdud (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Ashdod by the former village of Isdud, Ashdod, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.7559,
   "lon": 34.6581,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687838",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     -147
    ],
    [
     -57,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic town: Jonathan burned Azotus and its temple of Dagon in 147 BC (1 Macc 10:84); Pompey restored it to its citizens and Gabinius rebuilt it (Josephus AJ 14.75, 14.88)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s. Speech: Isdud became a village; no later Greek-speaking community is attested. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Azotus to the 6th c.; the Madaba map shows Azotus and Azotus Paralios. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of Palaestina, 634-640; Jonathan the Hasmonaean had burned the town, 147 BC (1 Macc 10:84)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Gabinius 57-55 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʾAšdōd (Hebrew Bible); Asdūdu (Akkadian, Sargon II)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 14.75, 14.88; Pliny 5.68; Hierocles (Azotus Mesogaios); see of Palaestina I (Silvanus at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The gap 147-57 BC follows Jonathan's destruction and Hasmonaean rule. Acts 8:40 places Philip the evangelist here. Tel Ashdod is a ruin a few kilometres south-east of the modern city of Ashdod (founded 1956), which takes the ancient name; the Arab village of Isdud on the site, which continued the name, was depopulated in 1948.",
   "sources": [
    "1 Macc 10:84",
    "Josephus AJ 14.88",
    "Dothan, Ashdod excavation reports",
    "Pleiades 687838",
    "Wikipedia: Ashdod"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 88,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w051",
   "latin": "Azotus Paralios",
   "greek": "Ἄζωτος Παράλιος",
   "other_names": "Asdūdimmu (Akkadian, 'Ashdod-on-sea'?); Minat al-Qal'a (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Ashdod (Ashdod-Yam)",
   "modern_native": "אשדוד ים / ميناء القلعة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Ashdod-Yam (Minat el-Qal'a), Ashdod, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.7804,
   "lon": 34.6216,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687843",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 400,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     400,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The harbour town of Azotus became a city of its own in late antiquity: Azotus Paralios in Hierocles (c. 527) and on the Madaba map",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s. Speech: the site later became a Muslim coastal fort (Minat al-Qal'a); no later Greek-speaking community is attested. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Late Roman town with Greek inscriptions; Islamic-period fort on the shore. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the coast, 630s-640s",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Greek town grown into city",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (Greek town grown)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Asdūdimmu? (Akkadian, Sargon II)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Asdūdimmu is usually taken as Ashdod's harbour; its identification with this site is probable, not certain.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Hierocles (Azotus Paralios); Madaba map; see of Palaestina I",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Earlier part of the polis of Azotus; counted from when it is listed as a city in its own right.",
   "sources": [
    "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina I)",
    "Madaba map",
    "Pleiades 687843",
    "Wikipedia: Ashdod-Yam"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 89,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 30 – c. AD 68",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w083",
   "latin": "Bethsaida-Julias",
   "greek": "Βηθσαϊδά / Ἰουλιάς",
   "other_names": "Julias (Philip the Tetrarch)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "el-Araj (Beit HaBek) on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, or et-Tell c. 2 km inland to the north-north-east; both east of the Jordan mouth, Golan Heights",
   "country": "Golan Heights",
   "admin1": "Golan Heights (Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.8929,
   "lon": 35.6196,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678065",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 30,
   "greek_until": 68,
   "phases": [
    [
     30,
     68
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Philip the Tetrarch raised the village of Bethsaida to a polis and named it Julias (Josephus AJ 18.28); dated before 2 BC (after Augustus' daughter) or c. AD 30 (after Livia-Julia)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The town suffered in the Jewish War; at et-Tell the Roman settlement shrank after 67/68 and the site was abandoned by the 3rd-4th century. Evidence for Greek speech is thin throughout.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    68,
    300
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Josephus, Vita 398-406 (fighting near Julias, AD 67); excavations at et-Tell (Arav) and el-Araj (Notley, Aviam)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: fighting near Julias in the Jewish War (Josephus, Vita 398-406, AD 67); the town then declined.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Philip the Tetrarch",
   "founder_group": "client kings",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Jewish fishing town raised to a polis by Philip; the apostles Philip and Andrew from Bethsaida bore Greek names, and 'Greeks' approached Philip there (John 12:20-21)",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 18.28 and BJ 2.168 (polis named Julias); Pliny NH 5.71",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "The location is disputed between et-Tell (excavated since 1987) and el-Araj on the shore, where recent excavations found a Roman-period settlement; the point is at el-Araj. Greek speech by residents is inferred, not directly attested.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 18.28",
    "Arav and Freund (eds.), Bethsaida I-IV",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 171-172",
    "Pleiades 678065"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 90,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "63 BC – c. AD 641",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w046",
   "latin": "Caesarea Maritima",
   "greek": "Καισάρεια",
   "other_names": "Straton's Tower (Στράτωνος Πύργος, Hellenistic); Caesarea Sebaste; Kaisareia Paralios; Colonia Prima Flavia Augusta Caesarensis (Vespasian); Qaysariyya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Caesarea",
   "modern_native": "קיסריה / قيسارية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Caesarea National Park and the town of Caesarea, Haifa District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Haifa District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.5018,
   "lon": 34.8924,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678401",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -63,
   "greek_until": 641,
   "phases": [
    [
     -63,
     641
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Straton's Tower, a Hellenistic port town (Zenon papyri, 259 BC), was taken by Alexander Jannaeus c. 100 BC and restored to its citizens as a free city by Pompey in 63 BC (Josephus AJ 14.76); Herod refounded it as Caesarea, 22-10/9 BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: Roman rule ended when Mu'awiya took the city in 640/641 after a long siege. Speech: the Greek-speaking élite left by sea or was taken captive; the shrunken Arab town of Qaysariyya is not known to have kept a Greek-speaking community.",
   "until_basis": "conquest and resettlement",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    641,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and writers to the 6th c. (Procopius of Caesarea); the conquest of 640/641 with captives sent to the caliph (Baladhuri)",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan after a long siege, 640/641; Baladhuri reports thousands of captives sent to the caliph Umar",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Herod (as Caesarea, with a new city and harbour, 22-10/9 BC); Vespasian (Roman colonia, after 70)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Straton's Tower is a Greek name, probably after a Sidonian king Straton (Abdashtart); no non-Greek name of the town is attested.",
   "name_continues": "Latin name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Herodian foundation (Josephus AJ 15.331-341); Roman colonia; capital of Judaea and metropolis of Palaestina I; bishops from the 2nd c. (Eusebius); writers Eusebius and Procopius",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Jewish and Samaritan communities lived beside the Greek-speaking majority; the clash between Jews and Greeks here in AD 66 began the Jewish revolt. Counted as a Hellenized native town: Straton's Tower was already a free Greek city in 63 BC, and Herod rebuilt it as Caesarea on the same site.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 15.331-341",
    "Holum et al., King Herod's Dream (1988)",
    "Baladhuri, Futuh al-Buldan",
    "Pleiades 678401",
    "Wikipedia: Caesarea Maritima"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 91,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "AD 97 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w103",
   "latin": "Capitolias",
   "greek": "Καπιτωλιάς",
   "other_names": "Beit Ras (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Beit Ras",
   "modern_native": "بيت راس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Beit Ras, Irbid Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Irbid",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.5986,
   "lon": 35.8583,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678224",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 97,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     97,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded in 97/98, the start of the city's era, under Nerva or Trajan",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken by the Arabs in 635-636. Christian Greek speakers remained under the Umayyads: Peter of Capitolias, a local priest, was executed in 715. The town declined after the earthquake of 749. Peter of Capitolias (executed 715) shows a Greek-speaking Christian community after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750, with the range starting at 715.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    715,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek passion of Peter of Capitolias (executed 715 under al-Walid I); Greek inscriptions of churches. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 635-636; Peter of Capitolias was executed by order of al-Walid I in 715.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Roman foundation",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Nerva or Trajan",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Marcus Aurelius to Macrinus) with the era of 97/98; bishops from Nicaea 325; Hierocles (Palaestina II)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Arabic name Beit Ras may continue a local Aramaic name; this is not attested before the Greek city.",
   "sources": [
    "Spijkerman 1978",
    "Lagrange, Capitolias",
    "Wikipedia: Capitolias",
    "Pleiades 678224"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 92,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "359 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w079",
   "latin": "Diocletianopolis (Palaestina)",
   "greek": "Διοκλητιανούπολις",
   "other_names": "Sarafia? (local name)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "Unidentified site in the territory of Ascalon (Khirbat al-Sharaf? Sapharea?), Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.7913,
   "lon": 34.7042,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 359,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     359,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Eliseus of Diocletianopolis at the synod of Seleucia, 359; the name points to a city created under Diocletian (284-305), but the name alone is not evidence.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of the coastal plain, 634-640s (Ascalon was taken by Mu'awiya c. 640). Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the coastal plain, 634-640s; Ascalon, whose territory it shared, fell to Mu'awiya c. 640 (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Diocletian (named for him)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see carved out of the territory of Greek-speaking Ascalon; the language of its own people is not documented.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina I: bishop Eliseus at Seleucia 359; Hierocles (Palaestina I); Georgius Cyprius. Probably the see of 'Sariphaea' whose bishop Stephen was at the synod of Jerusalem, 536.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The site is unknown; it lay in the territory of Ascalon, and the point is the Barrington Atlas 'Sapharea?', only regional.",
   "sources": [
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina I)",
    "TIR Iudaea-Palaestina (1994)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 93,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 650",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w045",
   "latin": "Dora",
   "greek": "Δῶρα",
   "other_names": "Dor (Hebrew Bible); Dʾr (Phoenician); Du'ru (Akkadian); Tantura (Arabic village nearby)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Dor, by Kibbutz Nahsholim, Haifa District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Haifa District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.6179,
   "lon": 34.9171,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678121",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic Greek town: besieged by Antiochus III in 219 BC (Polybius 5.66); Greek civic coins later dated by the Pompeian era of 64/63 BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together: the late Roman town had shrunk and was abandoned around the time of the Persian war and the Arab conquest of the coast (614-640). No later Greek community is attested.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    614,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Late Roman church with Greek inscriptions; the excavations show decline in the 6th-7th c. and abandonment",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town declined and was abandoned around the Arab conquest of the coast, 630s-640s",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC; Gabinius 57-55 BC (Josephus AJ 14.76, 14.88)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Dor (Hebrew Bible); Dʾr (Phoenician, Eshmunazar II inscription); Du'ru (Akkadian); Dor (Egyptian, Wenamun)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.66; freed by Pompey and rebuilt by Gabinius; Greek civic coins; see of Palaestina I (Hierocles)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Pseudo-Skylax calls Dor a city of the Sidonians in the 4th c. BC; Attic pottery of the Persian period is trade, not a Greek city.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.66",
    "Josephus AJ 14.76, 14.88",
    "Stern, Dor, Ruler of the Seas",
    "Pleiades 678121",
    "Wikipedia: Tel Dor"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 94,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "200 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w070",
   "latin": "Eleutheropolis",
   "greek": "Ἐλευθερόπολις",
   "other_names": "Baitogabra (Ptolemy); Beth Guvrin (Hebrew, rabbinic); Lucia Septimia Severa Eleutheropolis; Bayt Jibrin (Arabic); Bethgibelin (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Beit Guvrin",
   "modern_native": "בית גוברין / بيت جبرين",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park and kibbutz Beit Guvrin, former village of Bayt Jibrin, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.6143,
   "lon": 34.891,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687854",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Septimius Severus made Baitogabra the city of Eleutheropolis, AD 199/200 (city era and coins)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken after the battle of Ajnadayn (634), nearby, in the following years. Speech: Bayt Jibrin became a small town; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 8th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and mosaics to the 6th-7th c.; Eusebius measured distances from it in his Onomasticon",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest after the battle of Ajnadayn, 634",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Roman foundation",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Septimius Severus (city status)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Bēt Guvrin (Hebrew and Aramaic, rabbinic texts)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Josephus has Betaris/Begabris (BJ 4.447); the Semitic name appears in rabbinic texts.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Jewish community and countryside)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "City coins and era; Eusebius, Onomasticon; see of Palaestina I (Maximus at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Jewish and Aramaic-speaking Christian minorities lived here; Epiphanius of Salamis came from a nearby village.",
   "sources": [
    "Eusebius, Onomasticon",
    "Isaac, Bet Guvrin (1984)",
    "Pleiades 687854",
    "Wikipedia: Eleutheropolis"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 95,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "221 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w069",
   "latin": "Emmaus-Nicopolis",
   "greek": "Ἐμμαοῦς / Νικόπολις",
   "other_names": "Nicopolis (Elagabalus, 221); 'Imwas (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Emmaus-Nicopolis ruins by the former village of 'Imwas, Latrun area (Canada Park)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "West Bank",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.8393,
   "lon": 34.9894,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687891",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 221,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     221,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Elagabalus made Emmaus the city of Nicopolis, AD 221, after an embassy led by Julius Africanus (Eusebius, Chronicle; Jerome)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: the Arab army camped here in the conquest, and the plague of 'Amwas (639) struck it. Speech: the town shrank to a village; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Basilica with Greek inscriptions (5th-6th c.); bishops of Nicopolis to the 6th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: occupied in the Arab conquest of the 630s; the plague of 'Amwas, 639, hit the army camp there",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Elagabalus (city status)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Emmaus is known from 1 Maccabees and Josephus (in Greek) and from rabbinic texts; no older non-Greek name is attested.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Jewish, then Samaritan)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Julius Africanus, a Christian who wrote in Greek, lived here and won it city status; a Greek-Samaritan bilingual inscription; Greek church inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "City status 221; see of Palaestina I (Peter at Nicaea 325; Hierocles: Nicopolis)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The site lies in the Latrun salient, held by Jordan from 1948 to 1967 and by Israel since 1967; the Arab village of 'Imwas was demolished in 1967. Jewish town in the Hasmonaean period; burned by Varus in 4 BC. The name Emmaus survived in the Arabic village name 'Imwas until 1967.",
   "sources": [
    "Eusebius, Chronicle (year 221)",
    "Josephus BJ 2.71",
    "Gichon and Fischer, Emmaus excavations",
    "Pleiades 687891",
    "Wikipedia: Emmaus Nicopolis"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 96,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "536 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w183",
   "latin": "Exalos",
   "greek": "Ἐξαλοῦς",
   "other_names": "Xaloth (Josephus); Chesulloth (Hebrew Bible); Iksal (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Iksal",
   "modern_native": "إكسال / אכסאל",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Iksal, near Nazareth, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.6817,
   "lon": 35.3236,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 536,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     536,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Parthenius of Exalus at the synod of Jerusalem, 536.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken with Galilee after the battle of Fahl (Pella), 635. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken with Galilee after the battle of Fahl (Pella), 635 (Shurahbil ibn Hasana's command).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Kesulloth (Hebrew Bible, Josh 19:18)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Jewish village of Galilee in Josephus' time; a see of the Greek-speaking church by 536.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina II: bishop Parthenius at the synod of Jerusalem, 536; identified with Iksal (Josephus' Xaloth).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Known as a see from a single bishop; the identification with Iksal is the usual one.",
   "sources": [
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "Josephus BJ 3.39",
    "TIR Iudaea-Palaestina (1994)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 97,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "60 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w063",
   "latin": "Gaba",
   "greek": "Γάβα",
   "other_names": "Gaba Hippeon, 'Gaba of the horsemen' (Greek); Gabae (Hierocles?)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Shush (Tell Abu Shusha), near Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.6137,
   "lon": 35.1446,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678138",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -60,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -60,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The city counted its years from 61/60 BC, when L. Marcius Philippus governed Syria, on its Greek coins (1st-3rd c. AD), and it was known as Gaba Philippi in Roman times; a Greek lead weight is dated by the years \"of its establishment\". Herod later settled his discharged cavalrymen there, c. 20 BC (Josephus AJ 15.294; BJ 3.36).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Speech: no later Greek-speaking community is attested. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "City coins to the 3rd c.; a church and late Roman remains on the site; bishops of Gabae to 536. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Roman foundation",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "L. Marcius Philippus, governor of Syria (city era of 61/60 BC)",
   "founder_group": "Roman Republic",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Herod (settled his discharged cavalrymen there, c. 20 BC)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Greek city coins with an era of 61/60 BC; Josephus AJ 15.294; BJ 3.36; Pliny 5.75; see of Palaestina II (Gabae at Jerusalem 536)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The site is disputed: Tel Shush (Abu Shusha) is the usual choice, with Sha'ar HaAmakim as an alternative.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 15.294; BJ 3.36",
    "Schürer-Vermes-Millar II, 164-165",
    "Pleiades 678138",
    "Jezreel Valley Regional Project: Tell Abu Shusha"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 98,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w053",
   "latin": "Gaza",
   "greek": "Γάζα",
   "other_names": "Seleucia (Seleucid name on coins, 2nd c. BC); ʿAzzah (Hebrew Bible); Ghazza (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Gaza City",
   "modern_native": "غزة / עזה",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tell Harube and the old city of Gaza, Gaza Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Gaza Strip",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.5202,
   "lon": 34.4517,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687902",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     -96
    ],
    [
     -57,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic Greek city: Polybius praises its loyalty when Antiochus III besieged it, 201 BC (16.22a); city coins as Seleucia in the 2nd c. BC. Alexander had taken it in 332 BC and resettled it with people from the neighbourhood (Arrian 2.27)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: the Roman army was defeated at Dathin in 634 and Gaza was taken by Amr ibn al-As c. 637. Speech: the Greek-speaking Christian community survived the conquest but, like the rest of the Palestinian Melkites, shifted to Arabic in the 8th-9th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "The rhetorical school of Gaza (Aeneas, Procopius, Choricius) to the mid-6th c.; Greek church inscriptions into the 7th c.; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Amr ibn al-As, c. 637, after the battle of Dathin (634); the Roman garrison was put to death in 638/639 (Passion of the Sixty Martyrs of Gaza). No named act ended Greek speech. Earlier, Alexander Jannaeus destroyed the city c. 96 BC (Josephus AJ 13.358-364)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Gabinius 57 BC (new city)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʿAzzāh (Hebrew Bible); Ḫazzatu (Akkadian); Gḏt (Egyptian, Thutmose III)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Greek civic coins (Hellenistic and Roman, era of 61 BC); rebuilt by Gabinius; Greek writers of the school of Gaza; see of Palaestina I (Asclepas at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The gap 96-57 BC follows Jannaeus' massacre and destruction. The countryside spoke Aramaic and the city had Arab traders; the 'Minoa' legend is a legend. Its port, Maiumas-Constantia, is a separate entry.",
   "sources": [
    "Arrian 2.26-27",
    "Josephus AJ 13.358-364",
    "Glucker, The City of Gaza (1987)",
    "Pleiades 687902",
    "Wikipedia: Gaza City"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 99,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 527 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w077",
   "latin": "Helenopolis (Palaestina)",
   "greek": "Ἑλενόπολις",
   "other_names": "",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "Daburiyya?, Daburiyya or Kafr Kama (proposed), Lower Galilee, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.692,
   "lon": 35.371,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 527,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     527,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a city of Palaestina II by Hierocles (c. 527). The name honours the empress Helena (d. c. 329), so the city may go back to Constantine, but the name alone is not evidence of Greek-speaking residents.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken with Galilee after the battle of Fahl (Pella), 635. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken with Galilee after the battle of Fahl (Pella), 635 (Shurahbil ibn Hasana's command).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "Constantine I? (named for Helena)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A city and see of Palaestina II; the language of its people is not documented directly.",
   "status_evidence": "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina II); a see under Scythopolis in the lists of Palaestina II (Catholic Encyclopedia; Wikipedia it: Arcidiocesi di Scitopoli); no ancient bishop known by name.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The site is unknown: Daburiyya at the foot of Mount Tabor and Kafr Kama are proposed (Abel; TIR Iudaea-Palaestina 142), so the point is only regional.",
   "sources": [
    "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina II)",
    "Tsafrir, Di Segni & Green, TIR Iudaea-Palaestina (1994) 142",
    "Wikipedia: Helenopolis (Palaestina Secunda)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 100,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 749",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w060",
   "latin": "Hippos",
   "greek": "Ἵππος",
   "other_names": "Antiochia by Hippos (Seleucid, on coins); Susita (Aramaic and Hebrew, rabbinic); Qal'at al-Husn (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Sussita (Hippos National Park), above Kibbutz Ein Gev, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.7786,
   "lon": 35.6598,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678185",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 749,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     749
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucid town 'Antiochia by Hippos' (city coins); the excavations show a new Hellenistic town of the 3rd-2nd c. BC",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Speech: a Christian town with Greek inscriptions until the earthquake of 749 destroyed it; it was then abandoned.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    700,
    749
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Churches with Greek inscriptions in use into the 8th c.; destruction layer of the earthquake of 749",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the earthquake of 18 January 749 destroyed the city and it was abandoned",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucids (probably Antiochus III or IV)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Decapolis (Pliny 5.74); Greek city coins; see of Palaestina II",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Hippos lies on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee inside Israel's 1949 lines, not in the Golan Heights.",
   "sources": [
    "Pliny 5.74",
    "Segal et al., Hippos-Sussita excavation reports",
    "Pleiades 678185",
    "Wikipedia: Hippos"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 101,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 163 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w049",
   "latin": "Iamnia",
   "greek": "Ἰάμνεια",
   "other_names": "Yavneh (Hebrew, rabbinic); Yubna/Yibna (Arabic); Ibelin (Crusader)",
   "modern": "Yavne",
   "modern_native": "יבנה / يبنى",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tel Yavne, Yavne, Central District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Central District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.8765,
   "lon": 34.7384,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687925",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -163,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -163,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic gentile town: Judas Maccabaeus attacked it and burned its harbour, c. 163 BC (2 Macc 12:8-9); a Greek letter of Antiochus V to the Sidonians at the harbour dates from 163 BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s. Speech: no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Iamnia to the 6th c.; Samaritan and Christian communities in late antiquity. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of Palaestina, 634-640",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC; Gabinius 57-55 BC (Josephus AJ 14.75, 14.88)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Yabnəʾēl / Yabneh (Hebrew Bible, Josh 15:11; 2 Chr 26:6)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Hebrew and Aramaic (Jewish); Samaritan Aramaic in late antiquity",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Philo (Legatio 200) calls Iamnia a mixed city, most of its people Jews and the rest foreigners; the rabbinic academy met here after AD 70; Greek bishops and inscriptions from the 4th c.",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 14.75, 14.88; Philo, Legatio 200-203; see of Palaestina I (Macrinus at Nicaea 325; Hierocles)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Hellenistic Iamnia was a gentile town; after its conquest by the Hasmonaeans most of its people were Jews, hence bilingual. The harbour town (Iamnia Paralios) is listed separately as a close call.",
   "sources": [
    "Philo, Legatio ad Gaium 200-203",
    "2 Macc 12:8-9",
    "Isaac 1991, IEJ 41 (Yavneh-Yam letter)",
    "Pleiades 687925",
    "Wikipedia: Yavne"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 102,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "325 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w073",
   "latin": "Jericho",
   "greek": "Ἱεριχοῦς",
   "other_names": "Yeriho (Hebrew); Ariha (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Jericho",
   "modern_native": "أريحا / יריחו",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Herodian Jericho (Tulul Abu el-Alayiq) and the late Roman town under modern Jericho, Jericho Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "West Bank",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.856,
   "lon": 35.46,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "687917",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 325,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     325,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A see by 325, when bishop Januarius attended the Council of Nicaea; residents already wrote Greek on the ossuaries of the Goliath family tomb in the early 1st c. AD, when Jericho was a toparchy capital, not a polis",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s. Speech: no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c.; the Umayyad palace of Khirbat al-Mafjar nearby marks the new order. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek church and monastery inscriptions to the 6th-7th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of the 630s",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Yərīḥō (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Hebrew (Jewish)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek and Aramaic inscriptions on the ossuaries of the 'Goliath' family tomb, 1st c. AD; Greek church inscriptions and bishop Januarius at Nicaea (325); a 6th-7th c. synagogue with a Hebrew and Aramaic mosaic",
   "status_evidence": "Toparchy capital (Josephus BJ 3.55); see of Palaestina I (Januarius at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "City status before the 4th c. rests on its role as a toparchy capital; the coordinates are for the Roman town, not Tell es-Sultan.",
   "sources": [
    "Hachlili, The Goliath Family in Jericho (BASOR 235, 1979)",
    "Josephus BJ 3.55",
    "Pleiades 687917",
    "Wikipedia: Jericho"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 103,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "175 BC – today",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w072",
   "latin": "Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina)",
   "greek": "Ἱεροσόλυμα / Αἰλία",
   "other_names": "Antiochia in Jerusalem (Seleucid polis, 175-164 BC); Colonia Aelia Capitolina (Hadrian); Yerushalayim (Hebrew); al-Quds, Bayt al-Maqdis, Iliya' (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Jerusalem",
   "modern_native": "ירושלים / القدس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "The Old City of Jerusalem",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "East Jerusalem",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.7772,
   "lon": 35.235,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687928",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -175,
   "greek_until": 1000,
   "phases": [
    [
     -175,
     null
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The high priest Jason made Jerusalem the polis of 'Antiochenes in Jerusalem', with a gymnasium and ephebes, under Antiochus IV, 175 BC (2 Macc 4:9-12)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "No end: Greek speakers have lived in Jerusalem without a long break from 175 BC to today. From the 9th c., when the Orthodox laity turned to Arabic, Greek was kept by the clergy and monks of the Holy Sepulchre and the patriarchate: the survey of c. 808 found Greek dominant among them; the service book of the Holy Sepulchre was copied in Greek in 1122; pilgrims saw Greek monks holding the choir and singing the office in Greek (Adorno, 1470-71); and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, Greek by rule, has led the patriarchate since the 1530s. Lay Greeks settled again from the mid-19th c.",
   "until_basis": "continuous: clergy and monks; lay Greeks again from the 19th c.",
   "until_precision": "",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Continuity: a Greek loan contract written in Jerusalem, 115 (P.Mur. 114), and Hadrian's Greek letter from Jerusalem, 130; Egeria 47 (c. 384: the bishop preaches in Greek); the Commemoratorium (c. 808: 150 clergy and staff at the Holy Sepulchre under a synkellos; 11 hermits on the Mount of Olives singing the psalms in Greek, one in Arabic); Michael Synkellos and the Graptoi brothers writing Greek in the city (811-813); the synkellos Elias at Constantinople (869); Nasir-i Khusraw (1047); the Anastasis Typikon (Hagios Stavros gr. 43, copied 1122 by a lector of the Holy Sepulchre, with the homily translated into Arabic for those who could not read Greek); Daniel the Abbot (1106/07: the Orthodox priests over the Holy Sepulchre); the Greek homilies of Patriarch Athanasios II (1230s); the Greek decree of the synod of 1443; Adorno (1470-71) and Casola (1494) on the Greek monks and altars of the Holy Sepulchre; Fernberger (1592); Horn (c. 1740); the census of 1922 (c. 700-760 Greek speakers in Jerusalem); today the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre (c. 100-120 monks, almost all Greeks and Cypriots), the Patriarchal School of Sion and the Greek Consulate General (since 1862).",
   "ended_by": "No end. Short interruptions: the Persian sack of 614 (clergy killed or deported; Modestus restored the churches within a few years); al-Hakim's destruction of the Holy Sepulchre, 1009 (the patriarch in hiding to 1013; rebuilt by 1048); the Latin takeover of the Holy Sepulchre, 1099 (the Greek priests back at the tomb by 1106/07; the patriarchs in exile to c. 1204); the Khwarazmian sack of 1244.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Antiochus IV (Jason's polis); Hadrian (Aelia Capitolina)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Hadrian (Colonia Aelia Capitolina, c. 130-135)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Urusalim (Akkadian, Amarna letters); Rušalimum (Egyptian execration texts); Yərūšālayim (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Hebrew and Aramaic (Jewish), to 70; Christian Palestinian Aramaic in late antiquity; Arabic, the language of the Orthodox laity from the 9th c.",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Gymnasium, ephebes and the polis of 'Antiochenes in Jerusalem', 175 BC (2 Macc 4:9-12); Greek-speaking Jews of the Second Temple (the Theodotos synagogue inscription; about a third of ossuary inscriptions in Greek; the 'Hellenists' of Acts 6:1); in Aelia, Egeria (c. 384) heard the bishop preach in Greek with translation into Aramaic and Latin",
   "status_evidence": "2 Macc 4:9-12; Roman colonia; Hierocles (Aelia); bishopric, patriarchate from 451",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "70-135: the city was the base of the Tenth Legion; Greek is attested there (P.Mur. 114, 115; Hadrian's letter, 130), though no civic or church community is. From the 9th c. the Greek speakers were the clergy and monks and, from the mid-19th c., a lay community again. The Greek clergy and monks count as a resident Greek-speaking community, with no long break; Greek used only in the liturgy by Arabic speakers would not. The Seleucid citadel (Akra) kept a Greek garrison until 141 BC. Before 175 BC: from Alexander (332 BC) Jerusalem was a Jewish temple city under its high priest, and its only Greek speakers were officials and the Ptolemaic garrison in the citadel, which Antiochus III drove out c. 200 BC (Josephus, AJ 12.133-138); garrisons do not count, so the record starts with Jason's polis of 175 BC.",
   "sources": [
    "2 Macc 4:9-12",
    "Egeria, Itinerarium 47",
    "Hengel, The 'Hellenization' of Judaea (1989)",
    "Pleiades 687928",
    "Wikipedia: Aelia Capitolina",
    "McCormick, Charlemagne's Survey of the Holy Land (2011)",
    "Galadza, 'Greek liturgy in crusader Jerusalem', JMH 43 (2017) 421-437",
    "Pahlitzsch, Graeci und Suriani im Palastina der Kreuzfahrerzeit (2001)",
    "Saletti, 'Ululant more luporum', Annali online Ferrara (Adorno, 1470-71)",
    "Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 12.133-138",
    "Bertram and Luke, Report... on the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem (1921)",
    "Papastathis, 'The Greek Community of Jerusalem' (2021)",
    "Eck, Electrum 26 (2019) 129-139"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 104,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 250 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w048",
   "latin": "Joppa",
   "greek": "Ἰόππη",
   "other_names": "Flavia Ioppe (coins, 3rd c.); Yafo (Hebrew); Yafa (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Jaffa (Tel Aviv-Yafo)",
   "modern_native": "יפו / يافا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tel Yafo and Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Tel Aviv District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.0531,
   "lon": 34.7499,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687931",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -250,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -250,
     -142
    ],
    [
     -63,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Ptolemaic Greek town: Ptolemaic mint and Zenon papyri (259 BC); its gentile citizens drowned their Jewish neighbours c. 163 BC (2 Macc 12:3-7)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest, c. 636. Speech: no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c.; the Christians of Yafa later spoke Arabic. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek Jewish and Christian epitaphs to the 4th-6th c.; bishops of Joppa to the 6th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken by the Arab army under Amr ibn al-As, c. 636; Simon the Hasmonaean had earlier expelled its gentile people, c. 142 BC (1 Macc 13:11)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC (freed); Vespasian (Flavia Ioppe, after 68)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Yapu (Egyptian; Amarna letters); Yāfô (Hebrew Bible); Yappû (Akkadian, Sennacherib)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Hebrew and Aramaic (Jewish), 142 BC to AD 67/68, and a Jewish community later",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Jewish town under the Hasmonaeans and Herod (1 Macc 13:11; 14:5); the Jewish cemetery of the 2nd-4th c. has mostly Greek epitaphs, some in Hebrew or Aramaic",
   "status_evidence": "2 Macc 12:3-7; freed by Pompey (Josephus AJ 14.76); Roman city coins (Flavia Ioppe); see of Palaestina I",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The gap 142-63 BC reflects the Hasmonaean expulsion of the gentile citizens. The Andromeda legend at Joppa is a legend, not evidence of a Greek town.",
   "sources": [
    "1 Macc 13:11",
    "2 Macc 12:3-7",
    "Schürer-Vermes-Millar II, 110-114",
    "Pleiades 687931",
    "Wikipedia: Jaffa"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 105,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w076",
   "latin": "Legio-Maximianopolis",
   "greek": "Μαξιμιανούπολις",
   "other_names": "Kefar 'Othnay (Hebrew and Aramaic, Mishnah); Caporcotani (Tabula Peutingeriana); Legio (camp of legio VI Ferrata); al-Lajjun (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Al-Lajjun, by Kibbutz Megiddo and Megiddo junction, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.5753,
   "lon": 35.1864,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678266",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 300,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     300,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The camp town became the city of Maximianopolis under Diocletian and Maximian, c. 300; the Greek mosaic of the Christian prayer hall at Kefar 'Othnay (c. 230) shows a Greek-speaking community before that",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Speech: the place survived as the village of al-Lajjun; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Kefar 'Othnay church mosaic (Greek, c. 230); bishops of Maximianopolis to the 6th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Roman foundation",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Diocletian and Maximian (city status, c. 300)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Kefar ʿOthnay (Hebrew and Aramaic, Mishnah)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop Paul of Maximianopolis at Nicaea 325; Hierocles (Palaestina II); see of Palaestina II; Eusebius, Onomasticon (Legio)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Jerome placed Maximianopolis at Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo; most scholars put it at Legio or at Rummana nearby. The legionary camp (from c. 120) itself does not count. The name Legio survived in the Arabic village name al-Lajjun, depopulated in 1948.",
   "sources": [
    "Tepper and Di Segni, A Christian Prayer Hall of the Third Century CE at Kefar 'Othnay (2006)",
    "Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah 12:11",
    "Pleiades 678266",
    "Wikipedia: Legio"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 106,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "431 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w107",
   "latin": "Livias",
   "greek": "Λιβιάς",
   "other_names": "Julias; Betharamphtha (Josephus); Tall ar-Rama (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tall ar-Rama, Jordan Valley, Balqa Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Balqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.8338,
   "lon": 35.6725,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697697",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Letoius of Livias at the Council of Ephesus, 431. Herod Antipas had walled the town of Betharamphtha and named it Julias, later Livias (Josephus AJ 18.27), c. AD 20, but that dynastic name is not by itself evidence of Greek-speaking residents.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of the Balqa, 634-636. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last bishop known: Zacharias, 536; pilgrims (Egeria; Theodosius) describe the town. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Herod Antipas (walls and the name Julias/Livias, c. AD 20; no Greek settlers known)",
   "founder_group": "client kings",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Bêt Hārām (Hebrew Bible, Josh 13:27)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Jewish town of Peraea refounded by Herod Antipas; a see of the Greek-speaking church from the 4th c.; the Greek and Aramaic documents of the Babatha archive show both languages in the region.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina I: bishops Letoius at Ephesus 431, Pancratius at Chalcedon 451 and Zacharias at the synod of Jerusalem 536 (Le Quien); Hierocles (Palaestina I); Josephus AJ 18.27 and BJ 2.168 for Herod Antipas' town; Ptolemy 5.16.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The see alone now carries it; the Herodian dynastic name is not counted as evidence, so the date is that of the first bishop.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 18.27",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 176-178",
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Livias (after Le Quien III 655)",
    "Pleiades 697697"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 107,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "200 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w068",
   "latin": "Lydda (Diospolis)",
   "greek": "Λύδδα / Διόσπολις",
   "other_names": "Lod (Hebrew); Diospolis (Septimius Severus, 199/200); Georgioupolis (late, after St George); al-Ludd (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Lod",
   "modern_native": "לוד / اللد",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Lod, Central District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Central District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.9583,
   "lon": 34.8924,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687953",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Septimius Severus made Lydda the city of Diospolis, AD 199/200 (city era and coins)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: surrendered to Amr ibn al-As, c. 636, and was the first seat of the Arab district of Filastin. Speech: the caliph Sulayman moved the capital and much of the population to his new town of Ramla, c. 715; the Christians of Ludd later spoke Arabic.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and bishops to the 6th c.; the synod of Diospolis (415); Ramla founded c. 715 (Baladhuri)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: surrendered to Amr ibn al-As, c. 636; Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Malik moved its people to Ramla, c. 715 (Baladhuri)",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Septimius Severus (city status)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Lōd (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Hebrew and Aramaic (Jewish); Samaritan Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek city coins of Diospolis (Septimius Severus); Greek inscriptions and bishops; a rabbinic centre in the 2nd-4th c.; Samaritans in late antiquity",
   "status_evidence": "Greek city coins; see of Palaestina I (Aetius at Nicaea 325); synod of 415",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Before 200 Lydda was a Jewish toparchy capital, burned by Cestius Gallus in 66; the Greek city dates from Septimius Severus.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus BJ 2.515-516",
    "Schwartz, Lod (Lydda), Israel (1991)",
    "Baladhuri, Futuh al-Buldan (Ramla)",
    "Pleiades 687953",
    "Wikipedia: Lod"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 108,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 331 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w055",
   "latin": "Maiumas Gazae (Constantia)",
   "greek": "Μαϊουμᾶς",
   "other_names": "Gazaion Limen, 'harbour of the Gazaeans' (Greek); Constantia (Constantine, c. 331); Neapolis (late Roman)",
   "modern": "Gaza City (shore)",
   "modern_native": "غزة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "The shore of Gaza City (al-Shati and al-Rimal area), Gaza Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Gaza Strip",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.5308,
   "lon": 34.4332,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "687903",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 331,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     331,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Constantine made the port of Gaza a separate city named Constantia after its people turned Christian, c. 331 (Eusebius, Life of Constantine 4.38; Sozomen 5.3)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken with Gaza in the Arab conquest, c. 637. Speech: no later Greek-speaking community is attested. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishops of Maiumas to the 6th c.; the synagogue of Gaza-Maiumas (508/509) with Greek dedications. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken with Gaza by Amr ibn al-As, c. 637",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Roman foundation",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Constantine I (city status, c. 331)",
   "founder_group": "emperors in Constantinople 330–conquest",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Julian put it back under Gaza (362); its separate see survived (Sozomen 5.3)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Eusebius VC 4.38; Sozomen 5.3; see of Palaestina I; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Earlier the harbour of the Greek city of Gaza. The Jewish synagogue here (508/509) had Greek inscriptions.",
   "sources": [
    "Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.38",
    "Sozomen, HE 5.3",
    "Pleiades 687903",
    "Wikipedia: Maiuma"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 109,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 250 BC – 40 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w071",
   "latin": "Marisa",
   "greek": "Μαρισά",
   "other_names": "Mareshah (Hebrew); Tell Sandahanna (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Maresha, Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.593,
   "lon": 34.8982,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687966",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -250,
   "greek_until": -40,
   "phases": [
    [
     -250,
     -40
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Sidonian community writing Greek in the painted tombs, 3rd c. BC; Marisa appears in the Zenon papyri, 259 BC",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together: the Parthians destroyed the city in 40 BC and it was not rebuilt; Beth Guvrin nearby took its place.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Destruction layer of 40 BC; no later occupation of the city",
   "ended_by": "Destroyed by the Parthians in 40 BC, during their invasion in support of Antigonus (Josephus AJ 14.364; BJ 1.269). Earlier conquered by John Hyrcanus, c. 112 BC (AJ 13.257)",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC; Gabinius 57-55 BC (Josephus AJ 14.75, 14.88)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Mārēšāh (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Idumaean); Phoenician names among the Sidonian settlers",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek painted inscriptions in the tombs of the Sidonian community (Apollophanes, 'chief of the Sidonians in Marisa', 3rd-2nd c. BC); Greek graffiti, curse tablets and ostraca beside Aramaic ostraca of Idumaean residents",
   "status_evidence": "Polis freed by Pompey and rebuilt by Gabinius; Sidonian community (tomb inscriptions); Zenon papyri",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Idumaean town; 'Aramaean town' is used for its Aramaic-speaking Idumaean base.",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 13.257; 14.364",
    "Peters and Thiersch, Painted Tombs of Marissa (1905)",
    "Kloner, Maresha excavations",
    "Pleiades 687966",
    "Wikipedia: Tel Maresha"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 110,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "449 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w058",
   "latin": "Menois",
   "greek": "Μηνοΐς",
   "other_names": "Castrum Moenoenum (Notitia Dignitatum, fort); Ma'on (Hebrew); Khirbat al-Ma'in (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Horvat Ma'on (Khirbat al-Ma'in), near Nirim, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.3345,
   "lon": 34.3992,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687964",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 449,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     449,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "'A little town near Gaza' (Eusebius, Onomasticon); first attested as a see with bishop Zosimus at Ephesus (449) and Chalcedon (451).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken with the Gaza district in 'Amr ibn al-'As's conquest, 634-637. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last bishop known: at the synod of Jerusalem, 536. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken with the Gaza district in the Arab conquest, 634-637",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (also Jewish Aramaic: the synagogue mosaic)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see whose bishops sat at the councils of 449, 451, 518 and 536; a Jewish community with an Aramaic synagogue inscription; Greek church mosaics in the neighbouring village of Kissufim (576).",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina I: bishop Zosimus at Ephesus 449 and Chalcedon 451; bishops at the synods of Jerusalem 518 and 536 (Le Quien). Later the fort Castrum Moenoenum (Notitia Dignitatum).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The one inscription from the site itself is the Aramaic dedication of its synagogue mosaic; the Greek church mosaics of the area are at Kissufim.",
   "sources": [
    "Eusebius, Onomasticon",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "TIR Iudaea-Palaestina (1994)",
    "Pleiades 687964"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 111,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "AD 72 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w066",
   "latin": "Neapolis",
   "greek": "Νεάπολις",
   "other_names": "Flavia Neapolis (Vespasian); Colonia Iulia Sergia Neapolis (Philip, 244); Nablus (Arabic); Shekhem (modern Hebrew usage)",
   "modern": "Nablus",
   "modern_native": "نابلس / שכם",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Nablus, Nablus Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "West Bank",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.2187,
   "lon": 35.2629,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678301",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 72,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     72,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Vespasian founded Flavia Neapolis beside the Samaritan village of Mabartha, AD 72/73 (Josephus BJ 4.449; city era of 72/73)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: surrendered on terms to Amr ibn al-As, c. 636. Speech: Greek-speaking Christians remained for a time; Samaritans and Christians later spoke Arabic. No Greek-speaking community is attested after the 8th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions to the 6th c.; the Samaritan revolts of 484 and 529, crushed by Zeno and Justinian, cut the Samaritan population",
   "ended_by": "No named act: surrendered on terms to Amr ibn al-As, c. 636",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Samaritan town",
   "founder": "Vespasian",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Philip the Arab (colonia, 244)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Mabartha/Mamortha is known only from Josephus and Pliny. Biblical Shechem lies at Tell Balata, about 1.5 km east, and is a separate site.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Samaritan Aramaic (and Hebrew in worship)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek civic coinage from AD 72/73; Justin Martyr, a native who wrote in Greek (2nd c.); Greek inscriptions; the city was the centre of the Samaritans, who spoke Aramaic",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus BJ 4.449; Greek city coins; Roman colonia; see of Palaestina I (Germanus at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus BJ 4.449",
    "Pliny 5.69",
    "Magen, Flavia Neapolis (2005)",
    "Pleiades 678301",
    "Wikipedia: Nablus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 112,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 218 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w104",
   "latin": "Pella",
   "greek": "Πέλλα",
   "other_names": "Berenike (Ptolemaic?); Fahl (Arabic); Tabaqat Fahl",
   "modern": "Tabaqat Fahl",
   "modern_native": "طبقة فحل",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tabaqat Fahl, North Jordan Valley, Irbid Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Irbid",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.4495,
   "lon": 35.6149,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678326",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -218,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -218,
     -83
    ],
    [
     -63,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Taken by Antiochus III in 218 BC (Polybius 5.70); the Macedonian name was given to the native town of Pihil, probably in the 3rd century BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus c. 83 BC because the townspeople would not adopt Jewish customs (Josephus AJ 13.397); restored by Pompey. The Arabs defeated the Roman army at Fahl in 635; the Umayyad town was destroyed by the earthquake of 749. A smaller town went on after the earthquake. Pella has no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest, so the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the West and East churches; Umayyad houses destroyed in the earthquake of 18 January 749. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "Destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus, c. 83 BC; restored by Pompey, 63 BC. Battle of Fahl, January 635 (Abu Ubayda, Khalid ibn al-Walid, Shurahbil ibn Hasana); the earthquake of 749 ruined the town.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC (Decapolis)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Pḥl (Egyptian execration texts and lists); Piḫilu (Akkadian, Amarna letters)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.70; Josephus AJ 13.397; Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); city coins; bishops; Hierocles (Palaestina II)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Greek name was later linked to Alexander's Pella; no Macedonian settlers are attested.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.70",
    "Smith and McNicoll, Pella in Jordan",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 145-148",
    "Pleiades 678326"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 113,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 260 BC – c. 100 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w064",
   "latin": "Philoteria",
   "greek": "Φιλωτερία",
   "other_names": "Beth Yerah (Hebrew, rabbinic); Khirbat al-Karak (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Bet Yerah (Khirbat al-Karak), south-west shore of the Sea of Galilee, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.7139,
   "lon": 35.5734,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678333",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -260,
   "greek_until": -100,
   "phases": [
    [
     -260,
     -100
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Ptolemaic foundation named for Philotera, sister of Ptolemy II; Antiochus III took it in 218 BC (Polybius 5.70.3-4)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together: the Hasmonaeans took the town, and the Hellenistic settlement on the tell was abandoned in the early 1st c. BC.",
   "until_basis": "conquest and resettlement",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    -110,
    -80
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Hellenistic houses and coins to the late 2nd c. BC; no later Greek town",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Alexander Jannaeus, c. 100-80 BC (Syncellus lists Philoteria among his conquests)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Ptolemy II",
   "founder_group": "Ptolemies",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "The tell holds a large Bronze Age town whose ancient name is not attested; Beth Yerah is a later rabbinic name.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.70.3-4; Cohen 2006 (Philoteria)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "The identification with Tel Bet Yerah is generally accepted but not proven.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.70.3-4",
    "Cohen 2006 (Philoteria)",
    "Pleiades 678333",
    "Wikipedia: Tel Bet Yerah"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 114,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w056",
   "latin": "Raphia",
   "greek": "Ῥαφία",
   "other_names": "Rapiḫu (Akkadian); Rafah (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Rafah",
   "modern_native": "رفح / רפיח",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tell Rafah, Rafah, Rafah Governorate (on the line between the Gaza Strip and Egypt)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Gaza Strip",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.2907,
   "lon": 34.2425,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "688015",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Hellenistic town, 'the first city of Coele Syria towards Egypt' (Polybius 5.80), by which Ptolemy IV defeated Antiochus III in 217 BC; taken by Alexander Jannaeus and rebuilt by Gabinius (Josephus AJ 13.357; BJ 1.166)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: on the route of the Arab invasion of 633/634, taken with the rest of the Gaza district. Speech: no later Greek-speaking community is attested. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Roman city coins with Greek legends (2nd-3rd c.); bishops of Raphia to the 6th c. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken by the army of Amr ibn al-As in the invasion of 633/634",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Gabinius 57-55 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Rapiḫu (Akkadian, Sargon II); Rph (Egyptian, Seti I)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.80-86; Josephus BJ 1.166; Roman city coins dated by an era of 57 BC (Gabinius); see of Palaestina I (5th-6th c.)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Tell Rafah lies on or very near the line between the Gaza Strip and Egypt; the main ruins are counted to the Gaza Strip here, as the set's area rules say.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.80-86",
    "Josephus AJ 13.357",
    "Pleiades 688015",
    "Wikipedia: Rafah"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 115,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "218 BC – c. AD 749",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w059",
   "latin": "Scythopolis",
   "greek": "Σκυθόπολις",
   "other_names": "Nysa (Hellenistic dynastic name); Bet She'an (Hebrew); Baysan (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Beit She'an",
   "modern_native": "בית שאן / بيسان",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Tel Beit She'an and Beit She'an National Park, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.5037,
   "lon": 35.5031,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678378",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -218,
   "greek_until": 749,
   "phases": [
    [
     -218,
     -107
    ],
    [
     -63,
     749
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A Greek city by 218 BC, when Antiochus III took it (Polybius 5.70.4); probably a Ptolemaic foundation of the 3rd c. BC, also called Nysa",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: surrendered to the Arab armies after the battle of Fahl (Pella), 635. Speech: Greek-speaking Christians remained; the Umayyad market inscription of Hisham's reign (c. 737/738) is in Arabic, and the earthquake of 749 ruined the city centre, after which Baysan was a small Arabic-speaking town.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    700,
    800
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek building inscriptions into the 7th c.; Cyril of Scythopolis (6th c.); Arabic market inscription of Hisham (c. 737/738); earthquake of 18 January 749",
   "ended_by": "No named act: surrendered after the battle of Fahl, 635; the earthquake of 749 destroyed the city. Earlier the sons of John Hyrcanus took it, c. 107 BC, and its people went into exile (Josephus AJ 13.280; Megillat Ta'anit)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Ptolemies (probably Ptolemy II)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC; Gabinius 57-55 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Bēt Šəʾān (Hebrew Bible); Bt-šꜣr (Egyptian, New Kingdom)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.70.4; Decapolis (Pliny 5.74); Greek city coins; metropolis of Palaestina II; bishop Patrophilus at Nicaea 325",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The gap 107-63 BC follows the Hasmonaean conquest and the exile of its people. Jewish and Samaritan minorities lived in the late Roman city. Counted as a Hellenized native town: a Ptolemaic (re)foundation is likely, but neither settlers nor a new layout are attested.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.70.4",
    "Josephus AJ 13.280",
    "Tsafrir and Foerster, DOP 51 (1997)",
    "Pleiades 678378",
    "Wikipedia: Beit She'an"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 116,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 331 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w065",
   "latin": "Samaria-Sebaste",
   "greek": "Σαμάρεια / Σεβαστή",
   "other_names": "Samaria (Greek); Sebaste (Herod, 27 BC); Colonia Lucia Septimia Sebaste (Septimius Severus); Sebastiya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Sebastia",
   "modern_native": "سبسطية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Sebastia, Nablus Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "West Bank",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 32.2764,
   "lon": 35.1901,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678370",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -331,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -331,
     -108
    ],
    [
     -57,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Macedonian colony settled after the Samaritans killed Alexander's governor Andromachus, 331 BC (Curtius 4.8.9-11); Eusebius credits the settlement to Perdiccas",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Speech: Sebaste had shrunk to a small town around the shrine of John the Baptist; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 7th c. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and bishops to the 6th c.; pilgrims' accounts of the shrine. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest, 634-636. Earlier John Hyrcanus besieged, took and razed Samaria, c. 108/107 BC (Josephus AJ 13.275-281)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Alexander or Perdiccas (Macedonian settlers); Herod refounded it as Sebaste",
   "founder_group": "Alexander",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey/Gabinius 63-55 BC; Herod 27 BC (Sebaste, 6,000 settlers); Septimius Severus (colonia, c. 201)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Šōmrōn (Hebrew Bible); Samerina (Akkadian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Macedonian colony (Curtius; Eusebius); Herodian foundation (Josephus AJ 15.292-298); Roman colonia; see of Palaestina I (Marinus at Nicaea 325)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The gap 108-57 BC follows Hyrcanus' destruction. The Samaritan centre was at Shechem and Mount Gerizim, not in the Macedonian city.",
   "sources": [
    "Curtius 4.8.9-11",
    "Josephus AJ 13.275-281; 15.292-298",
    "Cohen 2006 (Samaria)",
    "Pleiades 678370",
    "Wikipedia: Sebastia, Nablus"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 117,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "AD 68 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w062",
   "latin": "Sepphoris (Diocaesarea)",
   "greek": "Σέπφωρις",
   "other_names": "Autocratoris (Antipas); Eirenopolis Neronias (coins, AD 68); Diocaesarea (2nd c.); Tzippori (Hebrew); Saffuriyya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Tzippori",
   "modern_native": "ציפורי / صفورية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tzippori National Park, by the former village of Saffuriyya and moshav Tzippori, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.7532,
   "lon": 35.2789,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678387",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 68,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     68,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First city coins with Greek legends, AD 67/68 (Eirenopolis Neronias Sepphoris); Antipas had rebuilt the town as his capital, c. 4 BC (Josephus AJ 18.27)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the Arab conquest of Galilee, 634/635. Speech: the town shrank to the village of Saffuriyya; no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 8th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions to the 6th c.; bishops of Diocaesarea to the 6th c.; damage in the Jewish revolt against Gallus (351/352) and the earthquake of 363",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the Arab conquest of Galilee, 634/635",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Herod Antipas (rebuilt c. 4 BC)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ṣippōrī (Hebrew and Aramaic, Mishnah and Talmud)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The name is attested in Hebrew only in rabbinic texts, later than Josephus' Greek Sepphoris; it is the native name of the town.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Hebrew (Jewish)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek city coins (AD 68; Diocaesarea from Hadrian to Caracalla); Greek civic institutions; Greek and Aramaic inscriptions in the 5th-c. synagogue mosaic; Greek inscriptions of the Christian town",
   "status_evidence": "Greek civic coins; Josephus; see of Palaestina II (Diocaesarea)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 18.27",
    "Meyers, Netzer and Meyers, Sepphoris (1992)",
    "Pleiades 678387",
    "Wikipedia: Sepphoris"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 118,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. 527 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w057",
   "latin": "Sycomazon",
   "greek": "Συκομαζών",
   "other_names": "",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Khirbat Suq Mazin, near Deir al-Balah, Deir al-Balah Governorate",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Gaza Strip",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Prima",
   "lat": 31.4129,
   "lon": 34.3722,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "688036",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 527,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     527,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a city of Palaestina I by Hierocles (c. 527) and as a see of the province.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken with the Gaza district in 'Amr ibn al-'As's conquest, 634-637. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken with the Gaza district in the Arab conquest, 634-637",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of the Greek-speaking church of Palaestina I in the Gaza district, where the countryside also spoke Aramaic.",
   "status_evidence": "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina I); counted as a see of Palaestina I under Caesarea in the church lists; no bishop is known to us by name.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. The see itself is thinly attested: no bishop of Sycomazon has been found. The site at Khirbat Suq Mazin near Deir al-Balah is a proposal.",
   "sources": [
    "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina I)",
    "Tsafrir, Di Segni & Green, TIR Iudaea-Palaestina (1994)",
    "Pleiades 688036"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 119,
   "list_group": "Palestine",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 19 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w061",
   "latin": "Tiberias",
   "greek": "Τιβεριάς",
   "other_names": "Teverya (Hebrew); Tabariyya (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Tiberias",
   "modern_native": "טבריה / طبريا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Ancient Tiberias and Hammat, south of the modern city, Northern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Northern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Secunda",
   "lat": 32.7877,
   "lon": 35.5423,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678431",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 19,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     19,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by Herod Antipas c. AD 18-20 and named for Tiberius (Josephus AJ 18.36-38)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: surrendered on terms to Shurahbil ibn Hasana, 634/635, and became the capital of the Arab district of al-Urdunn. Speech: no Greek-speaking community is attested after the 8th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek synagogue and church inscriptions to the 6th-7th c.; bishops of Tiberias to the 6th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: surrendered to Shurahbil ibn Hasana on terms, 634/635 (Baladhuri)",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Jewish town",
   "founder": "Herod Antipas",
   "founder_group": "client kings",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Raqqat? (Hebrew, rabbinic tradition)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The rabbis identified Tiberias with biblical Rakkath; this is a tradition, not a firm attestation. Josephus says Antipas built it over graves.",
   "name_continues": "Greek name",
   "name_via": "Aramaic/Syriac",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Hebrew (Jewish)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek civic institutions (a boule of 600, archon, dekaprotoi: Josephus, BJ 2.641; Life 64-69, 296); Greek city coins; Greek dedications in the Hammat Tiberias synagogue (4th c.); seat of the Jewish Patriarchate and of the Aramaic Jerusalem Talmud",
   "status_evidence": "Josephus AJ 18.36-38 and Life; Greek civic coins; see of Palaestina II",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Josephus AJ 18.36-38; Life 64-69",
    "Jensen, Herod Antipas in Galilee (2006)",
    "Pleiades 678431",
    "Wikipedia: Tiberias"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 120,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 63 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w102",
   "latin": "Abila",
   "greek": "Ἄβιλα",
   "other_names": "Seleukeia (on coins); Abila of the Decapolis",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Quwaylibah (Tell Abil), Irbid Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Irbid",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Decapolis",
   "lat": 32.6824,
   "lon": 35.8689,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "677992",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -63,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -63,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins as Seleukeia Abila, dated by the Pompeian era of 64/63 BC, and a city of the Decapolis (Pliny NH 5.74). Antiochus III took Abila in 218 BC (Polybius 5.71), but that passage says nothing of Greek speakers, and the name Seleukeia alone does not prove a Seleucid polis.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken by the Arabs in 635-636; the town continued under the Umayyads and was damaged by the earthquake of 749. No later evidence for Greek speech. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the basilicas (6th-7th centuries); Umayyad occupation; earthquake of 749. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 635-636.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC (Decapolis)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.71; Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); city coins (Seleukeia Abila, Pompeian era); bishops; Hierocles (Palaestina II)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The name Seleukeia is known from the Roman-period coins; no Hellenistic Greek text of the city is known.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.71",
    "Mare, Abila excavations",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 136-137",
    "Pleiades 677992"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 121,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 170 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w086",
   "latin": "Adraa",
   "greek": "Ἄδραα",
   "other_names": "Adraʿat (Arabic); Edrei (Hebrew Bible)",
   "modern": "Daraa",
   "modern_native": "درعا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Daraa, Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.6125,
   "lon": 36.0997,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678002",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 170,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     170,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins with Greek legends from the later 2nd century (Marcus Aurelius) to Gallienus, dated by the era of the province of Arabia; a polis by the 3rd century",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the Arab conquest of the Hauran, 634. The see continued, but there is no evidence of Greek speech beyond the early Islamic period.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of residents into the 6th century; the last bishop known from the councils signed at Constantinople in 553",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Edrei (Hebrew Bible, Num 21:33)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "City coins showing the aniconic cult stone of Dushara (Dusares Theos); Nabataean and Arab names in the Greek inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "City coins; Ptolemy 5.17; bishops at Seleucia 359, Constantinople 381, Chalcedon 451 and Constantinople 553",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Coin dates for the start of civic issues vary; the polis is secure by the Severan period.",
   "sources": [
    "Spijkerman, The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia (1978)",
    "Sartre, D'Alexandre a Zenobie",
    "Pleiades 678002"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 122,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "325 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w095",
   "latin": "Aere (Erra)",
   "greek": "Ἀερή / Ἔρρα",
   "other_names": "Erre; Erra (see); al-Sanamayn (Arabic)",
   "modern": "As-Sanamayn",
   "modern_native": "الصنمين",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "As-Sanamayn, Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 33.0711,
   "lon": 36.1853,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678004",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 325,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     325,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Sopater 'of Errhe' among the bishops of Arabia at the Council of Nicaea, 325; the see is probably Aere, whose residents' Greek inscriptions go back to the 2nd c. (temple of Tyche, 191), when it was a village.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the temple of Tyche (191) and of the village. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek dedications of residents with Arab names at the temple of Tyche (AD 191) and other Greek inscriptions of the village.",
   "status_evidence": "A see of Arabia named Erra/Errhe: bishop Sopater at Nicaea 325 (list of signatories); titular see 'Erra'. Aere was a large village and road station on the Damascus-Bostra road with Greek inscriptions of its residents.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts) as a see of the Greek-speaking church, and here Greek inscriptions of the residents are known. But the identification of the see of Erra with Aere (as-Sanamayn) is only a proposal; if it is wrong, Aere was a village. Vailhe reads the see's name in the Notitia Antiochena as Erra or Hierapolis.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Arabia Petraea (titular sees)",
    "Pleiades 678004"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 123,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "449 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w187",
   "latin": "Bacatha",
   "greek": "Βακάθα",
   "other_names": "Metrocomia ('mother-village') of the Bacatheni (church lists); Safut? (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Safut",
   "modern_native": "صافوط",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Safut, north-west of Amman, Balqa Governorate (tentative)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Balqa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.04,
   "lon": 35.85,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 449,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     449,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Alypius of Bacatha at the second Council of Ephesus, 449.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of the Balqa, 634-636. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop Anthony, 649, after the conquest. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Balqa, 634-636; its bishop Anthony still corresponded with Rome in 649.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A 'mother-village' of the Philadelphene (Epiphanius) with bishops of the Greek-speaking church from 449 to 649.",
   "status_evidence": "See with bishops Alypius (Ephesus 449), Gregory (451 or 518; the lists differ), Barachus (532/536) and Anthony (letters with Pope Martin I, 649) (Le Quien; Fedalto); listed as 'Metrocomia' under Petra and as Bacatha in the lists of Arabia; Epiphanius (Panarion) calls Bacatha a metrokomia of the Philadelphene.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. A large village (metrokomia) that became a see, like Neila. The site is unknown; Safut near as-Salt is a tentative identification, so the point is only regional. The church lists put it under Petra or under Bostra; the two entries are probably one see.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Bacatha in Palaestina",
    "Wikipedia (it): Arcidiocesi di Bosra",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "Epiphanius, Panarion 58"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 124,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "573 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w096",
   "latin": "Bosana",
   "greek": "Βόσανα",
   "other_names": "Busan (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Busan",
   "modern_native": "بوسان",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Busan, Suwayda Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "As-Suwayda",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.6869,
   "lon": 36.7903,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678071",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 573,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     573,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A Greek inscription names its bishop Menas, 573",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635; there is no later Greek evidence. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Inscription of bishop Menas (573). Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Village of the Jabal al-Arab with Arab names in its Greek inscriptions; Safaitic texts in the steppe nearby",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop attested in an inscription (573); titular see 'Bosana'",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "A village with a bishop late in the 6th century; whether this was a full see or a rural bishop is unclear.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Bosana (Syria)",
    "Pleiades 678071"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 125,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "106 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w085",
   "latin": "Bostra",
   "greek": "Βόστρα",
   "other_names": "Nea Traiane Bostra (from 106); Colonia Bostra (under Severus Alexander); Busra (Nabataean bṣrʾ); Busra al-Sham (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Bosra (Busra al-Sham)",
   "modern_native": "بصرى الشام",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Busra al-Sham, Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.5205,
   "lon": 36.4813,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678073",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 106,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     106,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Made capital of the new province of Arabia as Nea Traiane Bostra when Trajan annexed the Nabataean kingdom, 106",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Bostra was the first Syrian city to surrender to the Arabs, 634. Speech: Greek inscriptions of residents continue through the 6th century; the Melkite see lasted, but the town became Arabic-speaking in the 8th-9th centuries.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    700,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek building inscriptions of the 6th century (cathedral 512/513); a Greek-writing bishop Stephen early 8th century (Le Quien); Arabic inscriptions from the Umayyad period",
   "ended_by": "Surrendered to Khalid ibn al-Walid, with Shurahbil ibn Hasana, 634 (al-Baladhuri); no named act ended Greek speech.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "Trajan (provincial capital, 106)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Severus Alexander (colonia, 222-235); Philip the Arab (metropolis)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Buṣruna? (Akkadian, Amarna letters); Buṣrā (Nabataean)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The Amarna Busruna is usually identified with Bostra.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean royal city under Rabbel II with Nabataean inscriptions into the 2nd century; the cult of Dushara-A'ra and the games Actia Dusaria; Arabic speakers in town and countryside; Greek civic inscriptions, coins and clergy",
   "status_evidence": "Provincial capital of Arabia from 106; city coins; Roman colonia; metropolitan see of Arabia; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek became the language of public life only after 106; the Nabataean and Arab population stayed.",
   "sources": [
    "Sartre, Bostra (1985)",
    "IGLS XIII.1",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Pleiades 678073"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 126,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 63 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w087",
   "latin": "Canatha",
   "greek": "Κάναθα",
   "other_names": "Septimia Canatha (colonia under Septimius Severus); Gabinia (?); Qanawat (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Qanawat",
   "modern_native": "قنوات",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Qanawat, Suwayda Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "As-Suwayda",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.7542,
   "lon": 36.6184,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678082",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -63,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -63,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Coins dated by the Pompeian era of 64/63 BC; one of the cities of the Decapolis (Pliny NH 5.74)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Passed to the Arabs in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. Greek inscriptions of residents run into the 6th century; there is no evidence of Greek speech after the early Islamic period.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the temple of Zeus Megistos and of the churches built into the 'Seraya'; bishops of Canatha at the councils",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey (era of 64/63 BC); Septimius Severus (colonia Septimia Canatha)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "Qenat? (Hebrew Bible, Num 32:42)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The identification of biblical Kenath with Qanawat is traditional but not proven.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (Nabataean script) and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean inscriptions at Canatha and at the nearby sanctuary of Si'; Safaitic and Arab names in the district",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Claudius to Domitian) with the Pompeian era; Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); Ptolemy 5.15; Josephus BJ 1.366 (battle of Canatha, 32 BC); bishop's see of Arabia",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Some scholars distinguish Kanatha at Qanawat from a second Kanata at al-Kerak in the Hauran and give the Decapolis coins to one or the other; Qanawat is the usual identification.",
   "sources": [
    "Pliny NH 5.74",
    "Spijkerman 1978",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 140-142",
    "Pleiades 678082"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 127,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "381 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w094",
   "latin": "Constantia in Arabia",
   "greek": "Κωνσταντία",
   "other_names": "Buraq (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Buraq",
   "modern_native": "براق",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Buraq, northern edge of the Lajat, Rif Dimashq Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Rif Dimashq",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 33.1858,
   "lon": 36.4826,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678077",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 381,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     381,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Chilon of Constantia at the Council of Constantinople, 381 (Le Quien put him at Nicaea, wrongly). The name honours the house of Constantine, but the dynastic name alone is not evidence.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "an emperor of the house of Constantine (the name only)",
   "founder_group": "emperors in Constantinople 330–conquest",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of the province of Arabia, where the villagers of the Hauran set up Greek inscriptions with Arab names.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Arabia under Bostra: bishops Chilon at Constantinople 381 and Solemus at Chalcedon 451 (Mansi); Notitia Antiochena. Waddington identified it 'with much likelihood' with Buraq, which had its own era and inscriptions of building works under Constantine.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts) as a see of the Greek-speaking church. If Waddington's identification with Buraq on the northern edge of the Lajat is right, the town's own inscriptions are known; it is not proven.",
   "sources": [
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Constantia (Arabia)",
    "Waddington, Inscriptions de Syrie",
    "Pleiades 678077"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 128,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w097",
   "latin": "Dion",
   "greek": "Δῖον",
   "other_names": "Dium; Dia (see lists)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tell al-Ash'ari, Daraa Governorate (proposed)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Decapolis",
   "lat": 32.795,
   "lon": 35.98,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "682543",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Stephanus of Byzantium calls Dion a foundation of Alexander; the Macedonian name points to early Hellenistic settlers. First secure mention: taken by Alexander Jannaeus, c. 83 BC (Josephus AJ 13.393)",
   "date_basis": "ancient foundation date",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Freed by Pompey in 63 BC; coins under the Severans. Its later history is little known; no evidence for Greek speech after the Arab conquest. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "City coins of the Severan period dated by the Pompeian era; a see 'Dia' in some lists. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken by Alexander Jannaeus c. 83 BC and freed by Pompey in 63 BC; it passed to the Arabs in 634-636.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Alexander (according to Stephanus)",
   "founder_group": "Alexander",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); Ptolemy 5.15; Josephus AJ 13.393, 14.75; city coins (Septimius Severus to Caracalla)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The site is disputed: Tell al-Ash'ari in Syria, on the slopes of the Yarmuk valley, is generally assumed (two coins of Dion found in a tomb there); Kropp has suggested that the town centre lay at nearby Tafas, and Husn and Tell al-Husn in Jordan have also been proposed. The Alexander foundation may be a later claim. The coins (Septimius Severus to Caracalla, AD 204-208) use the Pompeian era of 64/63 BC.",
   "sources": [
    "Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. Dion",
    "Cohen 2006, 245-247",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 148-149",
    "Pleiades 682543"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 129,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 180 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w088",
   "latin": "Dionysias",
   "greek": "Διονυσιάς",
   "other_names": "Soada (Σόαδα); Suwayda (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Suwayda",
   "modern_native": "السويداء",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Al-Suwayda, Suwayda Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "As-Suwayda",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.7071,
   "lon": 36.5653,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678119",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 180,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     180,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Soada received civic status as Dionysias under Commodus, c. 180-185; Greek was already used beside Nabataean in the 1st century BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634. No evidence of Greek speech after the early Islamic period.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the basilica and of residents into the 6th century; bishops of Dionysias in the 5th-6th centuries",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Greek-Nabataean bilingual tomb inscription (Hamrat, 1st c. BC); Arab names in the Greek inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "Ptolemy 5.15; city inscriptions (a \"lord builder Dionysos\" honoured as founder); bishops Severus at Nicaea 325, Elpidius at Constantinople 381 and Maras at Chalcedon 451, and Peter in an inscription (Waddington 2327); Hierocles 723; Georgius Cyprius 1072; Notitia Antiochena (under Bostra)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The grant of civic status under Commodus rests on inscriptions as read by Sartre and others; the exact year is not fixed.",
   "sources": [
    "Sartre, D'Alexandre a Zenobie",
    "IGLS XVI (Djebel al-Arab)",
    "Pleiades 678119"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 130,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 220 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w105",
   "latin": "Esbus",
   "greek": "Ἐσβοῦς",
   "other_names": "Heshbon (Hebrew Bible); Aurelia Esbus (coins); Hisban (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Hisban",
   "modern_native": "حسبان",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Tell Hisban, Amman Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Amman",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 31.8007,
   "lon": 35.809,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697662",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 220,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     220,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins of Elagabalus (218-222) with Greek legends; Herod had fortified the place earlier (Josephus AJ 15.294)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Passed to the Arabs in the conquest of the Balqa' (634-636); the see continued, but there is no evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek mosaic inscriptions of churches (6th century); bishops of Esbus from 431; the mosaicist Staurachios 'of Esbus' signed the Greek floor of St Stephen at Umm ar-Rasas (756/785)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Balqa', 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Herod (fortress and settlers, c. 25 BC)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ḥešbôn (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Arab and Nabataean names in the Greek inscriptions of the district; Herod settled soldiers in the Esebonitis",
   "status_evidence": "City coins of Elagabalus; Ptolemy 5.16; bishop Zosys at Ephesus 431; Hierocles (Arabia)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Spijkerman 1978",
    "Geraty and others, Hesban excavations",
    "Pleiades 697662"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 131,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 218 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w101",
   "latin": "Gadara",
   "greek": "Γάδαρα",
   "other_names": "Antiocheia and Seleukeia (Seleucid names); Pompeia; Umm Qais (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Umm Qais",
   "modern_native": "أم قيس",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Umm Qais, Irbid Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Irbid",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Decapolis",
   "lat": 32.6561,
   "lon": 35.6773,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678142",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -218,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -218,
     -100
    ],
    [
     -63,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Taken by Antiochus III in 218 BC as the strongest place in the district (Polybius 5.71); Menippus the Cynic was born there in the 3rd century BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Destroyed after a ten-month siege by Alexander Jannaeus c. 100 BC and rebuilt by Pompey in 63 BC. Taken by the Arabs in 635-636; Umayyad occupation; damaged by the earthquake of 749, after which the town declined. The baths of Gadara at Hammat Gader were restored in 662 with a Greek inscription naming Mu'awiya and John of Gadara as the local supervisor, so the town's Greek is attested after the conquest. The date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750; the range starts at 662.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    662,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "The Greek writers Menippus, Meleager, Philodemus, Theodorus and Oenomaus; Greek inscriptions of churches into the 6th-7th centuries; earthquake of 749. Greek building inscription of 5 December 662 (year 726 of the city, 42 of the Arabs) at Hammat Gader, the baths of Gadara: restored under Mu'awiya by the governor 'Abd Allah son of Abu Hashim, with John of Gadara supervising the work (Green and Tsafrir 1982; Hasson 1982). Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "Destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus, c. 100 BC; rebuilt by Pompey, 63 BC. Passed to the Arabs in 635-636 (no named act for the city).",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC (for his freedman Demetrius of Gadara)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 5.71; Josephus AJ 13.356, BJ 1.155; Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); city coins; bishops at Nicaea 325 and later; Hierocles (Palaestina II)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Meleager calls Gadara 'Attic among the Syrians'. The founder of the Hellenistic city is not known.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 5.71",
    "Josephus BJ 1.155",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 132-136",
    "Pleiades 678142"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 132,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 63 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w099",
   "latin": "Gerasa",
   "greek": "Γέρασα",
   "other_names": "Antiocheia on the Chrysorhoas (Seleucid); Jerash (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Jerash",
   "modern_native": "جرش",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Jerash, Jerash Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Jerash",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Decapolis",
   "lat": 32.2801,
   "lon": 35.8911,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678158",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -63,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -63,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City era from Pompey's settlement of 63 BC and a city of the Decapolis (Pliny NH 5.74). The name Antiocheia on the Chrysorhoas points to a renaming under Antiochus IV (175-164 BC), but the name alone does not prove a Greek polis, and the Hellenistic remains are not Greek texts; local traditions of Alexander or Perdiccas as founder are legends.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by the Arabs in 634/635; an Umayyad provincial town with a mosque beside the churches. Speech: Greek inscriptions of residents run to 611 (church of Bishop Genesius). The earthquake of 18 January 749 wrecked the town, but it lived on as a smaller Abbasid settlement. With no Greek evidence of its own after the conquest, the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek church inscriptions to 611 (church of Bishop Genesius); Umayyad mosque and houses; earthquake of 18 January 749. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "Taken in the Arab conquest of 634/635, probably by troops under Shurahbil ibn Hasana; the earthquake of 749 ruined the town.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Antiochus IV (renamed it Antiocheia)",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC (freedom, Decapolis); Hadrian's visit 129-130",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Bronze and Iron Age remains lie under the city; no pre-Greek name is attested in non-Greek sources.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean and Arab names and a few Nabataean inscriptions in the Roman period; the countryside spoke Aramaic and Arabic",
   "status_evidence": "Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); city coins; boule and demos in many Greek inscriptions; bishops at Seleucia 359 and Chalcedon 451; Hierocles (Arabia)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Counted as a Hellenized native town: the Seleucid renaming is not matched by attested settlers, and the claims of Macedonian origin (Alexander, Perdiccas) are later civic traditions. Greek institutions are secure from the 1st century BC.",
   "sources": [
    "Kraeling (ed.), Gerasa: City of the Decapolis (1938)",
    "Cohen 2006, 248-253",
    "Seigne, Jerash (various)",
    "Pleiades 678158"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 133,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 290 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w090",
   "latin": "Maximianopolis",
   "greek": "Μαξιμιανούπολις (Σακκαία)",
   "other_names": "Saccaea (Σακκαία)",
   "modern": "Shaqqa",
   "modern_native": "شقا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Shaqqa, Suwayda Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "As-Suwayda",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.8968,
   "lon": 36.6976,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678366",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 290,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     290,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The village of Saccaea became the city of Maximianopolis under the Tetrarchs, c. 286-305; Greek inscriptions of residents from the 2nd century",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634. No evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the 'Kaisariye' and of churches; bishops of Maximianopolis in Arabia",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "the Tetrarchs (Maximian)",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Arab names in the Greek inscriptions; a village of the Trachonitis-Hauran raised to a city",
   "status_evidence": "Renamed city under the Tetrarchs; bishop's see of Arabia (councils; Notitia Antiochena)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Sartre, D'Alexandre a Zenobie",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus II",
    "Pleiades 678366"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 134,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 – c. 800",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w106",
   "latin": "Medaba",
   "greek": "Μήδαβα",
   "other_names": "Madaba (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Madaba",
   "modern_native": "مادبا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Madaba, Madaba Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Madaba",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 31.7177,
   "lon": 35.7941,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697701",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 200,
   "greek_until": 800,
   "phases": [
    [
     200,
     800
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins with Greek legends under the Severans (early 3rd century)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: passed to the Arabs in 634-636. Speech: the Christian community still laid floors with Greek inscriptions under the Umayyads and early Abbasids (Church of the Virgin, 767); the town declined in the 9th century.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    770,
    900
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Madaba mosaic map (6th century); Greek mosaic inscriptions to 767 (Church of the Virgin) and at nearby Umm ar-Rasas (718, 756)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 634-636; the community dwindled in the 9th century.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Mhdbʾ (Moabite, Mesha stele); Mêdəbâ (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic, Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean inscriptions of the 1st century AD; Arab names in the Greek mosaic inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Severan period); bishops of Medaba (councils); Hierocles (Arabia)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The latest Greek mosaic inscriptions may have been written by Arabic-speaking Christians; the end date is an estimate.",
   "sources": [
    "Piccirillo, The Mosaics of Jordan (1993)",
    "Spijkerman 1978",
    "Pleiades 697701"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 135,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 570 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w181",
   "latin": "Neila",
   "greek": "Νεῖλα",
   "other_names": "Neela; Nelkomia ('village of Nela')",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Khirbet en-Nila (proposed), As-Suwayda Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "As-Suwayda",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.7429,
   "lon": 36.7759,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "678305",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 570,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     570,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed as a see of Arabia under Bostra in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570), as 'Neila or Nilakome'.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of the province of Arabia in the Hauran, where villagers set up Greek inscriptions with Arab names.",
   "status_evidence": "A see of Arabia under Bostra in the Notitia Antiochena ('Neila or Nilakome', Vailhe); titular see Neila; 'Nelkomia/Neela?' in the Barrington Atlas (69 E4).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. A village (kome) that became a see; the site follows the Barrington Atlas, which marks it with a question mark.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia (it): Arcidiocesi di Bosra",
    "Pleiades 678305",
    "Devreesse 1945"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 136,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "431 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w091",
   "latin": "Neve",
   "greek": "Νεύη",
   "other_names": "Nawa (Arabic); Naveh (Jewish sources)",
   "modern": "Nawa",
   "modern_native": "نوى",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Nawa, Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.8892,
   "lon": 36.0422,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678307",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Its bishop Petronius attended the Council of Ephesus in 431 (Jobius at Chalcedon, 451); Greek inscriptions of residents are known from the town",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. No evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period; the district became Arabic-speaking.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek funerary and building inscriptions (Roman and late Roman); bishops of Neve at the councils",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic (including a Jewish community) and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Jewish community with a synagogue (remains and Aramaic inscriptions); Arab and Aramaic names in the Greek inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "Bishops Petronius at Ephesus 431 and Jobius at Chalcedon 451; Notitia Antiochena (under Bostra); Georgius Cyprius; Greek inscriptions (Revue biblique 3, 625)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "A large Hauran town that became a see; its first known bishop is from 431.",
   "sources": [
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus II",
    "Wikipedia: Nawa, Syria",
    "Pleiades 678307"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 137,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "431 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w092",
   "latin": "Phaena",
   "greek": "Φαινά",
   "other_names": "Phaine; Mismiyah (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Al-Mismiyah",
   "modern_native": "المسمية",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Al-Mismiyah, northern Lajat, Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 33.1311,
   "lon": 36.3874,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678328",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The metrokomia (\"chief village\") of the Trachonitis in a Greek edict of the governor Julius Saturninus, 185-187 (OGIS 609); a bishop's see whose bishops attended Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. No evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period; the district became Arabic-speaking.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek edict of Julius Saturninus; the 'praetorium' temple of 160-169 with Greek inscriptions; bishops of Phaena",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "The 'metrokomia of the Trachon' with Arab names in its Greek inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "Metrokomia of the Trachon (OGIS 609, on the temple); many Greek inscriptions of residents; bishops at Ephesus 431 and Chalcedon 451",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "A chief village rather than a polis in the Roman period; counted from its first known bishop, 431.",
   "sources": [
    "OGIS 609",
    "Wikipedia: Phaena",
    "Pleiades 678328"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 138,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 135 BC – c. AD 750",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w100",
   "latin": "Philadelphia",
   "greek": "Φιλαδέλφεια",
   "other_names": "Rabbatamana (Polybius); Amman (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Amman",
   "modern_native": "عمان",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Amman Citadel and downtown, Amman Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Amman",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 31.955,
   "lon": 35.9346,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697728",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -135,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     -135,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Zeno Cotylas, a ruler with a Greek name, held Philadelphia as its tyrant c. 135 BC (Josephus AJ 13.235; BJ 1.60). Ptolemy II (285-246 BC) had renamed Rabbath-Ammon after himself (Stephanus; Jerome), but the Zenon papyri (259 BC) still call the district the Ammanitis and Polybius (5.71) calls the town Rabbatamana in 218 BC.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: taken by the Arabs c. 635-636; an Umayyad governor's seat with a palace on the citadel. Speech: Greek-speaking Christians lived there into the Umayyad period; the earthquake of 749 damaged the town, and Arabic replaced Greek by the 9th century. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of churches in the 6th-7th centuries; Umayyad citadel; earthquake of 749. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act recorded for the city: it passed to the Arabs in the conquest of 635-636.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Ptolemy II Philadelphus",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Pompey 63 BC (Decapolis)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Rabbat Bnê ʿAmmôn (Hebrew Bible); Bīt-Ammān (Akkadian, the kingdom)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean and Arab names in Greek inscriptions; Arabic-speaking countryside; Christian Palestinian Aramaic in the region",
   "status_evidence": "Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); city coins with Greek legends; Greek civic inscriptions; bishop's see of Arabia; Hierocles",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Ptolemaic soldiers settled in the district (Zenon papyri), but settlers in the city itself are not directly attested, so it is counted as a Hellenized native town. The renaming is known only from later writers; the Zenon papyri and Polybius still use the native name.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2006, 268-272",
    "Polybius 5.71",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 155-158",
    "Pleiades 697728"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 139,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 244 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w089",
   "latin": "Philippopolis",
   "greek": "Φιλιππόπολις",
   "other_names": "Colonia Philippopolis; Shahba (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Shahba",
   "modern_native": "شهبا",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Shahba, Suwayda Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "As-Suwayda",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.8538,
   "lon": 36.6275,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678332",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 244,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     244,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Philip the Arab founded the city at his birthplace, 244-249 (Aurelius Victor 28.1), laid out with walls, theatre and baths",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634. The town shrank; no evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions and mosaics of the 3rd-4th centuries; bishops of Philippopolis in Arabia",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "Philip the Arab",
   "founder_group": "Roman emperors to 330",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Founded at the native village of the emperor Philip 'the Arab'; Arab names in the Greek inscriptions of residents",
   "status_evidence": "Aurelius Victor 28.1; city coins of Philip; colonia; bishop's see of Arabia",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "A new imperial foundation on a village site; It could also be counted a Greek city, as a Roman foundation.",
   "sources": [
    "Aurelius Victor 28.1",
    "Wikipedia: Shahba",
    "Pleiades 678332"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 140,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. AD 70 – c. AD 150",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w098",
   "latin": "Raphana",
   "greek": "Ῥαφανά",
   "other_names": "Raphon (1 Maccabees 5:37)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated; Pleiades places it at the Raphon of 1 Maccabees in the Hauran, Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Decapolis",
   "lat": 32.852,
   "lon": 36.1993,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "678360",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 70,
   "greek_until": 150,
   "phases": [
    [
     70,
     150
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Listed among the cities of the Decapolis by Pliny (NH 5.74); the Raphon of 1 Maccabees 5:37 was then a settlement, not a known polis",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Known only from Pliny and Ptolemy; no later civic evidence. It may have merged into the territory of another city.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    150,
    636
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No inscriptions or coins securely assigned; not in the late Roman lists",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the city drops out of the record after the 2nd century.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "Hellenized native town",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Pliny NH 5.74 (Decapolis); Ptolemy 5.15",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "The location is uncertain: proposals include the Raphon of 1 Maccabees in the Hauran and a site south of Damascus; the Decapolis listing is the only evidence of civic status.",
   "sources": [
    "Pliny NH 5.74",
    "Schurer-Vermes-Millar II, 137",
    "Pleiades 678360"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 141,
   "list_group": "The Decapolis and Arabia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 500 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w093",
   "latin": "Zorava",
   "greek": "Ζόραυα",
   "other_names": "Zoraa; Ezra' (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Izra'",
   "modern_native": "إزرع",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Izra', Daraa Governorate",
   "country": "Syria",
   "admin1": "Daraa",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Arabia",
   "lat": 32.8567,
   "lon": 36.2469,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "678459",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 500,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     500,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A bishop's see of Arabia by the 6th century; Greek dedication of the church of St George by John son of Diomedes, 515",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635. No evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period; the district became Arabic-speaking.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscription of the church of St George (515) and of the church of St Elias (542)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: taken in the conquest of the Hauran, 634-635 (Khalid ibn al-Walid's campaign).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek building inscriptions of residents with Arab and Aramaic names; the Christian community still worships in the 6th-century church",
   "status_evidence": "Greek dedication of the church of St George, 515, by John son of Diomedes, a proteuon (leading councillor) of the town (IGLS XV 244); bishop's see of Arabia (Le Quien; titular see Zorava)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Counted as a village that became a see; its Christian community, now Arabic-speaking, is continuous.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Izra'",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus II",
    "Pleiades 678459"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 142,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w113",
   "latin": "Aila",
   "greek": "Αἰλά",
   "other_names": "Aelana; Ailana; Berenike (Josephus); Ayla (Arabic); Elath (Hebrew Bible)",
   "modern": "Aqaba",
   "modern_native": "العقبة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Aqaba, Aqaba Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Aqaba",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 29.5306,
   "lon": 35.0,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "746700",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 300,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     300,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A city and bishopric by 325, when its bishop attended Nicaea; garrison of Legio X Fretensis from c. 300; earliest purpose-built church (late 3rd century)",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Its lord John son of Ru'ba made a treaty with Muhammad at Tabuk in 630; an Islamic walled town (Ayla) was built beside the old one c. 650. No later evidence for Greek speech. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Church of c. 300; bishops of Aila to the 6th century; the new Islamic town of Ayla (c. 650). Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "John son of Ru'ba, lord of Ayla, submitted to Muhammad by treaty at Tabuk, 630 (Ibn Ishaq); the caliphate built a new town beside it c. 650.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʾÊlat / ʾÊlôt (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Biblical Elath is often placed at Tell el-Kheleifeh nearby rather than under Aila itself.",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean port; its Christian lord in 630, John son of Ru'ba, bore a Greek name and an Arab patronym",
   "status_evidence": "Bishop at Nicaea 325; Hierocles (Palaestina III); Notitia Antiochena",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Greek-speaking residents are inferred mainly from the church and garrison; the population was largely Nabataean and Arab.",
   "sources": [
    "Parker, The Roman Aqaba Project",
    "Whitcomb, Ayla",
    "Pleiades 746700"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 143,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "518 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w182",
   "latin": "Arad",
   "greek": "Ἀράδ",
   "other_names": "'Arad (Hebrew Bible); Tell 'Arad (Arabic); Tel Arad (Hebrew)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tel Arad, west of the modern town of Arad, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 31.2806,
   "lon": 35.1264,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "87764825",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 518,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     518,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop Stephen of Arad at the synod of Jerusalem, 518 (Le Quien).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: passed to the Arabs with the Negev in the 630s. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last bishop known: Stephen, 536. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs with the Negev in the 630s.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "'Arad (Hebrew Bible; Egyptian 'rd in Shoshenq I's list)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Hebrew",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A village of the Negev that became a see of Palaestina III.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina III under Petra: bishop Stephen at the synods of Jerusalem, 518 and 536 (Le Quien); Eusebius (Onomasticon) calls Arad a village.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. A village that became a see; the late Roman settlement is placed at or near Tel Arad, whose Hellenistic Greek ostraca belong to a garrison.",
   "sources": [
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "Eusebius, Onomasticon",
    "Wikipedia (it): Diocesi di Arad",
    "Pleiades 87764825"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 144,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w108",
   "latin": "Areopolis (Rabbathmoba)",
   "greek": "Ἀρεόπολις / Ῥαββαθμωβα",
   "other_names": "Rabbathmoba; Rabba (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Al-Rabba",
   "modern_native": "الربة",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Al-Rabba, Karak Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Karak",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 31.272,
   "lon": 35.736,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697632",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins with Greek legends (Rabbathmoba-Areopolis) under the Severans; a Greek census return of 127 in the Babatha archive was filed there",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Passed to the Arabs in 634-636. The see continued for a time; there is no evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek inscriptions of the 4th-6th centuries; bishops of Areopolis; the city on the Madaba map. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "ʿĀr Môʾāb? (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "Greek 'Areopolis' was linked to biblical Ar of Moab; the identification is uncertain.",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Nabataean town of Moab; Babatha's documents (Greek and Aramaic, 2nd century) were registered at Rabbathmoba; Arab names in its Greek inscriptions",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Severans); Babatha papyri (P.Yadin 16); bishops; Hierocles (Palaestina III)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Spijkerman 1978",
    "Yadin and others, The Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period (P.Yadin 16)",
    "Pleiades 697632"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 145,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "431 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w114",
   "latin": "Arindela",
   "greek": "Ἀρίνδηλα",
   "other_names": "Gharandal (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Gharandal",
   "modern_native": "غرندل",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Gharandal, Tafilah Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Tafilah",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 30.7293,
   "lon": 35.6507,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697633",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Its bishops are listed from 431 (Gams, after Le Quien).",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: passed to the Arabs in 634-636; the neighbouring towns of Adhruh and Jarba had made treaties with Muhammad in 630. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Last bishop known: 536. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 634-636; the neighbouring towns of Adhruh and Jarba had made treaties with Muhammad in 630 (Ibn Ishaq).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Nabataean Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of Palaestina III in an Arab and Nabataean district.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina III under Petra, with bishops from 431 to 536 (Le Quien; Gams); Hierocles.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known.",
   "sources": [
    "Catholic Encyclopedia: Arindela",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "Pleiades 697633"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 146,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "431 – c. 750",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w112",
   "latin": "Augustopolis",
   "greek": "Αὐγουστόπολις",
   "other_names": "Adrou (Ἀδροῦ); Udhruh (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Udhruh",
   "modern_native": "أذرح",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Udhruh, Ma'an Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Ma'an",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 30.3321,
   "lon": 35.5959,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "697625",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 431,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     431,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Bishop John of Augustopolis at the Council of Ephesus, 431.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: the people of Adhruh made a treaty with Muhammad during the Tabuk expedition, 630; the region passed to the Arabs in 634-636. Speech: no evidence of the town's own after the conquest; the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Bishop John, 536; the Petra papyri (6th c.). Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia go on to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720; Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); the Nessana papyri are in Greek to c. 690; the Melkites of the region turned to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "The people of Adhruh submitted to Muhammad by treaty during the Tabuk expedition, 630 (Ibn Ishaq; al-Waqidi).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Arabic",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Nabataean Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A see of Palaestina III beside a legionary fortress; the Greek Petra papyri (6th c.) name the place.",
   "status_evidence": "See of Palaestina III under Petra: bishop John at Ephesus 431; a second John at the synod of Jerusalem, 536; Hierocles; Notitia Antiochena.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "yes",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Counted as a see of the Greek-speaking church (in the Levant every see counts); no Greek inscription of its own residents is known. Augustopolis is usually placed at Udhruh, a legionary fortress with a small town and a church outside its walls; the identification is common but not certain.",
   "sources": [
    "Wikipedia: Augustopolis in Palaestina",
    "Le Quien, Oriens Christianus III",
    "Pleiades 697625"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 147,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w109",
   "latin": "Charachmoba",
   "greek": "Χαρακμῶβα",
   "other_names": "Kir-Moab; Karak (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Al-Karak",
   "modern_native": "الكرك",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Al-Karak, Karak Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Karak",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 31.1832,
   "lon": 35.7033,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697648",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 200,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     200,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "City coins with Greek legends under the Severans",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Passed to the Arabs in 634-636. A Christian community survived into the Crusader and Ottoman periods, Arabic-speaking; there is no evidence for Greek speech after the early Islamic period. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "City shown on the Madaba map; bishops of Charachmoba; the later Christians of Karak used Arabic. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in 634-636.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Qîr-Ḥareśet / Qîr Môʾāb (Hebrew Bible, 2 Kings 3:25; Isaiah 15:1)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Aramaic/Syriac",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic and Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Nabataean and then Arab town of Moab; the Greek name keeps the Aramaic karka, 'fortified town'",
   "status_evidence": "City coins (Severans); Ptolemy 5.16; bishops; Hierocles (Palaestina III)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "",
   "sources": [
    "Spijkerman 1978",
    "Wikipedia: Kerak",
    "Pleiades 697648"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 148,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 – c. 700",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w074",
   "latin": "Elusa",
   "greek": "Ἔλουσα",
   "other_names": "Halutza (Hebrew, rabbinic); al-Khalasa (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Halutza (Khalasa) ruins, Ramat HaNegev, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 31.0969,
   "lon": 34.6551,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687890",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 300,
   "greek_until": 700,
   "phases": [
    [
     300,
     700
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek city by the 4th c.: Zenobius and other rhetors from Elusa; listed by Ptolemy (5.16.10) as a town of Idumaea; a Nabataean town since the 2nd c. BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration: the Negev came under the caliphs in the 630s. Speech: Greek papyri at nearby Nessana run to c. 690, when Arabic took over the tax documents; Elusa was abandoned by the 8th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Nessana papyri (Greek to c. 690; Greek-Arabic bilingual documents from the 670s); abandonment of the town in the 7th-8th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the Negev came under the caliphs in the 630s; Greek gave way to Arabic in the documents by c. 690 and the town was abandoned",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "A Nabataean inscription of the 2nd c. BC found at Elusa names a king Aretas; no non-Greek form of the town's name older than the rabbinic Halutza is attested.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic (Nabataean Aramaic in older inscriptions)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "The sophist Zenobius of Elusa taught Greek rhetoric at Antioch (d. 354) and Libanius writes of rhetors from Elusa; Greek inscriptions and papyri; in Jerome's Life of Hilarion (25) the townspeople greet Hilarion in 'Syriac', a Semitic tongue, and worship Venus",
   "status_evidence": "Ptolemy 5.16.10; Hierocles (Palaestina III); see of Palaestina III with bishops from the 5th c.; Madaba map; Nessana papyri",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Some scholars think Elusa was the capital of Palaestina III for a time.",
   "sources": [
    "Jerome, Life of Hilarion 25",
    "Libanius, Letters",
    "Kraemer, Excavations at Nessana III (1958)",
    "Pleiades 687890",
    "Wikipedia: Halutza"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 149,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 – c. 650",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w075",
   "latin": "Mampsis",
   "greek": "Μάμψις",
   "other_names": "Kurnub (Arabic); Mamshit (Hebrew)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Mamshit National Park, near Dimona, Southern District",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "admin1": "Israel (Southern District)",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 31.0254,
   "lon": 35.0643,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "687963",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 400,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     400,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First attested as a city in late antiquity: Hierocles lists Mampsis in Palaestina III; Greek church inscriptions of the late 4th-5th c.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": "",
   "until_text": "Administration and speech ended together: the town was abandoned in the 7th c., around the Arab conquest of the Negev.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    630,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Late Roman churches and houses; abandonment in the 7th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town was abandoned around the Arab conquest of the 630s",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic (Nabataean Aramaic in older inscriptions)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek mosaic inscriptions in its two churches (late 4th-5th c.) and Greek epitaphs; a Nabataean town in origin with Arab names among its people",
   "status_evidence": "Hierocles (Palaestina III); Eusebius, Onomasticon; see of Palaestina III",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "A small walled town; its civic rank rests on Hierocles and the church lists.",
   "sources": [
    "Negev, The Architecture of Mampsis (1988)",
    "Hierocles, Synecdemus (Palaestina III)",
    "Pleiades 687963",
    "Wikipedia: Mamshit"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 150,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "106 – c. 650",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w111",
   "latin": "Petra",
   "greek": "Πέτρα",
   "other_names": "Reqem (Nabataean rqmw); Hadriane Petra Metropolis; Colonia Antoniniana Petra",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Petra, beside the town of Wadi Musa, Ma'an Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Ma'an",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 30.3288,
   "lon": 35.4423,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697725",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 106,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     106,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Annexed by Trajan in 106 and made a metropolis (Hadriane Petra Metropolis from 114 or 130); Greek was already used in Nabataean Petra for some inscriptions in the 1st century",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Capital of Palaestina III. The city declined after the earthquakes of 363 and 551; the Greek Petra papyri end in the 590s; there is no record of its conquest, and the town was largely abandoned by the 7th-8th century.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    600,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Petra papyri (537-593), burnt in the church c. 600; Greek inscriptions of the churches; earthquakes of 363 and 551",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the city declined after the earthquakes of 363 and 551; the Arab conquest of the 630s is not recorded for Petra.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Trajan (annexation, 106); Hadrian (metropolis); Elagabalus (colonia)",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Rqmw (Nabataean)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean Aramaic, later Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Nabataean royal capital with Nabataean inscriptions to the 4th century; the Petra papyri (6th century) are Greek documents of landowners with Arabic names and Arabic field names",
   "status_evidence": "Nabataean capital; metropolis of Arabia; city coins; Roman colonia; metropolitan see of Palaestina III; Hierocles; Petra papyri",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek became a main language only under Roman rule; Nabataean Aramaic and Arabic stayed in use.",
   "sources": [
    "Frosen and others, The Petra Papyri I-V",
    "Millar, The Roman Near East",
    "Pleiades 697725"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 151,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 400 – c. 650",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w115",
   "latin": "Phaeno",
   "greek": "Φαινώ",
   "other_names": "Phainon; Punon (Hebrew Bible); Faynan (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Khirbet Faynan, Wadi Araba, Tafilah Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Tafilah",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 30.6273,
   "lon": 35.494,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697726",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 400,
   "greek_until": 650,
   "phases": [
    [
     400,
     650
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "A see of Palaestina III by the 5th century; earlier a mining settlement where Christian convicts worked in the 300s",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Mining and the town declined in the 7th century; passed to the Arabs in the 630s. No later evidence for Greek speech.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    630,
    750
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek Christian tombstones from the cemetery; bishops of Phaeno (5th-6th centuries)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the mining town declined and passed to the Arabs in the 630s.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Arab town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Pûnôn (Hebrew Bible, Num 33:42)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Arabic and Nabataean Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Copper mines worked by convicts, including Christians from Egypt and Palestine (Eusebius, Martyrs of Palestine 7, 13); Greek Christian tombstones; a local Arab population",
   "status_evidence": "Eusebius, Martyrs of Palestine; bishops of Phaeno; Hierocles (Palaestina III)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "A mining settlement that became a see; whether it was a city in more than the church's sense is doubtful.",
   "sources": [
    "Eusebius, Martyrs of Palestine 7.2, 13",
    "Barker and others, Wadi Faynan",
    "Pleiades 697726"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 152,
   "list_group": "The Negev, Petra and Moab",
   "dates_shown": "c. 110 – c. 750",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w110",
   "latin": "Zoara",
   "greek": "Ζόαρα",
   "other_names": "Zoora; Segor; Zoar (Hebrew Bible); Ghor es-Safi (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Ghor es-Safi",
   "modern_native": "غور الصافي",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Ghor es-Safi, southeast of the Dead Sea, Karak Governorate",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "admin1": "Karak",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Palaestina Tertia",
   "lat": 31.0273,
   "lon": 35.4818,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "697768",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 110,
   "greek_until": 750,
   "phases": [
    [
     110,
     750
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek legal documents of residents of the district of Zoara in the Babatha archive, from 110",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "A see of Palaestina III. Greek Christian tombstones dated by the era of Arabia run from the 4th to at least the 6th century. Passed to the Arabs in the 630s; the later Islamic town of Zughar was Arabic-speaking. No evidence of the town's own after the conquest: the date is the estimate for Palestine and Transjordan, c. 750 (650-850).",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    650,
    850
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek tombstones of the an-Naq cemetery (mid-4th to 6th century and later); Jewish Aramaic tombstones (4th-6th centuries); the city on the Madaba map. Regional markers: Greek church inscriptions of Palestine and Arabia to the 760s-780s (Ma'in 719/720, Umm ar-Rasas 718 and 756/785); Nessana papyri in Greek to c. 690; the Melkite turn to Arabic in the 9th c.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: passed to the Arabs in the 630s.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Nabataean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ṣōʿar (Hebrew Bible, Gen 19:22)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Nabataean and Jewish Aramaic, Arabic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "The Babatha archive (Mahoza in the district of Zoara, 110-132) in Greek, Nabataean and Jewish Aramaic; Jewish Aramaic tombstones and some 400 Greek Christian tombstones from the town",
   "status_evidence": "Babatha papyri; Ptolemy 5.16 (Zoara); bishops of Zoara; Hierocles (Palaestina III)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Whether Zoara was a polis in the 2nd century is unclear; it is secure as a see by the 4th-5th century.",
   "sources": [
    "Meimaris and Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou, Inscriptions from Palaestina Tertia Ia (2005)",
    "Yadin and others, The Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period",
    "Politis, Ghor es-Safi",
    "Pleiades 697768"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 153,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "323 BC – c. 323 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w156",
   "latin": "Alexandria on the Pallacopas",
   "greek": "Ἀλεξάνδρεια",
   "other_names": "",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated; on the Pallacopas canal west of the Euphrates, towards the Arabian side, perhaps near Najaf or Kufa, Najaf Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Najaf",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Babylonia",
   "lat": 31.95,
   "lon": 44.35,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -323,
   "greek_until": -323,
   "phases": [
    [
     -323,
     -323
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "In spring 323 BC Alexander sailed down the Pallacopas canal, founded and walled a city there and settled in it Greek mercenaries who volunteered and men unfit for service by age or wounds (Arrian, Anab. 7.21.7)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Never mentioned again after Arrian's account of its foundation; it probably did not survive long after Alexander's death. Some identify it with the Alexandria near Babylon of the Alexander Romance.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -323,
    -100
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Only Arrian 7.21.7 (from Aristobulus); no later trace",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town is not heard of after its foundation",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Alexander",
   "founder_group": "Alexander",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Alexander foundation with Greek settlers (Arrian, Anab. 7.21.7); Cohen 2013",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "A real foundation with Greek settlers, but unlocated and without any later history; the phase is given as the foundation year only, with the possible end in the range.",
   "sources": [
    "Arrian, Anabasis 7.21.7",
    "Cohen 2013 (Alexandreia on the Pallakopas)",
    "Wikipedia: List of cities founded by Alexander the Great"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 154,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "540 – c. 590",
   "period": "4 To the Arab conquest (330-651)",
   "id": "w149",
   "latin": "Antioch of Khosrow (Veh-Andiyok-Khosrow)",
   "greek": "Ἀντιόχεια Χοσρόου",
   "other_names": "Weh-Andiyok-Khosrow, 'Khosrow's better Antioch' (Middle Persian); Rumagan (Persian); al-Rumiyya (Arabic); perhaps Mahoze Hadatta, 'the New City' (Syriac)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "near Salman Pak (al-Mada'in), Baghdad Governorate; exact site not identified",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Baghdad",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Babylonia",
   "lat": 33.06,
   "lon": 44.6,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 540,
   "greek_until": 590,
   "phases": [
    [
     540,
     590
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Khosrow I founded it near Ctesiphon for the people of Antioch whom he had taken captive in 540 (Procopius, Wars 2.14.1-4; al-Tabari)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The captives of Antioch were Greek speakers; the town still had about 30,000 people in the late 6th c., and John of Ephesus (writing to the 580s) knows it. No Greek text from the town survives, and its people lived among Syriac- and Persian-speaking neighbours, so Greek speech probably faded within a few generations. The Arabs took it by treaty with the other towns of al-Mada'in in 637; as al-Rumiyya it was briefly the residence of the caliph al-Mansur in 754-755, when Abu Muslim was killed there, and it was deserted by the 10th c.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    570,
    700
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Procopius, Wars 2.14 (540s); John of Ephesus, HE III.6.19 (late 6th c.) still names the city; the Arabic name al-Rumiyya, 'the Roman (town)', recalls its origin",
   "ended_by": "No named act for Greek speech, which is not attested after the late 6th c. In the Arab conquest of al-Mada'in the vanguard of Khalid ibn Urfuta, in the army of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, made a treaty with the people of al-Rumiyya, who could leave or stay and pay tribute; Sa'd entered al-Mada'in in March 637 (al-Tabari; Encyclopaedia Iranica: Madaen)",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "deportee city",
   "founder": "Khosrow I (deportees)",
   "founder_group": "Sasanian kings (deportees)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Syriac (deportees from Sura, Callinicum and Batnae and the local population)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Procopius (Wars 2.14.1-4): Khosrow I settled the captives of Antioch here, built them a bath and a hippodrome and brought their charioteers and musicians; Jacob of Edessa names captives from Antioch, Sura, Beroea, Apamea, Callinicum and Batnae",
   "status_evidence": "Royal Sasanian foundation laid out on the plan of Antioch, with bath and hippodrome (Procopius, Wars 2.14; al-Tabari); about 30,000 inhabitants in the late 6th c.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "yes",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "A town built for captives. Classed as bilingual because the deportees came from both Greek- and Syriac-speaking towns.",
   "sources": [
    "Procopius, Wars 2.14.1-4",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Deportations",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Madaen",
    "Wikipedia: Weh Antiok Khosrow",
    "Canepa 2009, The Two Eyes of the Earth"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 155,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 100 BC – c. AD 1",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w151",
   "latin": "Artemita",
   "greek": "Ἀρτεμίτα",
   "other_names": "Chalasar (its name in Isidore's day, Parthian Stations 2)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Karastel, near Baqubah, Diyala Governorate; identification probable",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Diyala",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Babylonia",
   "lat": 33.8811,
   "lon": 44.8221,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "894020",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -100,
   "greek_until": 1,
   "phases": [
    [
     -100,
     1
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First attested through the Greek historian Apollodorus of Artemita, author of the Parthika, c. 100 BC (Strabo 2.5.12, 11.7.3, 11.11.1); probably a Seleucid foundation of the 3rd c. BC",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 2, c. AD 1) calls it 'a Greek city' on the Silla river. By AD 36 Tacitus (Ann. 6.41) lists Halus and Artemita as 'Parthian towns', in contrast with the 'Macedonian' foundations, which may mean that Greek no longer marked it. Later the Sasanian palace town of Dastagird lay nearby.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    1,
    200
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Apollodorus of Artemita, c. 100 BC; Isidore 2 (c. AD 1): 'a Greek city'; Tacitus Ann. 6.41 (AD 36): a Parthian town",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Greek is last attested c. AD 1",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "unknown Seleucid king",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Isidore says the city was by then called Chalasar, a name known only from his Greek text; whether it was the older native name is unknown.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Isidore, Parthian Stations 2 ('a Greek city'); Strabo 16.1.17 (city of Apolloniatis); Apollodorus of Artemita; Cohen 2013",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The site is not excavated and the identification with Karastel is not certain. Whether it was a Seleucid colony or a Hellenized native town (Chalasar) is unknown.",
   "sources": [
    "Isidore of Charax, Parthian Stations 2",
    "Strabo 16.1.17",
    "Tacitus Ann. 6.41",
    "Cohen 2013 (Artemita)",
    "Pleiades 894020"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 156,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 173 BC – c. AD 120",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w146",
   "latin": "Babylon",
   "greek": "Βαβυλών",
   "other_names": "Babili (Akkadian); Babel (Hebrew Bible); Babil (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Babil, north of Hillah, Babil Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Babil",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Babylonia",
   "lat": 32.5373,
   "lon": 44.425,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "893951",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -173,
   "greek_until": 120,
   "phases": [
    [
     -173,
     120
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Antiochus IV settled a community of Greek citizens (politai) in Babylon c. 173/172 BC: the politai first appear in the Politai Chronicle (BCHP 13) in 172 BC, the Greek Community Chronicle (BCHP 14) says they 'entered Babylon at the command of Antiochus' and anointed themselves like the politai of Seleucia, and OGIS 253 (166 BC) calls Antiochus IV 'founder of the city'. Greeks had lived in Babylon since Alexander (331 BC), whose time the first theatre is dated to.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The politai appear in cuneiform texts until 77 BC; the Greek ephebic list of 111/110 BC (under Mithridates II) shows the gymnasium still active. A Greek inscription recording a repair of the theatre and its stage building by one Dioskourides is dated by its letter forms to the 2nd c. AD, the last evidence of the Greek community. Strabo (16.1.5) already calls Babylon largely deserted, and Trajan in 116 is said to have seen only mounds and ruins (Cassius Dio 68.30.1). The Greek community faded with the town itself.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    80,
    198
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Politai in the astronomical diaries 169-77 BC; Greek ephebic victor list, 111/110 BC (Louvre); Graeco-Babyloniaca (cuneiform texts transcribed in Greek letters), 1st c. BC; last cuneiform tablet AD 79/80; Greek inscription for the repair of the theatre and its stage building, naming one Dioskouri[des], dated to the 2nd c. AD by its letter forms only (Livius: 'The Babylon theater inscription'); Trajan saw only mounds and ruins, 116 (Cassius Dio 68.30.1); Severus found Babylon deserted, 198 (Cassius Dio 76.9.3)",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the town declined after Seleucia drew away its people (Pliny 6.122; Strabo 16.1.5); the Greek community is last attested in the 2nd c. AD",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Babylonian town",
   "founder": "Antiochus IV (community of Greek citizens)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Babili (Akkadian); Babel (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Babylonian Akkadian (temple and scribal circles of the Esagila, written until AD 79/80) and Aramaic (common speech)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A community of Greek citizens (politai) with its own gymnasium and theatre lived beside the Babylonian temple community; Greek ephebic victor list of 111/110 BC; Greek theatre-repair inscription of the 2nd c. AD",
   "status_evidence": "Greek politai, gymnasium and theatre (BCHP 13-14; OGIS 253; ephebic list of 111/110 BC); Alexander's capital",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The Greek polis was a community of citizens inside a Babylonian city that kept its temple assembly, so it is classed as bilingual. Alexander died here in 323 BC.",
   "sources": [
    "van der Spek 2005, 'Ethnic segregation in Hellenistic Babylon'",
    "Livius: BCHP 14 (Greek Community Chronicle); Babylon theater inscription",
    "OGIS 253",
    "Cassius Dio 68.30",
    "Pleiades 893951"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 157,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "324 BC – c. AD 150",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w148",
   "latin": "Charax Spasinou",
   "greek": "Χάραξ Σπασίνου",
   "other_names": "Alexandria (Alexander); Antiochia (Antiochus IV); Karka d-Maishan (Syriac); Astarabad-Ardashir (Sasanian refoundation); Spasinou Charax",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Jebel Khayabir (Naysan), north of Basra, Basra Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Basra",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Mesene/Characene",
   "lat": 30.8093,
   "lon": 47.5628,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "912872",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -324,
   "greek_until": 150,
   "phases": [
    [
     -324,
     150
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Alexander founded it as Alexandria in 324 BC on an artificial mound, settling invalid Macedonian soldiers and people from the royal town of Durine (Pliny 6.138); Antiochus IV refounded it as Antiochia after a flood, completed 166/165 BC; later Hyspaosines rebuilt its dykes and gave it his name (Pliny 6.139)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Greek administration ended when Hyspaosines, the Seleucid governor of Mesene, made himself king after 141 BC; the Greek language lived on under his dynasty, whose coins carry Greek legends: Hyspaosines (125-121 BC), Artabazos (48/47 BC) and Mithradates (AD 142/143). The geographer Isidore of Charax wrote in Greek c. AD 1. From the second half of the 2nd c. AD the coins are uninscribed or carry Aramaic legends in the local dialect. Ardashir I ended the kingdom in 221/222. No Greek-speaking community is attested in the Sasanian town.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    142,
    222
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Isidore of Charax, Greek writer from the city, c. AD 1; Greek-legend coins of the kings of Characene to Mithradates (AD 142/143), then Aramaic legends from the later 2nd c. AD; Greek and Palmyrene inscriptions at Palmyra honouring the caravans and merchants of Spasinou Charax, 1st-2nd c. AD",
   "ended_by": "No named act for Greek speech: Ardashir I conquered Mesene in 221/222, killed its last king Bandu and refounded Charax as Astarabad-Ardashir (al-Tabari)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Alexander",
   "founder_group": "Alexander",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "Antiochus IV (as Antiochia, 166/165 BC); Hyspaosines of Characene, governor from 166/165 BC and independent from c. 141-139 BC (as Spasinou Charax)",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic, and Arabic in the Characene kingdom (Palmyrene and local Aramaic inscriptions; Aramaic legends replace Greek on the royal coins in the 2nd c. AD)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Royal coins of Characene with Greek legends, later with Aramaic legends; a mixed population of Greeks, Aramaeans, Arabs and Palmyrene traders",
   "status_evidence": "Alexander foundation (Pliny 6.138-139); capital of Characene; royal coinage with Greek legends; Isidore of Charax",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Greek city by foundation; how far Greek remained the main language under the Characene kings (2nd c. BC to 3rd c. AD) is uncertain. The site at Jebel Khayabir (Naysan), north of Basra, is now confirmed by the aerial, drone and geophysical surveys of Stefan Hauser's team (University of Konstanz), which mapped its walls, streets, canals and very large housing blocks.",
   "sources": [
    "Pliny 6.138-139",
    "Cohen 2013 (Alexandreia/Antiocheia/Charax Spasinou)",
    "Hansman 1967, 'Charax and the Karkheh'",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Characene",
    "Hauser, Konstanz survey (reported in Archaeology, Feb. 2026)",
    "Pleiades 912872"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 158,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 160 BC – c. AD 20",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w155",
   "latin": "Demetrias (near Arbela)",
   "greek": "Δημητριάς",
   "other_names": "Demetrias on the Tigris (coin legend 'of the Demetrians on the Tigris')",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated; Strabo puts it near Arbela (Erbil), the coins 'on the Tigris'; Erbil or Nineveh Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Erbil",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Assyria/Adiabene",
   "lat": 36.15,
   "lon": 43.6,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "876619",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -160,
   "greek_until": 20,
   "phases": [
    [
     -160,
     20
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "No source records the foundation: the name points to Demetrius I Soter (162-150 BC), perhaps after his victory over the rebel Timarchus c. 160 BC, or to Demetrius II (145-139 BC); the civic bronze coins of the 'Demetrians on the Tigris', with Tyche and tripod, belong to the same period if they are this city's",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The civic coins belong to the Seleucid period; Assyria passed to Parthia and the kings of Adiabene from the 120s BC. Strabo (16.1.4, c. AD 20) still names Demetrias as a city near Arbela. Nothing later is known.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -100,
    200
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Civic bronze coinage, 2nd c. BC; Strabo 16.1.4 (c. AD 20); Stephanus s.v. Demetrias",
   "ended_by": "No named act: no evidence after Strabo",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Demetrius I (or Demetrius II)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Civic bronze coinage with Greek legend (DEMETRIEON TON PROS TOI TIGREI); Strabo 16.1.4 ('the city of Demetrias'); Stephanus",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Site unknown; it may have been a refoundation of an Assyrian town. The 'on the Tigris' coins are usually given to this Demetrias, but they might belong to another city under a temporary dynastic name (Seleucia on the Tigris has been suggested); without them the city rests on Strabo and Stephanus alone.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 16.1.4",
    "Cohen 2013 (Demetrias in Assyria)",
    "Wikipedia: Demetrias in Assyria",
    "Pleiades 876619"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 159,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 100 BC – c. AD 150",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w153",
   "latin": "Ninos (Nineveh)",
   "greek": "Νῖνος",
   "other_names": "Ninua (Akkadian); Nineveh (Hebrew Bible); Ninwe/Ninawa (Syriac, Arabic)",
   "modern": "Mosul (east bank)",
   "modern_native": "الموصل",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus, east Mosul, Nineveh Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Nineveh",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Assyria/Adiabene",
   "lat": 36.3608,
   "lon": 43.1599,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "874621",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -100,
   "greek_until": 150,
   "phases": [
    [
     -100,
     150
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Resettled in the Seleucid period; Greek inscriptions, Greek cults and civic officials (strategos and epistates of the city) of the late Hellenistic and Parthian period",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The Greek inscriptions belong to the 1st c. BC and the 1st c. AD; Damis, a Greek-writing companion of Apollonius of Tyana, came from Ninos in the 1st c. AD. Tacitus (Ann. 12.13) mentions the city in AD 49. No Greek evidence is known after the 2nd c. AD; the town lived on as an Aramaic-speaking Christian centre opposite Mosul.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    50,
    250
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek civic inscriptions, 1st c. BC-1st c. AD (Reade 1998); Damis of Nineveh, 1st c. AD; marble Herakles Epitrapezios, 2nd c. AD; by 554 Nineveh was a see of the Church of the East, with Syriac as its language",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Greek is last attested in the 1st-2nd c. AD",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Aramaean town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ninua (Akkadian); Nineveh (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek inscriptions, one on a shrine of the Sebitti and one naming a strategos and epistates of the city; Greek sculpture (Hermes; Herakles Epitrapezios, 2nd c. AD); Damis of Nineveh, whose memoirs Philostratus says were written in Greek (Life of Apollonius 1.3, 1.19)",
   "status_evidence": "Seleucid refoundation as a polis with 'at least the superficial forms of Hellenistic city organization' (Oates 1968, 61); Greek inscriptions of the Parthian period naming a strategos and epistates of the city, and Greek dedications (Reade 1998); Greek sculpture (Herakles Epitrapezios); Damis of Ninos (Philostratus); Tacitus Ann. 12.13 (AD 49)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Nineveh was a small town after 612 BC; the Greek inscriptions show a Greek-style civic government in Parthian Adiabene, but the size of the Greek-speaking community is unknown. Philostratus' Damis may be a literary invention.",
   "sources": [
    "Reade 1998, 'Greco-Parthian Nineveh', Iraq 60",
    "Oates 1968, Studies in the Ancient History of Northern Iraq, 61",
    "Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Nineveh",
    "Invernizzi 1989 (Herakles Epitrapezios of Nineveh)",
    "Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.19",
    "Pleiades 874621"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 160,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 305 BC – c. AD 165",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w145",
   "latin": "Seleucia on the Tigris",
   "greek": "Σελεύκεια ἡ ἐπὶ τῷ Τίγρει",
   "other_names": "Seleucia ad Tigrim (Latin); Seliq/Sliq, later Sliq Kharawta, 'ruined Seleucia' (Syriac), part of Mahoze; Coche was the quarter on the opposite bend where the Sasanian Veh-Ardashir rose c. 230",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tell Umar, near al-Mada'in (Salman Pak), Baghdad Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Baghdad",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Babylonia",
   "lat": 33.0979,
   "lon": 44.5238,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "894084",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -305,
   "greek_until": 165,
   "phases": [
    [
     -305,
     165
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucus I founded it on the Tigris near Opis as his eastern capital, c. 307-305 BC (Strabo 16.1.5; Pliny 6.122; Appian Syr. 58); Antiochus I moved settlers from Babylon there in 275/274 BC (Babylonian astronomical diary)",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Greek administration ended when Mithridates I of Parthia took the city in 141 BC, but the polis lived on as a self-governing Greek city under Parthian rule: Tacitus (Ann. 6.42) praises its council of 300 and says it had 'not sunk into barbarism' but kept the ways of its founder. Its Greeks fought the Syrians and then, reconciled with them, massacred the city's Jews c. AD 35-40 (Josephus AJ 18.372-379) and held out against the Parthian kings in a seven-year revolt, AD 35-42 (Tacitus Ann. 11.8-9). Trajan's generals Erucius Clarus and Julius Alexander burned it in 116 (Cassius Dio 68.30.2). In 165 the army of Avidius Cassius, under Lucius Verus, sacked and burned it after it had received the Romans as friends (Cassius Dio 71.2.3; HA Verus 8.3-4); Eutropius (8.10) and Orosius (7.15.3) speak of 400,000 people taken. When Septimius Severus came in 198 he found it deserted (Cassius Dio 76.9.3). The Sasanian city of Veh-Ardashir later rose beside the site, with no attested Greek-speaking community.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "decade",
   "until_range": [
    165,
    198
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Civic bronze coins with Greek legends (Tyche types), struck into the 1st c. AD; Greek and Parthian bilingual inscription on the bronze Herakles that Vologases IV set up in the temple of Apollo at Seleucia after conquering Mesene, AD 150/151; Greek ostraca and seal impressions from the excavations; deserted by 198 (Cassius Dio 76.9.3)",
   "ended_by": "Sacked and burned by the Roman army of Avidius Cassius under Lucius Verus, 165 (Cassius Dio 71.2.3; HA Verus 8.3-4), after Trajan's generals Erucius Clarus and Julius Alexander had burned it in 116 (Cassius Dio 68.30.2)",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "Built near the old town of Opis (Akkadian Upi), which it replaced; the exact relation of the two sites is uncertain.",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "yes",
   "other_language": "Aramaic, spoken by the 'Syrians' of the city and by its Jewish community, beside Greek by the 1st c. AD",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Josephus (AJ 18.372-379) describes the Greeks and the Syrians as the two parties of the city c. AD 35-40, with the Jews siding with the Syrians",
   "status_evidence": "Seleucid royal foundation; council of 300 (Tacitus Ann. 6.42); civic coinage; 600,000 inhabitants in Pliny 6.122; Strabo 16.1.16",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The largest Greek city of the East after Antioch and Alexandria. Treated as a Greek city with a bilingual period because Aramaic-speaking Syrians and Jews formed a large part of the population by the 1st c. AD.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2013 (Seleukeia on the Tigris)",
    "Tacitus Ann. 6.42, 11.8-9",
    "Josephus AJ 18.372-379",
    "Cassius Dio 68.30, 71.2, 76.9",
    "Pleiades 894084"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 161,
   "list_group": "Mesopotamia",
   "dates_shown": "c. 200 BC – c. AD 111",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w147",
   "latin": "Uruk (Orchoi)",
   "greek": "Ὀρχόη",
   "other_names": "Uruk (Akkadian; Sumerian Unug); Erech (Hebrew Bible); Orchoe (Ptolemy 5.20.7); Orcheni, its astronomers (Strabo 16.1.6; Pliny 6.123); Warka (Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Tell al-Warka, Al-Muthanna Governorate",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "admin1": "Al-Muthanna",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Babylonia",
   "lat": 31.3234,
   "lon": 45.6391,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "912986",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -200,
   "greek_until": 111,
   "phases": [
    [
     -200,
     111
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greek seal legends of the record office and Greek double names of residents from the late 3rd c. BC; no Greek civic institutions are attested",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "The last Greek text is an honorary decree found in the Gareus temple, which dates the temple to 422 of the Seleucid era, AD 110/111 (Meier 1960); a decree in Greek implies that the town's assembly still used Greek. The cuneiform temple culture ended in the 1st c. BC, and the Parthian town declined in the 2nd-3rd c. AD.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "century",
   "until_range": [
    111,
    250
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek seal impressions of the record office, 3rd-2nd c. BC; Greek name of Anu-uballit Kephalon, 202/201 BC; Greek honorary decree from the Gareus temple, AD 110/111",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Greek is last attested at Uruk in AD 110/111; the town shrank and was largely deserted by early Sasanian times",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Babylonian town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Uruk (Akkadian; Sumerian Unug); Erech (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Babylonian Akkadian (temple scribes and astronomers) and Aramaic",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek names in the leading Babylonian families (Anu-uballit Nikarchos, governor under Antiochus II; Anu-uballit Kephalon, builder of the Bit Resh, 202/201 BC); thousands of clay sealings with Greek seal legends of the city's record office (chreophylakes of Orchoi); a Greek honorary decree from the Gareus temple, AD 110/111",
   "status_evidence": "Ancient city with temple assembly; Greek record office (chreophylax) seal impressions; Greek honorary decree of AD 110/111; Ptolemy 5.20.7; Strabo 16.1.6",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Whether more than a Hellenized elite spoke Greek at Uruk is debated; Greek double names may be honorific. Kept on the strength of the Greek record office and the Greek honorary decree of AD 110/111.",
   "sources": [
    "Meier 1960, Greek honorary decree from the Gareus temple, Baghdader Mitteilungen 1",
    "Kose 1998, Uruk: Architektur IV",
    "Oelsner 2014 (Greek in Babylonia)",
    "Strabo 16.1.6",
    "Pleiades 912986"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 162,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 290 BC – c. 140 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w166",
   "latin": "Antioch in Persis",
   "greek": "Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Περσίδι",
   "other_names": "Antiocheia tes Persidos",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "Bushehr (proposed), Bushehr peninsula, Bushehr province (proposed; Rishahr and Tawwaj are other candidates)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Bushehr",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Persis",
   "lat": 28.967,
   "lon": 50.833,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "922627",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -290,
   "greek_until": -140,
   "phases": [
    [
     -290,
     -140
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded or refounded by Antiochus I, probably while co-ruler with Seleucus I (c. 294-281 BC), with colonists sent at his request by Magnesia on the Maeander (OGIS 233).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid into the reign of Antiochus IV (royal coins struck there, 175-164 BC); Persis then passed to its own frataraka dynasts and under Parthian overlordship (c. 140 BC). Speech: the last evidence of the Greek city is the decree of 205 BC and the coins of Antiochus IV.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -164,
    100
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Decree of the Antiochenes accepting the Leukophryena of Magnesia, 205 BC (OGIS 233; I.Magnesia 61); Seleucid royal coins of the mint of Antioch in Persis under Antiochus IV.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Seleucid rule in Persis ended under the frataraka dynasts and Mithridates I of Parthia (c. 140 BC); nothing is known of the city later.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Antiochus I (with colonists from Magnesia on the Maeander)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "Magnesia on the Maeander (colonists)",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "OGIS 233 (I.Magnesia 61): decree of the boule and demos, with executive magistrates and treasurers, 205 BC; Antiochus III's letter to Magnesia after receiving its envoys at Antioch in Persis (OGIS 231).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "A full Greek polis whose site is unknown; Bushehr follows Pleiades and recent work. Rew-Ardashir (Rishahr), a Sasanian deportee town on the same peninsula, is a separate entry.",
   "sources": [
    "OGIS 231 and 233",
    "Cohen 2013 (Antiocheia in Persis)",
    "Rougemont 2012, IGIAC 53",
    "Pleiades 922627"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 163,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 290 BC – c. 148 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w161",
   "latin": "Apamea Rhagiane",
   "greek": "Ἀπάμεια (ἡ Ῥαγιανή)",
   "other_names": "Apamea in Choarene (Isidore of Charax 8)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "near Aradan (Khuvar/Choara), Garmsar area, Semnan province (proposed)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Semnan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Media",
   "lat": 35.2869,
   "lon": 52.4973,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "942286",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -290,
   "greek_until": -148,
   "phases": [
    [
     -290,
     -148
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Seleucid foundation named after Apama, wife of Seleucus I (c. 300-280 BC); one of the Macedonian foundations of Media in Strabo 11.13.6.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until the Parthian advance into Choarene and Media in the 2nd c. BC (Mithridates I, c. 148/147 BC). Speech: no evidence of the Greek community after the Seleucid period; Isidore (late 1st c. BC) still names Apameia as a city.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -200,
    100
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No inscriptions; known from Strabo, Pliny and Isidore only.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: the region passed to the Parthians, decisively under Mithridates I c. 148/147 BC.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I or Antiochus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 11.13.6 (Macedonian foundation); Pliny NH 6.43 (Apamea Rhagiane); Isidore of Charax 8 (city of Choarene).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Location unknown; the Barrington Atlas places it tentatively near Aradan with Choara, though Pliny keeps Apamea and Choara apart.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 11.13.6",
    "Isidore of Charax, Parthian Stations 8",
    "Cohen 2013 (Apameia Rhagiane)",
    "Pleiades 942286"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 164,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 266 – c. 400",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w170",
   "latin": "Bishapur (Veh-Shapur)",
   "greek": "",
   "other_names": "Weh-Shabuhr (Middle Persian); Bishapur (Persian/Arabic)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Bishapur ruins near Kazerun, Fars province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Fars",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Persis",
   "lat": 29.7776,
   "lon": 51.5709,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "922740",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 266,
   "greek_until": 400,
   "phases": [
    [
     266,
     400
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by Shapur I c. 266 and peopled in part with Roman captives (Chronicle of Seert).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Sasanian city and East-Syrian see; taken by the Arabs in the conquest of Fars (640s). Speech: no attestation of Greek speakers after the founding generation.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    300,
    640
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Roman-style floor mosaics and Greek letters on Shapur I's monument (3rd c.); nothing later.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: assimilation of the deportees' descendants; the city fell in the Arab conquest of Fars in the 640s.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "deportee city",
   "founder": "Shapur I (deportees)",
   "founder_group": "Sasanian kings (deportees)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Middle Persian",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Named by the Chronicle of Seert among the cities peopled with Shapur I's captives; Roman-style mosaics and Greek letters on Shapur I's monument point to Roman workmen.",
   "status_evidence": "Chronicle of Seert; Shapur I's inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam; royal city of Shapur I.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "yes",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Roman captives certainly worked there; a lasting Greek-speaking community is not directly attested.",
   "sources": [
    "Chronicle of Seert (PO 4)",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Deportations ii",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Bishapur",
    "Pleiades 922740"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 165,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. 200 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w188",
   "latin": "Calliope",
   "greek": "Καλλιόπη",
   "other_names": "Kalliope",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated, in western Parthia between the Caspian Gates and Hecatompylos (Semnan province)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Semnan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Parthia/Hyrcania",
   "lat": 35.55,
   "lon": 53.0,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": -200,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     -200
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Named by Appian (Syr. 57) among the cities Seleucus I founded in Parthia, with Soteira, Charis, Hecatompylos and Achaia; Pliny names it among the cities of Parthia (6.44) and places it with Issatis on the west side, short of the desert (6.113). No foundation date is recorded: the reign of Seleucus I (312-281 BC).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until Arsaces I's Parni took Parthia c. 238 BC; Antiochus III campaigned there in 209 BC (Polybius 10.28-31) but left the land to Arsaces II; then Parthian. Speech: nothing is known of the town after its foundation. The end is an estimate, as for Hecatompylos.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -238,
    0
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No inscriptions or coins; known only from Appian and Pliny.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Parthia was taken from the Seleucids by Arsaces I c. 238 BC; nothing is recorded of the town.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I (Appian, Syr. 57)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian, Syr. 57 (foundation of Seleucus I); Pliny 6.44, 6.113.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Unlocated: the point marks western Parthia, west of Hecatompylos, following Pliny. Earlier left out because Parthia spans north-eastern Iran and southern Turkmenistan; Pliny's placing puts it in Iran. The Muse's name is one of Seleucus' Greek names for new cities, not a dynastic name.",
   "sources": [
    "Appian, Syriaca 57",
    "Pliny, Natural History 6.44, 6.113",
    "Cohen 2013 (Parthia)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 166,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 25 BC – c. AD 1",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w154",
   "latin": "Chala",
   "greek": "Χάλα",
   "other_names": "Halwan/Hulwan (Arabic); Holwan (Syriac); Chalonitis, its district",
   "modern": "Sarpol-e Zahab",
   "modern_native": "سرپل ذهاب",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Sarpol-e Zahab, Kermanshah Province (Iran), near the Iraqi border",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Kermanshah",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Media",
   "lat": 34.4651,
   "lon": 45.8559,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "903043",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -25,
   "greek_until": 1,
   "phases": [
    [
     -25,
     1
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 3, late 1st c. BC) calls Chala 'a Greek city' in Chalonitis",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Known as Greek only from Isidore. Later Hulwan was a Sasanian and early Islamic town on the Khorasan road, with no attested Greek speakers.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    1,
    200
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Isidore 3 (late 1st c. BC/early 1st c. AD) is the only evidence",
   "ended_by": "No named act: no evidence after Isidore",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "unknown (probably Seleucid)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Isidore, Parthian Stations 3 ('a Greek city'); Cohen 2013",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Lies in Iran, just across the border from Iraq; included here because it sits on the road from Seleucia through Apolloniatis. The identification of Chala with Hulwan is usual but not certain.",
   "sources": [
    "Isidore of Charax, Parthian Stations 3",
    "Cohen 2013 (Chala)",
    "Pleiades 903043"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 167,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. 200 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w189",
   "latin": "Charis",
   "greek": "Χάρις",
   "other_names": "",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated, in the Seleucid satrapy of Parthia (Semnan or Razavi Khorasan province)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Semnan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Parthia/Hyrcania",
   "lat": 36.45,
   "lon": 55.0,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": -200,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     -200
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Named only by Appian (Syr. 57) among the cities Seleucus I founded in Parthia. No date is recorded: the reign of Seleucus I (312-281 BC).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until Arsaces I's Parni took Parthia c. 238 BC; Antiochus III campaigned there in 209 BC (Polybius 10.28-31) but left the land to Arsaces II; then Parthian. Speech: nothing is known of the town after its foundation. The end is an estimate, as for Hecatompylos.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -238,
    0
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Known only from Appian's list.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Parthia was taken from the Seleucids by Arsaces I c. 238 BC; nothing is recorded of the town.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I (Appian, Syr. 57)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian, Syr. 57 (foundation of Seleucus I).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Unlocated: the point marks the satrapy of Parthia, whose centre was Hecatompylos, in present-day Iran. Appian names it with Calliope and Hecatompylos; nothing places it in Turkmenistan. Known only from one list, the weakest case among the Parthian foundations.",
   "sources": [
    "Appian, Syriaca 57",
    "Cohen 2013 (Parthia)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 168,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 260 – c. 450",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w168",
   "latin": "Gundeshapur (Veh-Andiyok-Shapur)",
   "greek": "",
   "other_names": "Weh-Andiyok-Shabuhr, 'Shapur's better Antioch' (Middle Persian); Bet Lapat (Syriac); Bendosaboron (late Greek form); Jundaysabur (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Shahabad",
   "modern_native": "شاه‌آباد",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "village on site",
   "site": "Shahabad (Eslamabad) village near Dezful, Khuzestan province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Khuzestan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Susiana/Elymais",
   "lat": 32.2805,
   "lon": 48.5177,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "912873",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 260,
   "greek_until": 450,
   "phases": [
    [
     260,
     450
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by Shapur I for captives from Antioch (taken 253 and/or 260) and named 'Shapur's better Antioch'; the archaeology shows no earlier settlement.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Sasanian city, later capital of Khuzistan and East-Syrian metropolitan see of Bet Huzaye; surrendered to the Arabs c. 638. Speech: the deportees' Greek is not recorded after the founding generations; their descendants merged into the Syriac- and Persian-speaking Church of the East, and teaching in the city's school was in Syriac.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    350,
    638
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Chronicle of Seert on the Antiochene clergy and bishop Demetrianus (3rd c.); the synod of 410 already lists Bet Lapat as a Syriac see; no later attestation of Greek speakers.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: assimilation of the deportees' descendants; the city surrendered to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari's army c. 638.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "deportee city",
   "founder": "Shapur I (deportees)",
   "founder_group": "Sasanian kings (deportees)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "no known",
   "pre_evidence": "archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Syriac (Aramaic) and Middle Persian",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Founded for captives from Antioch; the Antiochene clergy elected a successor to their bishop Demetrianus there (Chronicle of Seert); deportee churches in Persis and Khuzistan used both Greek and Syriac.",
   "status_evidence": "Chronicle of Seert; Shapur I's inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam on the settlement of Roman captives; East-Syrian metropolitan see from 410.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "yes",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The Greek-speaking community is inferred from the Antiochene origin of the settlers and the Chronicle of Seert; how long it kept Greek is unknown.",
   "sources": [
    "Chronicle of Seert (PO 4)",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Deportations ii",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Gondesapur",
    "Pleiades 912873"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 169,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. 200 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w164",
   "latin": "Hecatompylos",
   "greek": "Ἑκατόμπυλος",
   "other_names": "Qumis/Komish (Persian/Arabic district name)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Shahr-e Qumis, between Semnan and Damghan, Semnan province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Semnan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Parthia/Hyrcania",
   "lat": 35.9611,
   "lon": 54.0383,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "942276",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": -200,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     -200
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Named by Appian (Syr. 57) among the cities founded by Seleucus I in Parthyene; Curtius (6.2.15) calls it 'founded by Greeks' when Alexander arrived there in 330 BC.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until Arsaces I's Parni took Parthyene c. 238 BC; Antiochus III recaptured Hecatompylos in 209 BC (Polybius 10.28) but left Parthia to Arsaces II; then a Parthian royal city. Speech: no evidence of a Greek-speaking community under Parthian rule.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -238,
    0
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No Greek inscriptions; the excavated remains at Shahr-e Qumis are Parthian.",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Arsaces I of Parthia c. 238 BC; retaken by Antiochus III in 209 BC and left to the Parthians; no later trace of Greeks.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I (Appian, Syr. 57)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Appian, Syr. 57 (foundation of Seleucus I); Curtius 6.2.15; Polybius 10.28; Strabo 11.9.1.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The identification with Shahr-e Qumis is widely accepted but not proven; Curtius' 'founded by Greeks' for 330 BC is likely anachronistic.",
   "sources": [
    "Appian, Syriaca 57",
    "Curtius 6.2.15",
    "Polybius 10.28",
    "Cohen 2013 (Hekatompylos)",
    "Pleiades 942276"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 170,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 290 BC – c. 148 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w162",
   "latin": "Heraclea in Media",
   "greek": "Ἡράκλεια ἡ πρὸς Ῥαγαῖς",
   "other_names": "Heraclea near Rhagai",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated, in the Rey/Tehran plain, Tehran province (region only)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Tehran",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Media",
   "lat": 35.45,
   "lon": 51.6,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "906012",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -290,
   "greek_until": -148,
   "phases": [
    [
     -290,
     -148
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Macedonian foundation near Rhagai (Strabo 11.13.6), early Seleucid period.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until the Parthian conquest of Media under Mithridates I (c. 148/147 BC). Speech: nothing is known of the city after its mention by Strabo.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -200,
    100
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "None; known only from Strabo.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Media conquered by Mithridates I of Parthia c. 148/147 BC.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Seleucus I or Antiochus I?",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 11.13.6 (one of the Greek cities founded by the Macedonians in Media).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Some link it with the Heraclea founded by Alexander and refounded by Antiochus as Achais (Pliny 6.48), which other sources put in Areia; the location is unknown and the point is a placeholder near Rhagai.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 11.13.6",
    "Cohen 2013 (Herakleia in Media)",
    "Pliny NH 6.48",
    "Pleiades 906012 (Barrington Atlas map 92, unlocated Herakleia)"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 171,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 270 BC – c. 148 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w160",
   "latin": "Laodicea in Media",
   "greek": "Λαοδίκεια",
   "other_names": "Niphaunda (Ptolemy); Nihavand (Middle Persian/Arabic); Mah al-Basra (early Islamic)",
   "modern": "Nahavand",
   "modern_native": "نهاوند",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Nahavand, Hamadan province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Hamadan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Media",
   "lat": 34.1889,
   "lon": 48.3769,
   "loc_certainty": "approximate",
   "pleiades": "903088",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -270,
   "greek_until": -148,
   "phases": [
    [
     -270,
     -148
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Founded by a King Antiochus (probably Antiochus I, 281-261 BC) and named after a queen Laodice; listed by Strabo (11.13.6) among the Macedonian foundations of Media.",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until Mithridates I of Parthia conquered Media c. 148/147 BC. Speech: the last evidence of the Greek city is the stele of 193 BC; nothing is known of it under Parthian rule.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -193,
    100
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Stele of 193 BC (Menedemos to the magistrates and city of Laodicea, with Antiochus III's edict for the cult of Queen Laodice); a short honorary inscription for Menedemos, governor of the Upper Satrapies; an Ionic capital.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Media conquered by Mithridates I of Parthia c. 148/147 BC; no later trace of the Greek community.",
   "city_type": "Greek city",
   "origin": "foundation by ruler",
   "bilingual_base": "",
   "founder": "Antiochus I? (Pliny: 'founded by Antiochus')",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "unrelated",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "",
   "bilingual_evidence": "",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 11.13.6; Pliny NH 6; Nehavend stele of 193 BC: Menedemos' covering letter to Apollodotos and to the city of Laodicea (its archons and the city), with Antiochus III's ordinance on the cult of Queen Laodice (Robert 1949; Axon 1.2, 2017)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "The stele, a chance find at Nahavand, fixes the location; the Kermanshah copy of the same edict comes from a different place.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 11.13.6",
    "Robert, Hellenica 7 (1949)",
    "Cohen 2013 (Laodikeia in Media)",
    "Iranohellenica: Nahavand (Laodicea)",
    "Pleiades 903088"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 172,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 250 BC – c. 100 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w190",
   "latin": "Qal'a-ye Sam",
   "greek": "",
   "other_names": "Qal'a-i Sam, Qaleh Sam",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Qal'a-ye Sam, south of Zahak, Sistan, Sistan and Baluchestan province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Sistan and Baluchestan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Drangiana (Sistan)",
   "lat": 30.4481,
   "lon": 61.5651,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "29729",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -250,
   "greek_until": -100,
   "phases": [
    [
     -250,
     -100
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "The walled site belongs to the post-Achaemenid and possibly Parthian period (Italian mission under Scerrato, 1959-61); the Greek ostraca date from its occupation, probably the 3rd-2nd c. BC (unchecked). The date is an estimate.",
   "date_basis": "archaeology",
   "date_precision": "century",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid, then probably Graeco-Bactrian, then Parthian; from the late 2nd c. BC Drangiana was settled by the Sakas (Sakastane). Speech: no Greek writing is known after the ostraca. The end is an estimate.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -200,
    1
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "The published ostraca (Pugliese Carratelli 1966, pp. 34-35); unpublished ones noted by Sherwin-White and Kuhrt.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: Drangiana passed to the Parthians and the Sakas; nothing is recorded of the site.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Drangian town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "unknown",
   "pre_evidence": "",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Iranian (Drangian; Parthian)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Greek ostraca written on the spot: five published, one of 12-13 lines (Pugliese Carratelli 1966), others unpublished.",
   "status_evidence": "Greek ostraca (Pugliese Carratelli 1966; Encyclopaedia Iranica, Epigraphy ii, under Drangiana/Sistan).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "Called a fortified site; whether it was a town, a fortress or a residence is debated (Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies). Admitted as uncertain because everyday Greek writing was found there, by the same rule as Ora and Emshi Tepe in the Central and South Asia set. If it was only a fort, it is a place where Greek speakers lived rather than a city.",
   "sources": [
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica, Epigraphy ii (Greek inscriptions from ancient Iran): https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/epigraphy-ii/",
    "Pugliese Carratelli, East and West 16 (1966), pp. 34-35",
    "Plan, form and function of a 'fortified' site in the Iranian Sistan (Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies): https://ijas.usb.ac.ir/article_6734.html",
    "Pleiades 29729"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 173,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 260 – c. 450",
   "period": "3 Rome and Parthia (63 BC - AD 329)",
   "id": "w169",
   "latin": "Rew-Ardashir",
   "greek": "",
   "other_names": "Rew-Ardaxshir (Middle Persian); Rishahr (Persian/Arabic); Ionaka? (Ptolemy, doubtful)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "ruins only",
   "site": "Rishahr, south of Bushehr city, Bushehr province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Bushehr",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Persis",
   "lat": 28.9119,
   "lon": 50.8367,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "922711",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": 260,
   "greek_until": 450,
   "phases": [
    [
     260,
     450
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Roman captives settled by Shapur I after his campaigns of 253-260 in a town founded by Ardashir I (Chronicle of Seert).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "decade",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Sasanian; metropolitan see of Fars from 424; taken by the Arabs in the early 640s. Speech: the 'Roman' church with Greek liturgy is recorded for the deportee generations only; later bishops of Rew-Ardashir worked in Syriac and Persian.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    350,
    643
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Chronicle of Seert on the Roman and Carmanian churches (3rd c.); metropolitan see of Fars at the synod of 424 (Syriac); no later attestation of Greek speakers.",
   "ended_by": "No named act: assimilation of the deportees' descendants; Uthman ibn Abi al-As defeated the governor Shahrak at Rishahr and took the town in the early 640s (al-Baladhuri).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "deportee city",
   "founder": "Ardashir I (town); Shapur I (deportees)",
   "founder_group": "Sasanian kings (deportees)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Rew-Ardaxshir (Middle Persian)",
   "pre_greek_note": "The town predates the arrival of the deportees by a few decades; earlier occupation on the Bushehr peninsula goes back to the Elamite period (Liyan).",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Syriac (Aramaic) and Middle Persian",
   "bilingual_evidence": "The Chronicle of Seert says the deportees built two churches there, one for the Romans and one for the Carmanians, with liturgy in Greek and Syriac.",
   "status_evidence": "Chronicle of Seert: a church of the Roman captives beside a church of the Carmanians, with the liturgy in Greek and in Syriac (the Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, 'Fars', calls the report of a Greek and Syriac liturgy in 3rd-c. Fars plausible); East-Syrian metropolitan see of Fars (424)",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "yes",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "The Hellenistic Antioch in Persis may have stood on the same peninsula; the two are kept apart because both sites are uncertain and the communities are five centuries apart. A second Rew-Ardashir/Reishahr, near Arrajan on the Fars-Khuzestan border, is also known; the metropolitan see and the deportee town are usually placed on the Bushehr peninsula.",
   "sources": [
    "Chronicle of Seert (PO 4)",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Deportations ii",
    "Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Fars",
    "Pleiades 922711"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 174,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. 148 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w163",
   "latin": "Rhagai (Europos)",
   "greek": "Ῥάγαι (Ῥάγα), Εὐρωπός",
   "other_names": "Ragā (Old Persian, Bisotun inscription); Rages (Book of Tobit); Europos (Seleucus I); Arsakia (Parthian); Ray/Rey (Persian, Arabic)",
   "modern": "Rey (Shahr-e Rey)",
   "modern_native": "ری",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Rey, south of Tehran, Tehran province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Tehran",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Media",
   "lat": 35.5943,
   "lon": 51.4472,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "903104",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": -148,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     -148
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Refounded by Seleucus I Nicator as Europos, c. 300 BC (Strabo 11.13.6).",
   "date_basis": "documented foundation",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until the Parthian conquest of Media under Mithridates I (c. 148/147 BC); the Parthians renamed the city Arsakia. Speech: no evidence of Greek speakers after the conquest; Isidore of Charax calls Rhaga the largest city of Media.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    -160,
    100
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "No Greek inscriptions known; the Parthian renaming Arsakia (Strabo 11.13.6).",
   "ended_by": "Taken by Mithridates I of Parthia c. 148/147 BC and renamed Arsakia; no later trace of Greeks.",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Median/Persian town",
   "founder": "Seleucus I",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Ragā (Old Persian, Bisotun inscription)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Persian",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Median/Persian (Iranian)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Refounded by Seleucus I as Europos, named after his Macedonian home town, and counted by Strabo among the Greek cities founded by the Macedonians; the old Median town of Ragā remained a large native centre.",
   "status_evidence": "Strabo 11.13.6 (founded by Nicator as Europos; Macedonian foundation); Isidore of Charax 7.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "probable",
   "note": "Classed bilingual because Europos was a refoundation of a large Median town; Strabo is the only evidence for the Macedonian settlers.",
   "sources": [
    "Strabo 11.13.6",
    "Isidore of Charax, Parthian Stations 7",
    "Cohen 2013 (Europos/Rhagai)",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Ray",
    "Pleiades 903104"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 175,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "209 BC – 209 BC",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w165",
   "latin": "Sirynx",
   "greek": "Σῦριγξ",
   "other_names": "Syrinx (manuscript variant)",
   "modern": "",
   "modern_native": "",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "lost/unlocated",
   "site": "unlocated, in ancient Hyrcania (Golestan or Mazandaran province)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Golestan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Parthia/Hyrcania",
   "lat": 36.8,
   "lon": 54.45,
   "loc_certainty": "region only",
   "pleiades": "",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -209,
   "greek_until": -209,
   "phases": [
    [
     -209,
     -209
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "First and only evidence: Greeks living in the city at Antiochus III's siege, 209 BC (Polybius 10.31); the community probably dated from the early Seleucid period.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "year",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Hyrcania was under the Parthians from c. 235 BC; Antiochus III took Sirynx in 209 BC and then left the region to Arsaces II. Speech: the Greek residents were massacred by the defenders before the city fell.",
   "until_basis": "destroyed/abandoned",
   "until_precision": "year",
   "until_range": null,
   "fade_evidence": "Polybius 10.31 (siege of 209 BC).",
   "ended_by": "The Greek residents were killed by the city's native and Parthian defenders during Antiochus III's siege, 209 BC (Polybius 10.31).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Median/Persian town",
   "founder": "",
   "founder_group": "none (native town)",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text",
   "pre_greek_name": "",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "",
   "name_via": "",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Hyrcanian/Parthian (Iranian)",
   "bilingual_evidence": "Polybius (10.31) says that when Antiochus III's siege was about to succeed, the native defenders killed the Greeks living in the city, a resident Greek community.",
   "status_evidence": "Polybius 10.31 (a strong city of Hyrcania with Greek residents).",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "uncertain",
   "note": "A Greek minority in a fortified Hyrcanian city; how large it was, and whether it ever formed a civic body, is unknown. Location unknown; the point marks the Hyrcanian plain.",
   "sources": [
    "Polybius 10.31",
    "Walbank, Historical Commentary on Polybius II, on 10.31"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  },
  {
   "no": 176,
   "list_group": "Iran",
   "dates_shown": "c. 300 BC – c. AD 100",
   "period": "2 Alexander and the kings (334-64 BC)",
   "id": "w157",
   "latin": "Susa (Seleucia on the Eulaios)",
   "greek": "Σοῦσα, Σελεύκεια ἡ πρὸς τῷ Εὐλαίῳ",
   "other_names": "Šušan/Šušun (Elamite); Shushan (Hebrew Bible); Seleucia on the Eulaios (Seleucid); 'the city of the Phraateans in Susa', after Phraates IV refounded it c. 31/30 BC (Greek inscriptions); Shush (Persian), al-Sus (Arabic)",
   "modern": "Shush",
   "modern_native": "شوش",
   "modern_alt": "",
   "modern_status": "city/town on site",
   "site": "Shush, Khuzestan province",
   "country": "Iran",
   "admin1": "Khuzestan",
   "cy_area": "",
   "ancient_region": "Susiana/Elymais",
   "lat": 32.1899,
   "lon": 48.2535,
   "loc_certainty": "secure",
   "pleiades": "912936",
   "tm_geo": "",
   "iacp": "",
   "greek_from": -300,
   "greek_until": 100,
   "phases": [
    [
     -300,
     100
    ]
   ],
   "greek_from_text": "Greco-Macedonian settlers under the early Seleucids; the city was refounded as Seleucia on the Eulaios by a Seleucid king (Seleucus I or Antiochus I?), the exact date uncertain; Greek inscriptions from the 3rd c. BC.",
   "date_basis": "first attestation as Greek city",
   "date_precision": "period",
   "town_from": null,
   "until_text": "Administration: Seleucid until c. 147-140 BC; Elymaean kings seized the city briefly and Mithridates I of Parthia took it from them c. 140 BC; Parthians held it to at least AD 45, then Elymaean kings from the later 1st c. AD; Sasanian from 224. Speech: the Greek polis kept its institutions under Parthian rule (Artabanus II confirmed the election of the city treasurer Hestiaios in AD 21), but Greek traditions weakened and disappeared under Elymaean rule from the later 1st c. AD (Encyclopaedia Iranica). No dated Greek inscription is later than the early 1st c. AD.",
   "until_basis": "gradual language shift",
   "until_precision": "approximate (several centuries)",
   "until_range": [
    45,
    250
   ],
   "fade_evidence": "Greek dedications and manumissions of the 2nd-1st c. BC; two epigrams for the irrigation official Zamaspes (first decade of the 1st c. AD); letter of Artabanus II to the magistrates, December AD 21 (SEG 7.1); a Greek hymn to Apollo of the 1st c. AD; no later dated Greek text (Encyclopaedia Iranica: Epigraphy ii).",
   "ended_by": "No named act ended Greek speech. Taken by Mithridates I of Parthia c. 140 BC; Greek civic life faded after the Elymaean kings took Susa in the later 1st c. AD; taken by the Sasanian Ardashir I in 224; razed by Shapur II in the 4th c. (Syriac and Arabic tradition).",
   "city_type": "bilingual city",
   "origin": "bilingual city",
   "bilingual_base": "Elamite town",
   "founder": "a Seleucid king (refoundation as Seleucia; Seleucus I or Antiochus I?)",
   "founder_group": "Seleucids",
   "metropolis": "",
   "refounded_by": "",
   "pre_settlement": "yes",
   "pre_evidence": "text+archaeology",
   "pre_greek_name": "Šušan/Šušun (Elamite; Akkadian Šušan); Šūšan (Hebrew Bible)",
   "pre_greek_note": "",
   "name_continues": "pre-Greek name",
   "name_via": "Persian",
   "bilingual_period": "",
   "other_language": "Aramaic and the local Elamite/Iranian speech of the native population",
   "bilingual_evidence": "A Greek polis (Seleucia on the Eulaios) with council, assembly, archons, treasurers and gymnasium, living beside a large native population with Iranian, Semitic and Elamite names; about fifty Greek inscriptions (dedications, manumissions to Nanaia, epigrams).",
   "status_evidence": "Greek civic institutions (boule, archons, treasurers, gymnasium) in Greek inscriptions (Rougemont, IGIAC 1-50); letter of Artabanus II to the city, AD 21; Seleucid mint.",
   "counted_by_see_rule": "",
   "deportee_city": "",
   "certainty": "secure",
   "note": "Greek polis inside a large native town; classed bilingual. The Greek community lasted at least into the early 1st c. AD.",
   "sources": [
    "Cohen 2013 (Seleukeia on the Eulaios)",
    "Rougemont 2012, IGIAC 1-50",
    "Encyclopaedia Iranica: Susa iv",
    "SEG 7.1",
    "Pleiades 912936"
   ],
   "refoundations": ""
  }
 ],
 "left_out": [
  {
   "name": "Enkomi (Late Bronze Age town; Alashiya?)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Late Bronze Age town abandoned c. 1075-1050 BC, when Salamis was founded nearby. Aegean pottery and 12th-c. rebuilding are often linked to Aegean settlers, but its texts are in Cypro-Minoan, not Greek; no positive evidence of Greek speech. Its successor Salamis is listed.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Maa-Palaeokastro",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Short-lived fortified settlement of c. 1200 BC on a headland north of Paphos, sometimes attributed to Aegean newcomers; a stronghold, not a city, and no Greek text.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Pyla-Kokkinokremos",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Short-lived fortified hilltop settlement of c. 1200 BC with Aegean-type pottery; a stronghold, not a city, and no Greek text.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hala Sultan Tekke",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Large Late Bronze Age harbour town abandoned in the 12th c. BC; no Greek evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Late Bronze Age town abandoned c. 1200 BC; Cypro-Minoan texts; no Greek evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Vouni",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Palace of the 5th c. BC above the bay of Soloi, burnt c. 380 BC; a royal residence, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Palaea (between Kition and Amathus)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Strabo 14.6.3 calls it 'a small town' (polichnion); site unknown; no civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Arsinoe near Paphos",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Strabo 14.6.3 names it only as a place with a landing, between Zephyrion and Hierokepis; no civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hierokepis (Geroskipou)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "The sacred garden of Aphrodite near Paphos (Strabo 14.6.3); a sanctuary and village, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Leukolla",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "A harbour between Arsinoe and Cape Pedalion (Strabo 14.6.3); no town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Thronoi",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Cape (and perhaps a small place) on the south-east coast in the geographers; no civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kinyreia",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Named by Pliny (NH 5.130) among the lost towns of Cyprus; unlocated, no evidence beyond the name.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Epidaurum",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Named by Pliny (NH 5.130) among the towns of Cyprus; unlocated and otherwise unknown.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Lefkara",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Seat of the Greek bishop of Amathus/Limassol from 1260 to 1571 under the Latin settlement (Bulla Cypria); a large village, not a city or a see in its own right before 1260.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Solea (seat of the Greek bishop of Soloi/Nicosia)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Valley of villages where the Greek bishop of Soloi resided from 1260; no town.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Morphou",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Medieval village with the monastery of Agios Mamas; a town only in modern times.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kolossi",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Hospitaller commandery and castle of the 13th-15th c.; not a town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kantara, Buffavento and St Hilarion",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Medieval castles of the Kyrenia range; forts, not towns.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Makaria",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Coastal place on the north coast in the geographers; no civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Lambousa",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Not a separate city: the late antique coastal town of Lapethos (listed under Lapethos).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Episkopi",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Not a separate city: the 7th-c. successor of Kourion, which kept its see (listed under Kourion).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tell Sukas (Šuksu)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A native coastal town (Ugaritic Šuksu) with a Greek community, Greek sanctuary and cremation burials c. 675-552 BC (Riis); no evidence that it was a self-governing Greek polis, and the Greek phase ended with a destruction c. 552 BC. A trading settlement inside a Phoenician/Aramaean town; reject as a city, but a serious candidate.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Chalcis sub Libano (Anjar / Majdal Anjar)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "Capital of the Ituraean principality (Ptolemy son of Mennaeus, Lysanias) and of Herod of Chalcis (41-48). The Greek coins of the tetrarchs are royal issues. City coins of 'Flavia Chalcis' (era of AD 92, Trajan to Marcus Aurelius) were once given to this Chalcis (Wildwinds still does) but RPC III assigns them to Chalcis ad Belum; the site is uncertain (Anjar or Majdal Anjar) and no see is known. Not enough positive evidence of a Greek-speaking civic community.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Carne / Karnos",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "The naval station (epineion) of Aradus (Strabo 16.2.12; Pliny 5.79); a harbour of the Aradian state, not a separate city; no civic coinage or see.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Enhydra",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A small place of the Aradian mainland (Strabo 16.2.12); no civic status known.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Simyra (Tell Kazel?)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Bronze and Iron Age town (Ṣumur); Strabo and Pliny still name Simyra, and Tell Kazel has Hellenistic levels, but there is no civic coinage, see or Greek civic evidence. Reject; identification with Tell Kazel is also debated.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Baetocaece (Hosn Suleiman)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A temple estate and village of Zeus of Baetocaece in the territory of Aradus; Greek royal and imperial letters and a Greek-speaking village community are attested, but it was a sanctuary-village, not a city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Trieres",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A fortified place taken by Antiochus III in 218 BC (Polybius 5.68); a fort or village, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Gigarta",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A stronghold of the Ituraean brigands in Strabo 16.2.18 and a name in Pliny; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kalamos (Qalamoun)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A village or fort taken by Antiochus III in 218 BC (Polybius 5.68); no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Theouprosopon (Ras Chekka)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A promontory with a fort (Strabo 16.2.15-18); the 551 earthquake caused a landslide here; not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Palaebyblos",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A place named by Strabo 16.2.19 between Byblos and Berytus; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ornithopolis ('Ornithon polis')",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "Named as a small town between Tyre and Sidon by Pseudo-Scylax, Strabo 16.2.24 and Pliny 5.76; location uncertain; no coins, see or Greek civic evidence. A Phoenician town of the Sidonian territory.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Leontopolis (Leonton polis)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "Named by Strabo 16.2.22 between Berytus and Sidon; unlocated; no civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Palaetyrus (Ras el-Ain / Ušû)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "The mainland settlement of Tyre; in Greek and Roman times part of the territory of Tyre, not a separate city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Umm el-Amed",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A Phoenician town of the Persian and Hellenistic periods with Phoenician inscriptions; abandoned in the 1st c. BC; no Greek civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Aphaca (Afqa)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "Sanctuary of Aphrodite Aphakitis, destroyed under Constantine; a sanctuary, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Niha (Hosn Niha)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "Temple village of the Bekaa with Greek and Latin inscriptions; a village sanctuary.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Qalaat Faqra",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "Sanctuary with Greek inscriptions of the Ituraean and Roman periods (Agrippa II); not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Gerrha (Anjar)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "An Ituraean fort named by Strabo 16.2.18; the Umayyad town of Anjar (c. 714) was founded after the conquest. Not a Greek city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Antiochia sub Libano",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "reason": "A name in Pliny 5.77 (Antiochia Libani); unlocated; a dynastic name with no other evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mons Casius sanctuary (Jebel Aqra)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A mountain sanctuary of Zeus Kasios on the Turkish-Syrian border; not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Leukos Limen (Minet el-Beida)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "The Bronze Age harbour of Ugarit; no Greek city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Seleucia Pieria",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Antioch on the Orontes",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here (Antakya, Hatay).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Rhosus",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Al Mina",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Iamnia Paralios (Yavne-Yam), harbour of Iamnia",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Harbour town of Iamnia. A community of Sidonians there received a Greek letter of Antiochus V in 163 BC, and Pliny and Ptolemy speak of two Iamnias, but the harbour never appears as a city or see of its own in Hierocles or the church lists; counted with Iamnia.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Maiumas of Ascalon",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Harbour of Ascalon; in late antiquity one of the three municipal districts of Ascalon's territory (with Diocletianopolis), but no see or civic coinage of its own is securely attested, unlike Maiumas of Gaza (Constantia).",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Shechem (Tell Balata)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Samaritan town of the Hellenistic period, destroyed by John Hyrcanus c. 107 BC. The petition of the 'Sidonians in Shechem' to Antiochus IV (Josephus AJ 12.258-264) is of disputed authenticity, and there are no Greek civic institutions, coins or inscriptions of residents. Flavia Neapolis, founded nearby in 72, is listed as a city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Mount Gerizim (Samaritan temple town)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Samaritan sanctuary and town; its inscriptions are mainly Aramaic and Hebrew; destroyed by John Hyrcanus c. 111 BC. A sanctuary town without Greek civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Phasaelis",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Founded by Herod for his brother Phasael (Josephus AJ 16.145), but it was a palm-grove estate town in the Jordan valley with no Greek civic institutions, coins or inscriptions of residents; a village on the Madaba map.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Nessana (Nitzana)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A village with a fort and a military unit; its Greek papyri (6th c. to c. 690) are key evidence for the end of Greek in the Negev, but it was not a city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Sobata (Shivta)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A village (kome) in the Nessana papyri, with churches and Greek inscriptions; no civic status.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Oboda (Avdat)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Nabataean cult centre and late Roman town with Greek inscriptions, but not a city or see in Hierocles or the church lists.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Rehovot-in-the-Negev (Ruhayba)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Large Negev village with churches and Greek inscriptions; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Beersheba (Berosaba)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Garrison town and 'very large village' (Eusebius, Onomasticon), known for the Greek tax edict of the 6th c.; no city status or see is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Arethusa (Josephus AJ 14.75)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A town Pompey restored, unlocated and possibly a confusion with Arethusa in Syria.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Magdala-Taricheae",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Jewish toparchy town with a Greek name and a hippodrome (Josephus BJ 2.599); no Greek civic institutions or coins; taken by Vespasian in 67 and later a village.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Beth She'arim (Besara)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Jewish town and necropolis with many Greek epitaphs (3rd-4th c.), largely of Jews brought from the diaspora for burial; a large village, not a city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Kedesh (Kadasa)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Tyrian village with a Persian and Hellenistic administrative building and Greek seal impressions of officials; officials do not make a Greek town and it had no civic status.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Ekdippa (Achzib)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Phoenician town, later a Roman village and road station; no Greek civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Sycaminum (Tel Shiqmona)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Called a polis by Strabo (16.2.27) but later a village (Eusebius); no civic institutions, coins or see.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Crocodilon polis (Tel Tanninim)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Listed by Strabo and Pliny; a small coastal settlement with no Greek civic evidence, already defunct by Pliny's time.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tel Anafa",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Rich Hellenistic building with Greek finds in the Hula valley, an estate or administrative centre, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Beth Zur (Bethsoura)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Hellenistic and Hasmonaean fortress.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mesad Hashavyahu",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Coastal fort of the late 7th c. BC with East Greek pottery, probably of Greek mercenaries; a fort, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tel Kabri",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "East Greek pottery of the 7th c. BC at a Phoenician site; trade or mercenaries, not a Greek city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Bitylion",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A see of Palaestina I, but the site (Sheikh Zuweid) lies in North Sinai, Egypt, outside the area.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hebron",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Idumaean and Jewish town, a village in late antiquity (Eusebius); no Greek civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Bethlehem",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Village with the basilica of the Nativity; not a see before the Crusades.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Nazareth",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Jewish village; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kapharnaoum (Capernaum)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Jewish village with a synagogue; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Gophna and the other Jewish toparchy capitals (Thamna, Acraba, Herodium, Engaddi, Narbata)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "District capitals of Judaea and Samaria, Jewish towns and forts speaking Aramaic and Hebrew; no Greek civic institutions; Gophna was a village later.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Atabyrion (Mount Tabor)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Hilltop fortress taken by Antiochus III (Polybius 5.70.6); a fort.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tel Dan (Laish-Dan)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Sanctuary with a Greek and Aramaic dedication 'to the god who is in Dan' (2nd c. BC); a cult site, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Eitha (Hit)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A large Hauran village with Greek inscriptions (a strategos in 232; church of St Sergius 354/355), but neither polis status nor a bishop is securely attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Gamala",
   "country": "Golan Heights",
   "reason": "Jewish town of the Gaulanitis destroyed by Vespasian in 67; no Greek civic institutions.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Seleucia (Gaulanitis)",
   "country": "Golan Heights",
   "reason": "A fortified village held by Josephus in 66-67 (BJ 4.2); the dynastic name alone is not evidence of a polis.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Sogane (Gaulanitis)",
   "country": "Golan Heights",
   "reason": "Fortified village in Josephus (BJ 2.574, 4.4); not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hippos (Sussita)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A Greek city of the Decapolis, but its site lies west of the 1967 line on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee and belongs to the Israel & Palestine group.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Admedera (Dumayr)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Road station and Roman fort with a temple on the Damascus-Palmyra road; not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ma'loula and Saidnaya",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Aramaic-speaking villages and monasteries; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Si' (Seeia)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Nabataean and Roman sanctuary near Canatha with Greek and Nabataean inscriptions; a sanctuary, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Salkhad (Salcha)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Nabataean town and later fortress of the Jabal al-Arab; no polis status or see attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mothana (Imtan)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Hauran village with Greek and Nabataean inscriptions and a cavalry post; a village.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hauran villages with Greek inscriptions (e.g. Shaqra, Sha'ara, Hebran, Inkhil, Sheikh Miskin)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Villages and metrokomiai with Greek inscriptions of their residents, but never poleis or sees.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Arbela (Irbid)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "A large village in the territory of the Decapolis cities (Eusebius); no polis status or see attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Amathus (Tell Ammata)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "A Hasmonean stronghold and one of Gabinius' five councils (57 BC); a Jewish town without evidence of Greek speakers, and a village in Eusebius.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Tyros (Iraq al-Amir)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "The palace and estate (Birta) of the Tobiad Hyrcanus, 2nd century BC; a residence, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Abila of Peraea (Tall al-Kafrayn)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "A village (Abel-shittim) in the Jordan Valley; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Umm al-Jimal",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "A large town of the late Roman Hauran with many churches and Greek inscriptions, but neither polis status nor a bishop is attested; its ancient name (Thantia?) is uncertain.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Kastron Mefaa (Umm ar-Rasas)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "A fort and Christian village with Greek mosaic inscriptions to 756; not a city or see.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Rihab, Ziza and Mount Nebo",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "Christian villages, a fort and a monastic sanctuary with Greek inscriptions; not cities.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Machaerus and Callirrhoe",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "Herodian fortress and spa; not cities.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hauarra (Humayma)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "Nabataean foundation of Aretas III and a Roman fort; a village and garrison post, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mahoza (Babatha's village)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "A village in the district of Zoara; its Greek documents are counted under Zoara.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Betthorus (Lejjun) and other legionary forts of the limes Arabicus",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "Legionary and auxiliary forts; not cities.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Karnaim (Sheikh Saad) and Ashtaroth (Tell Ashtara)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Biblical towns of Bashan that were villages in the Roman period (Eusebius); no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Aphek (Fiq) and Qasrin",
   "country": "Golan Heights",
   "reason": "Villages of the Gaulanitis (a Jewish village with a synagogue at Qasrin); no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Qasr al-Hallabat, Azraq and Deir al-Kahf",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "Roman forts of the desert frontier; not cities.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dibon (Dhiban)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "reason": "Moabite town that was a large village in the Roman period (Eusebius); no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Europos (Carchemish, Jerablus/Karkamış)",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "Straddles the border: the citadel and inner town of Carchemish, where the Hellenistic and Roman Europos stood, lie on the Turkish side (Karkamış); only the outer town reaches Jerablus in Syria. A Seleucid foundation and later see of Euphratensis, so it lies in present-day Turkey.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Nisibis (Nusaybin; modern Qamishli opposite)",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here: the ruins are in Nusaybin, Turkey. Qamishli on the Syrian side is a 20th-c. town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dara / Anastasiopolis",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here (Oğuz, Mardin).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Constantina / Tella (Viranşehir)",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Carrhae (Harran)",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Batnae (Suruç)",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Zeugma / Seleucia on the Euphrates",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Androna (al-Andarin)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A large late antique kome with over 50 Greek inscriptions (baths, kastron of 558); never a city or see.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Occaraba",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Station and garrison post (Notitia Dignitatum) east of Hama; no secure evidence of a see or civic status found.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Theleda",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A village with monasteries in the limestone massif; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Paradeisos / Triparadeisos (near Jusiyah)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A Persian and Seleucid royal park (the partition of Triparadeisos, 321 BC) and a town of the Laodicene in Pliny (NH 5.82) and Ptolemy; no Greek civic evidence.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Heraclea (Cyrrhestice)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Seleucid name known from Ptolemy and Stephanus; unlocated and with no further evidence of a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Thannuris (Tell Tuneinir)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Fort on the Khabur (Procopius, Buildings 2.6); no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tetrapyrgium (Qseir as-Saile)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Fort on the road to Sergiopolis; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dead Cities of the limestone massif (al-Bara, Serjilla, Ruweiha, Telanissos/Deir Sim'an and others)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Large villages and a pilgrimage centre with many Greek inscriptions; none was a city or see before the conquest.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Arra (Ma'arrat al-Nu'man)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Road station and village in late antiquity; a town only in the Arab period.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Litarba (al-Atarib)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Village and road station; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Nazala (al-Qaryatayn)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Road station and village on the Damascus-Palmyra road; no civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Batnae (Cyrrhestice, near al-Bab)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Julian (Ep. 98) stayed at this Batnae between Beroea and Hierapolis in 363 and called it a place with a barbarian name but Greek in character; a village or estate, not a city. Not the Batnae of Osrhoene (Suruç, in Turkey).",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Megara, Apollonia, Kasiana and Lysias (Apamene)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Greek-named settlements and forts that Strabo (16.2.10) lists as dependent on Apamea; unlocated or forts, with no civic status of their own.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Unlocated Seleucid names in Appian Syr. 57 (Maronea, Callipolis, Achaea, Oropus, Perinthus, Tegea, Heraea, Astacus)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Appian lists them among Seleucus I's Greek-named cities in Syria and beyond; none is located, so none can be mapped.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ctesiphon (Ktesiphon)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Parthian royal winter residence, built up as a 'very large village' beside Seleucia so that the Parthian troops need not be quartered in the Greek city (Strabo 16.1.16); later the Sasanian capital. No Greek civic institutions or resident Greek-speaking community of its own is attested; the Greek community of the twin cities lived in Seleucia. In 614 Khosrow II brought some 35,000 captives from Jerusalem to Ctesiphon (Sebeos), a captive group in a Persian and Aramaic capital. A royal residence, not a Greek city; the deportee city of Antioch of Khosrow nearby is entered separately.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Veh-Ardashir (Coche)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Sasanian city founded by Ardashir I c. 230 beside the deserted Seleucia; Persian, Aramaic and Jewish; seat of the catholicos of the Church of the East (Syriac). No Greek-speaking community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Buzurg-Shapur (Ukbara)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Town of Shapur I north of Ctesiphon, listed among the places where he settled Roman captives (Encyclopaedia Iranica, Deportations). Unlike Gundeshapur and Rew-Ardashir, where the Chronicle of Seert reports separate Greek and Syriac churches, no Greek-speaking community is attested here.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Shadh-Shapur (Dayr Mikhraq, Mesene)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Town of Shapur I in Mesene, listed among the places where he settled Roman captives (Encyclopaedia Iranica, Deportations); unlocated, and no Greek-speaking community is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Vologesias",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Parthian royal foundation of Vologases I near Babylon; caravan town of Palmyrene traders (Aramaic); no Greek civic community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Opis",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Babylonian town (Akkadian Upi) where Alexander's army mutinied in 324 BC; superseded by Seleucia; no Greek community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Sittake",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Persian-period city (Xenophon, Anab. 2.4.13) that gave its name to Sittakene; no Greek evidence; the Greek city of the district was Artemita (or Apollonia).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Neapolis on the Euphrates",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Greek-named place on the Euphrates near the Royal Canal in Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 1); no other evidence of Greek settlers or civic institutions; unlocated. Possibly a Seleucid foundation, but the name is the only evidence.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Laodicea in Mesopotamia",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Pliny (6.117) lists a Laodicea with Seleucia and Artemita among the towns of Mesopotamia; unlocated and known only by its dynastic name, which is not enough by itself.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Apamea in Sittakene",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Pliny names a second Apamea, surrounded by the Tigris and divided by the Archous, in Sittakene; unlocated, known only by its dynastic name, and possibly a doublet of Apamea in Mesene, which is entered.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Borsippa",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Babylonian temple town of Nabu; Antiochus I rebuilt the Ezida and recorded it in Akkadian (Antiochus cylinder, 268 BC); no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Nippur",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Babylonian temple town, a Parthian fortress and town; no Greek civic community or Greek-speaking residents attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Larisa (Nimrud, Kalhu)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Deserted Assyrian capital that Xenophon calls Larisa (Anab. 3.4.7); later only a village; no Greek city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Karka d-Beth Slokh (Kirkuk)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Ancient Arrapha. The Syriac History of Karka d-Beth Slokh credits a king Seleucus with building its walls, and the name may contain his name, but no Greek inscription, coin or settler is known; a later legend is not evidence. Its Church of the East see was Syriac. It has been suggested as the site of Demetrias, which is entered separately.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Arbela (Erbil)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Capital of Adiabene; Aramaic-speaking; its Church of the East see was Syriac. No Greek civic institutions or Greek-speaking community attested. The Greek city of Demetrias lay nearby.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Assur",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Parthian-period city with Aramaic inscriptions; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hatra",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Arab-ruled Aramaic-speaking city of the 1st-3rd c. AD with hundreds of Aramaic inscriptions; Greek and Latin appear only in a handful of texts, the Latin ones from the Roman garrison of the 230s. Left out by the rule for places where Greek was only the language of officials or a garrison; destroyed by Shapur I c. 240.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Singara",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Roman colonia (Aurelia Septimia Singara) and base of legio I Parthica from Septimius Severus; its coins under Gordian III have Latin legends; the townspeople spoke Aramaic. No resident Greek-speaking community attested. Taken by Shapur II in 360 and its people deported (Ammianus 20.6).",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Anatha (Ana)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Island fortress on the Euphrates (Isidore 1); Roman garrison in the 3rd c.; surrendered to Julian in 363 and its people resettled in Syria (Ammianus 24.1.6-9). A fort, not a Greek city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Is (Hit, Aipolis)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Bitumen town on the Euphrates (Herodotus 1.179; Isidore 1); Aramaic; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Peroz-Shapur (Pirisabora, Anbar)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Sasanian fortified city, burned by Julian in 363 (Ammianus 24.2.9-22); Aramaic, Persian and Jewish population; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "al-Hira",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Capital of the Lakhmid Arab kings; Christian Arabs with a Syriac church; no Greek-speaking community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Teredon (Diridotis)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Babylonian port at the head of the Gulf (Strabo 16.3.2); Arrian (Ind. 41) calls Diridotis a village; trading place without civic status or Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Forat (Perat d-Maishan)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Trading town of Characene (Pliny 6.145); Church of the East see (Syriac); no Greek evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Nisibis",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkey; not counted here.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ikaros (Failaka)",
   "country": "Kuwait",
   "reason": "Seleucid fortress with temples and a settlement on Failaka island. Greek inscriptions: a dedication of Soteles the Athenian and the soldiers to Zeus Soter, Poseidon and Artemis Soteira, and a stele with a letter of the Seleucid official Ikadion to Anaxarchos and Anaxarchos' covering letter to the inhabitants of Ikaros (3rd c. BC), on the island's sanctuary and its inhabitants' privileges. A garrison and a dependent settlement, without evidence of civic status; the Hellenistic occupation ended around the 1st c. BC.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Tylos (Bahrain)",
   "country": "Bahrain",
   "reason": "Island under Seleucid and then Characene rule; a Greek dedication by Kephisodoros, strategos of Tylos and the islands, for King Hyspaosines (c. 130 BC) and a few Greek epitaphs show officials and some Greek usage, but the people spoke Aramaic and Arabic and no city with Greek civic status is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Gerrha (Thaj?)",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Arab trading city of the Gulf coast (Strabo 16.3.3; Polybius 13.9, visit of Antiochus III in 205 BC); coins with Aramaic and Hasaitic legends; no Greek community. Its site (Thaj or near Hofuf) is disputed.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Hegra (Mada'in Salih)",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Nabataean city; after 106 a Roman garrison town, with a Latin building inscription of 175-177 naming the civitas Hegrenorum. The people spoke Arabic and wrote Nabataean Aramaic; Greek is barely attested. No Greek-speaking civic community.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Leuke Kome",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Nabataean harbour on the Red Sea with a Roman customs post and a centurion (Periplus 19); a trading post; site uncertain (perhaps near al-Wajh or Aynunah).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dedan (al-Ula)",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Dadanite and Lihyanite kingdom capital; North Arabian and Aramaic inscriptions; no Greek.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Najran",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Christian Arab city of South Arabia, known from the martyrs of 523 (Greek and Syriac hagiography); its people spoke Arabic and Sabaic; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ampelone",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Pliny (6.159) lists 'Ampelome, a colony of the Milesians' among Arabian towns; unlocated and otherwise unknown, probably a garbled report. No evidence.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Eudaimon Arabia (Aden)",
   "country": "Yemen",
   "reason": "Harbour town of the Periplus (26); in the 4th c. a church for Roman merchants (Philostorgius 3.4); a trading place with visiting Greek-speaking merchants, without a Greek civic community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kane (Qana, Bir Ali)",
   "country": "Yemen",
   "reason": "Hadrami frankincense port (Periplus 27); Mediterranean traders visited; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Zafar",
   "country": "Yemen",
   "reason": "Himyarite capital; a church built by Theophilus the Indian under Constantius II (Philostorgius 3.4); Sabaic and Arabic; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dioskourides (Socotra)",
   "country": "Yemen",
   "reason": "The Periplus (30) says the few inhabitants were a mixture of Arabs, Indians and Greeks who had come to trade; Greek graffiti of sailors in the Hoq cave (1st-3rd c. AD); Cosmas Indicopleustes (c. 550, Christian Topography 3.65) says the islanders spoke Greek, descended from settlers sent by the Ptolemies, with clergy ordained in Persia. A Greek-speaking community is thus attested, but the island had no city or civic status and was ruled from the Hadrami kingdom.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Sumhuram (Khor Rori, Moscha Limen)",
   "country": "Oman",
   "reason": "Hadrami fortified port of the frankincense trade (Periplus 32); South Arabian inscriptions; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "ed-Dur (Omana?)",
   "country": "UAE",
   "reason": "Coastal town with Roman glass, coins and pottery and Aramaic inscriptions; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mleiha",
   "country": "UAE",
   "reason": "Inland town of the 3rd c. BC-3rd c. AD; local coins of Abiel imitate Alexander's tetradrachms with Aramaic legends; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tayma",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "North Arabian oasis town (residence of Nabonidus); Aramaic and Taymanitic inscriptions; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mouza (Muza)",
   "country": "Yemen",
   "reason": "Red Sea port of the Periplus (21, 24) with Arab merchants and visiting ships; a trading place without Greek residents or civic status.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ardericca (Eretrian deportees in Kissia)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Darius I settled the Eretrians captured in 490 BC on a royal estate (stathmos) called Ardericca in Kissia, 210 stades from Susa; Herodotus (6.119) says they still kept their old language in his day, and Philostratus (VA 1.23-24) has Apollonius visit their descendants in the 1st c. AD. A Greek-speaking community, but a village on a royal estate, not a city; site unlocated (Barrington 93).",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Ampe (Milesian deportees)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Darius I settled the Milesians deported in 494 BC at Ampe on the Erythraean Sea near the mouth of the Tigris (Hdt. 6.20). A deportee settlement with no evidence of civic status or later Greek speech; unlocated (Barrington 93), possibly in Iraq.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Avroman (Kuh-e Salan parchments)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Greek parchments of 88/87 and 22/21 BC record land sales between local people with Iranian names in a village of Hawraman; Greek as a documentary language in a village, not a city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Persepolis (Parsa)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Royal and ritual centre. Greek finds are graffiti of Greek quarrymen (6th-5th c. BC), a Greek tablet of c. 500 BC in the royal archive, and a few later dedications: Greek craftsmen and officials, no Greek city or civic community.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Istakhr",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Persian city (Sasanian dynastic centre); a single Greek document; no Greek-speaking community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Pasargadae",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Achaemenid royal site; Greek only in isolated finds.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kangavar (Concobar)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Isidore of Charax 6: a temple of Artemis; sanctuary and station, not a Greek city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Bisotun (Bagistana)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Herakles relief dedicated by Hyakinthos son of Pantauchos in 148 BC for the viceroy Kleomenes, and Parthian royal reliefs of Mithridates II and Gotarzes II with Greek legends: Greek of officials at a sanctuary and road station.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Kermanshah (copy of Antiochus III's Laodice edict)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Findspot (region) of a copy of Antiochus III's edict of 193 BC and of a lost Greek epitaph of Eumenes son of Demetrios; a Greek official text and one Greek burial, but no Greek city known there.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Khurha",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Hellenistic/Parthian temple with Ionic columns; a sanctuary, not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Karafto cave",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Cave with a Greek inscription invoking Herakles; not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Shami",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Elymaean sanctuary (bronze statue of a Parthian prince); Greek used by the Elymaean court only.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Masjed-e Soleyman",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Elymaean terrace sanctuary; no Greek civic community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Bard-e Neshandeh",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Elymaean terrace sanctuary; no Greek civic community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Izeh/Malamir and Tang-e Sarvak (Elymaean reliefs)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Elymaean royal centre and rock reliefs with Elymaic Aramaic inscriptions; Greek only on royal coins.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Qal'a-ye Yazdegerd",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Parthian mountain stronghold and palace; not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tall-e Zahhak (Fasa)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Settlement mound with an isolated Hellenistic Greek find; no Greek city attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kharg (Arakia)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Island with Parthian-period tombs and a Christian monastery; no Greek town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Harmozeia (Hormuz)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Coastal district where Nearchus met Alexander (Arrian, Ind. 33); no Greek settlement.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Mesambria (Persis coast)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Peninsula on the Persian coast named by Nearchus (Arrian, Ind. 39); a Greek rendering of a local name, no Greek settlement.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tabai (Persis)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Place where Antiochus IV died in 164 BC (Polybius 31.9); no evidence of a Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Aspadana/Gabai (Isfahan)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Persian royal residence; no Greek community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Gazaka/Ganzak (Atropatene)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Capital of Atropatene and later Sasanian fire temple centre; no Greek community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Zadracarta (Hyrcania)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Hyrcanian capital where Alexander camped (Arrian 3.25); no Greek community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tambrax (Hyrcania)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Unwalled Hyrcanian city with a palace, taken by Antiochus III in 209 BC (Polybius 10.31); no Greek residents mentioned.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Seleucia on the Erythraean Sea",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "A Greek polis named in the Magnesian dossier of c. 205 BC, but unlocated: it may lie in Iraq (Mesene) or on the Iranian or Arabian shore of the Gulf. Not placed in Iran without a site.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Alexandria in Persis",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Listed in the Magnesian dossier (OGIS 233) according to Encyclopaedia Iranica; location and history unknown.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Achaia/Achais",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Seleucid foundation (Appian, Syr. 57; Strabo 11.10.1 places Achaia in Areia; Pliny 6.48 has Heraclea refounded as Achais), in present-day Afghanistan or Turkmenistan: counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Shushtar (Tostar)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Shapur II settled Roman captives there (Encyclopaedia Iranica, Deportations ii), and tradition links the Band-e Kaisar dam to Valerian's army; the captives came mainly from Syriac-speaking Mesopotamian towns and no Greek-speaking community is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Eranshahr-Shapur (Karkha de Ledan, Ivan-e Karkheh)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Built by Shapur II near Susa for deportees from Bezabde, Singara and Amida (359-360); the deportees were mainly Syriac-speaking and no Greek-speaking community is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Veh-az-Amid-Kavad (Ram-Kavad, Arrajan)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Founded by Kavad I for the captives of Amida (502/503), more than 80,000 by Joshua the Stylite; Amida's people were mainly Syriac speakers, Procopius says Kavad later let them go home, and no Greek-speaking community is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Charax Spasinou (Alexandria/Antioch in Susiana)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "In Iraq (Jebel Khayabir near Basra); covered by the Iraq research.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Alexandria in Arachosia (Kandahar)",
   "country": "Afghanistan",
   "reason": "In present-day Afghanistan: counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Prophthasia (Farah)",
   "country": "Afghanistan",
   "reason": "In present-day Afghanistan: counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Alexandria in Areia (Herat)",
   "country": "Afghanistan",
   "reason": "In present-day Afghanistan: counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Antiochia in Margiana (Merv)",
   "country": "Turkmenistan",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkmenistan: counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Nisa (Mithradatkert)",
   "country": "Turkmenistan",
   "reason": "In present-day Turkmenistan; the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia leaves it out too: an Arsacid royal fortress, whose Greek art belongs to the court and whose documents are Parthian.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Eruandashat (Yervandashat)",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "reason": "Royal capital of the late Orontids (c. 200 BC), on the Araxes at the Turkish border; no Greek-speaking community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Artaxata (Artashat, Khor Virap)",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "reason": "Capital of the Artaxiad kings, founded by Artaxias I c. 176 BC (Strabo 11.14.6; the story that Hannibal planned it is a legend). It had a theatre, and Greek was used at court (Euripides' Bacchae performed before Artavasdes II and Orodes II in 53 BC, Plutarch, Crassus 33). Garsoian (Encyclopaedia Iranica) lists Greeks among its residents beside Armenians, Jews and Syrians, but gives no evidence, and no Greek civic institutions, coins or residents' inscriptions are known; Roman garrisons (Corbulo 58-59, Trajan 114-117) were soldiers. Taken by Corbulo 58, razed 59; destroyed by the Persians in the 360s.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Armavir (Armaouira, Argishtikhinili)",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "reason": "Urartian city and Orontid capital. Seven Greek inscriptions of the 3rd-2nd c. BC (found 1911 and 1927, with literary quotations) belong to the royal court; Encyclopaedia Iranica: 'nothing has been found at Armavir which would suggest a Hellenistic city'. No Greek-speaking townspeople attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Garni (Gorneae)",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "reason": "Royal fortress and summer residence with the temple and Tiridates I's Greek building inscription and a Greek mosaic inscription in the bath. Court and royal work only; not a city.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kainepolis (Vagharshapat)",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "reason": "Armenian town where the Romans under Statius Priscus set a garrison in 163 after destroying Artaxata; as the 'New City' (Kainepolis) it became the capital of Armenia, later the Armenian royal and church centre (Etchmiadzin). Roman soldiers left Latin inscriptions; no Greek-speaking civic community is attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Dvin (Doubios)",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "reason": "Armenian royal and Persian administrative capital from the 4th c., seat of the Armenian catholicos; not Greek-speaking.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Tigranakert (Artsakh)",
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "reason": "Armenian royal foundation of the Hellenistic period (Tigranes I or II) with Hellenistic-style walls and finds; no Greek-speaking community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kabalaka (Chabala, Qabala)",
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "reason": "Capital of Caucasian Albania (Pliny 6.29, Ptolemy); no Greek community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Partav (Barda)",
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "reason": "Capital of Caucasian Albania from the 5th c. (Perozabad); Albanian and Armenian, not Greek.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Naxuana (Nakhchivan)",
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "reason": "Town of Armenia in Ptolemy 5.12; no Greek-speaking community attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Urania (Ourania) (Possibly the ruins at Aphendrika, north-east of Rizokarpaso (Dipkarpaz), Famagusta district)",
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "reason": "Urania (Ourania) is known from a single passage: Demetrius Poliorcetes 'took by storm Urania and Carpasia' in 306 BC (Diodorus 20.47.2). Diodorus does not call it a city, nothing else is known of it, and its site is uncertain. A fortified place without evidence of civic status is left out, as is Arsinoe near Paphos.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Apamea in Mesene (unlocated in the Tigris delta; Pleiades places it east of the Tigris in Wasit Governorate)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Known only from its dynastic name (after Apama, mother of Antiochus I) and a few lines in Pliny and Stephanus. Its site is unknown, and no coins, inscriptions or settlers attest a Greek-speaking city; a dynastic name alone is not enough.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Apollonia (Apolloniatis) (unlocated, Diyala plain east of the Tigris, Diyala Governorate)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Known only from its name, from the district of Apolloniatis named after it (Polybius 5.43-54) and from Stephanus. Its site is unknown and it may be the same place as Artemita; no coins, inscriptions or settlers attest a Greek-speaking city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Seleucia on the Hedyphon (Ja Nishin (Jan-e Shin) on the Jarahi river, Ramhormoz area, Khuzestan province (proposed))",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "A large native town of Elymais renamed Seleucia by a Seleucid king. The dynastic renaming is the only Greek evidence; no coins, inscriptions or settlers attest a Greek-speaking city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Ecbatana (Epiphania) (Hamadan)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "The Median capital, renamed Epiphaneia under Antiochus IV and seat of a Seleucid royal mint and treasury. Greek here is attested for the court and the mint, but no Greek civic inscription, city coin or resident Greek community is known from Hamadan; Polybius' 'Greek cities' of Media are other towns.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Alexandria in Carmania (unlocated in Carmania; perhaps Tepe Yahya (Soghun valley) or near Golashkerd, Kerman province)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Listed by Pliny, Ptolemy and Ammianus, but scholars doubt that it existed as a foundation of Alexander; its site is unknown and there is no Greek evidence beyond the name.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Charax (Rhagiane) (unlocated, east of Rey towards the Caspian Gates, Tehran or Semnan province)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Named by Isidore of Charax (7) as a town of Rhagiane where the Parthian king Phraates I settled the Mardi. The Greek name 'Charax' (stockade) is the only Greek evidence, and its site is unknown.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Klimata of Phoenice Libanensis in Hierocles (Magludon, Salton Bourkaiou)",
   "country": "Syria / Lebanon",
   "reason": "Hierocles lists rural districts (klimata) of Phoenice Libanensis beside its cities; districts are not cities. The klima of the Iabrudeni is counted under Iabruda.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Gabara (Galilee)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "With Sepphoris and Tiberias one of the three largest towns of Galilee in Josephus (Vita 123); a Jewish town (usually put at 'Arraba) with no Greek civic institutions, coins or Greek-speaking community; not a see.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Bathyra (Batanaea)",
   "country": "Syria (unlocated)",
   "reason": "A village colony of Babylonian Jewish horsemen settled by Herod under Zamaris (Josephus AJ 17.23-31); a military settlement, not a city, and unlocated (Pleiades 682531).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Caeciliana (Qal'at Najm)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A Euphrates crossing and road station of the Roman itineraries (Pleiades 658418), later the Arab castle of Qal'at Najm; no civic status or see.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Arsinoe 'in the Aulon' (Coele Syria)",
   "country": "Syria / Lebanon (unlocated)",
   "reason": "A Ptolemaic foundation named by Stephanus (Ethnica) as a city of Syria 'in the Valley' (Cohen 2006 discusses it); unlocated, possibly a short-lived name of a city counted elsewhere, so it cannot be mapped.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Birtha (Osrhoene)",
   "country": "Turkey",
   "reason": "A see and Justinianic fortress of Osrhoene, placed at Birecik (Pleiades 658412); in Turkey, outside the area.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Saana, Ina, Samulis and Abida (Ptolemy 5.15, Coele Syria/Decapolis)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Names in Ptolemy's list of the towns of Coele Syria and the Decapolis; unlocated or villages (Samulis is tentatively placed in the Golan-Hauran borderland, Pleiades 678371), with no coins, inscriptions or see that would make them cities.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ptolemy's towns of the Palmyrene (Cholle, Putea, Adada, Adacha, Goaria, Casama, Odmana, Atera)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Road stations, forts and villages of the Palmyrene listed by Ptolemy; several are military posts of the Notitia Dignitatum (Casama, Pleiades 678085). None was a city or see; Rhesapha, Palmyra, Danaba and Aueria/Evaria are counted separately.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ptolemy's minor towns of northern Syria (Chalybon, Thema, Derrhima, Athis, Asaphidama, Tolmidessa, Coara, Nazama, Thelmenissus, Ariseria, Rhegias, Niara)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Names in Ptolemy's Chalybonitis, Chalcidice, Apamene and Cyrrhestice; villages and road stations (Ariseria/Ad Serta and Niara are itinerary stations), with no coins, see or civic evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Isidore of Charax's other Euphrates stations (Giddan, Belesi Biblada, Merrha, Asich)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "Isidore (Parthian Stations 1) calls only Nicephorium and Ichnae 'Greek cities' (and Dura a Macedonian foundation) on this stretch; the other stops are villages and forts.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Kelonai (Celonae), the Boeotians of Xerxes' time",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Diodorus (17.110.4-5) says that on his march from Sittakene towards Bagistana Alexander came to Kelonai, where Boeotians settled by Xerxes had become bilingual: they spoke the local language but kept most of their Greek speech and some Greek customs. A Persian-period settlement of deportees, never called a city, and unlocated somewhere on the road from Babylonia into Media (Iraq or western Iran; perhaps the district later called Chalonitis). A note for Chala, not a city.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Laodicea in Persis",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "A Laodicea founded by Antiochus on the borders of Persis is listed among the Seleucid foundations (Pliny 6.115; Cohen 2013); it may be the Laodicea in Mesopotamia, which is also rejected. Unlocated and known only by its dynastic name, which is not enough by itself.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Thilabous and Izan (Euphrates island towns in Isidore)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Island forts and small towns on the Euphrates below Anatha in Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 1); no Greek settlers, institutions or inscriptions.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Girsu (Telloh), shrine of Adad-nadin-ahhe",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "The Sumerian mound was reoccupied in the Hellenistic period: a palace of the local ruler Adad-nadin-ahhe built with his stamped bricks, a Greek-Aramaic bilingual inscription and a Hellenistic shrine on the ruins of the E-ninnu (a Seleucid cult place). A local dynast's seat and a sanctuary, not a Greek-speaking town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Apologos (al-Ubulla)",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "reason": "Market town of Characene at the head of the Gulf (Periplus 35); later a see of the Church of the East (Syriac). A trading place with no Greek civic community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Okelis (Khor Ghurayrah)",
   "country": "Yemen",
   "reason": "Anchorage and watering place at the Bab el-Mandeb (Periplus 25; Pliny 6.104); a harbour station, not a town with Greek residents.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Farasan islands",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "A Latin inscription of AD 144 from Great Farasan (Portus Ferresanus) shows a Roman naval and military outpost (a detachment of legio II Traiana); not a Greek town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dumatha (Dumat al-Jandal)",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Arab oasis town at the end of the Roman desert frontier, garrisoned by Roman troops according to an inscription found elsewhere (Pleiades 29548); Nabataean and Arabic; no Greek community.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ruwwafa",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "reason": "Desert temple with Greek-Nabataean bilingual building inscriptions of AD 166-169, set up by the Thamudic confederation for Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus: a sanctuary of an Arab tribal group, not a town.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Asaak (Astauene) and Ragau (Apavarktikene)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Parthian towns of north-east Iran in Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 11 and 13): Asaak, where Arsaces was proclaimed king and an everlasting fire was kept, and Ragau. Parthian royal places with no Greek community; Ragau is unlocated.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Karina, Bazigraban and Adrapana (Isidore's road through Media)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Stations on the road from Chala to Ecbatana in Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 4 and 6): a village, a customs post and a royal palace. Not Greek cities.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Talabroke, Samariane, Karta and Tape (Hyrcania)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Hyrcanian towns and royal seats in Strabo (11.7.2); no Greek settlers or institutions attested.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Alexandria and Alexandropolis in Sakastane",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Named by Isidore of Charax (Parthian Stations 18) among the towns of Sakastane, which lies mostly in Afghanistan; nothing places them in Iranian Sistan. Alexandropolis is counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia (the Alexandria there is taken as a scribal repetition).",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Corada (Phoenice Libanensis)",
   "country": "Syria (unlocated)",
   "reason": "A see under Damascus in the Notitia Antiochena, with bishops Peter (451, 458) and Theodore (553). Its site is unknown (the proposed Qara is Chonochora, counted separately), so it cannot be placed; it probably lay in present-day Syria, and could be added as a point for the region only.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Eragiza (Euphratensis)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A town on the Euphrates in Ptolemy, placed by the Barrington Atlas north of Barbalissos (Pleiades 658461), and listed among the cities of Euphratensis by Hierocles. It is not among the sees of Hierapolis in the Notitia Antiochena and no bishop is known, so the rule for sees does not apply, and no Greek evidence of its own is known.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Gadara of Palaestina I (Gadora, Tell Jadur?)",
   "country": "Jordan or Israel & Palestine (unidentified)",
   "reason": "Hierocles lists a Gadara among the cities of Palaestina I, a see distinct from Gadara of the Decapolis, but its site has not been identified and the bishops of the two sees cannot be told apart. Gadora (Tell Jadur by as-Salt), the old chief town of Peraea, is the usual candidate; Gezer (Gazara) has also been suggested. A see known only through a doubtful identification is not counted.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Adora (Adoraim, Dura) / Diara",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "An Idumaean town rebuilt by Gabinius. The see 'Diara' at the synod of Jerusalem in 536 has been read as Dora or as Adora; a see known only from a doubtful identification is not counted.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Gazara (Gezer)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A see 'Gazara' at the synod of Jerusalem in 536 is known from one signature, and it is uncertain that it was Gezer, which Eusebius calls a village. A see known only from a doubtful identification is not counted.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Zabulon / Chabulon (Kabul), Galilee",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A bishop 'of Zabulon' appears only in some lists of Nicaea (325); the title may be the district of Zebulun rather than a town. A see known only from a doubtful title is not counted.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Sariphaea (Palaestina I)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "Known from one bishop, Stephen, at the synod of Jerusalem in 536. It is probably Diocletianopolis, which is counted (the Barrington Atlas marks 'Sapharea?' there); as a separate see it cannot be placed.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Agrippia and Orogizo (Ragizo, Orthalea), sees under Sergiopolis",
   "country": "Syria (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Sees under Sergiopolis in the Notitia Antiochena, known only as names in the list, with no bishop known; unlocated, so they cannot be placed.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Seriane (Isriya)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A road station and temple on the Strata Diocletiana. A see 'Serigene' under Sergiopolis is in the Notitia Antiochena, but its identification with Seriane is a proposal and no bishop is known, so the see rests on a doubtful identification.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Tell Mahre (Osrhoene)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "reason": "A see under Edessa in the Notitia Antiochena (c. 570), with no bishop known before a Miaphysite one. It lay near the Balikh, but the site is not located: the Syriac sources put Tell Mahre near Callinicum (Syria), the titular see is placed in Turkey, and Vailhe took it for Macedonopolis (Birtha, in Turkey). It cannot be placed in a present-day country.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Chrysopolis, Eutyme and Neapolis in Arabia",
   "country": "Syria or Jordan (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Sees of the province of Arabia known from church lists (Chrysopolis had a bishop, John, at Chalcedon 451). They are unlocated, and Arabia spans southern Syria and northern Jordan, so they cannot be placed in a present-day country.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Marcopolis and Himeria (Osrhoene)",
   "country": "Syria, Turkey or Iraq (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Sees of Osrhoene with bishops in the 4th-6th c. (Marcopolis: Cyrus at Ephesus 431, Caioumas at Chalcedon 451). Neither is located: Himeria lay near the Euphrates by Europos/Carchemish on the Syrian-Turkish border, and Marcopolis has been put at Batnae (Turkey) or Sinjar (Iraq). They cannot be placed in a present-day country.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Nea Valentia and Maratha (Osrhoene)",
   "country": "Syria or Turkey (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Sees of Osrhoene in the Notitia Antiochena; unlocated, so they cannot be placed in a present-day country.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Arlane (Phoenice Libanensis)",
   "country": "Syria or Lebanon (unlocated)",
   "reason": "A see under Damascus with bishops at Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) according to Le Quien. It is unlocated (Vailhe's Aracha north of Palmyra is a guess), so it cannot be placed in a present-day country.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Arbokadama (Syria Coele)",
   "country": "Syria (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Known only from the signature of its bishop Pegasius at Nicaea (325); unlocated, so it cannot be placed.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Damunda, Alamusa and Dorea (sees of Arabia)",
   "country": "Syria or Jordan (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Sees of Arabia in versions of the Notitia Antiochena, known only by name and unlocated; they cannot be placed in a present-day country.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Maurikopolis, Stephanoupolis and Armenia (late sees under Emesa)",
   "country": "Syria or Lebanon (unidentified)",
   "reason": "Sees added under Emesa in revisions of the Notitia Antiochena (late 6th-early 7th c.); unidentified and possibly new names of towns already counted.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Onus (Palaestina I)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine (unlocated)",
   "reason": "A city of Palaestina I in Hierocles, but unlocated; its identification with biblical Ono (Kafr Ana near Lod) is a guess. A see known only from a doubtful identification is not counted.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Saltus sees: Gaulanitis, Gerariticus, Constantinianus, Hieraticus",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine / Syria / Jordan",
   "reason": "Sees of imperial estates and rural districts (saltus), not towns; not counted as towns.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Tricomias and Pentacomia (Palaestina I and III)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine / Jordan (unlocated)",
   "reason": "Sees named after groups of villages ('three villages', 'five villages'), that is rural districts, not towns.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Parembolae (Palaestina I and Arabia) and the bishopric of the Saracens (Phoenice Libanensis)",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine / Syria",
   "reason": "Sees of Arab tribal federates and their encampments, not of towns.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Iotabe (island in the Gulf of Aqaba)",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia or Egypt",
   "reason": "A see of Palaestina III on an island outside the Levant (Tiran in Saudi Arabia or Pharaoh's Island in Egypt). There the strict rule applies: Procopius calls its people Hebrews and no Greek-speaking residents are attested.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Mount Tabor",
   "country": "Israel & Palestine",
   "reason": "A monastic sanctuary whose bishop is recorded only after the conquest (c. 808); a see of a monastery is not counted.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Ikaros (Failaka Island, Kuwait)",
   "country": "Kuwait",
   "reason": "A Seleucid settlement on Failaka with a fort and a temple; a stele carries Greek letters of the Seleucid officials Anaxarchos and Ikadion to 'the inhabitants of Ikaros' about the sanctuary and their privileges (c. 203 BC, Antiochus III). Greek-speaking settlers are attested, but no council, assembly or coinage: perhaps a garrison colony rather than a city. Abandoned after c. 100 BC.",
   "close_call": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Soteira (Parthia)",
   "country": "Afghanistan",
   "reason": "Seleucus I's foundation in Parthia (Appian, Syr. 57); Ptolemy lists a Sotira in Areia, so it is counted in the companion set Greek Cities of Central and South Asia.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Dahan-i Ghulaman (Zranka?)",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "Achaemenid planned town in Iranian Sistan, probably the provincial capital of Drangiana (Zranka), abandoned before Alexander; no Greek evidence.",
   "close_call": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Pura (Bampur), royal seat of Gedrosia",
   "country": "Iran",
   "reason": "The royal seat of the Gedrosians, reached by Alexander after the desert march (Arrian 6.24.1), usually placed at Bampur in Iranian Baluchistan; a native town with no Greek settlers or writing.",
   "close_call": false
  }
 ],
 "capitals": [
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Damascus",
   "capital": "Damascus",
   "city_on_site": "Damascus",
   "km": 1.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Rif Dimashq",
   "capital": "Damascus",
   "city_on_site": "Damascus",
   "km": 1.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Aleppo",
   "capital": "Aleppo",
   "city_on_site": "Beroea",
   "km": 2.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Homs",
   "capital": "Homs",
   "city_on_site": "Emesa",
   "km": 1.2
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Hama",
   "capital": "Hama",
   "city_on_site": "Epiphania",
   "km": 0.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Latakia",
   "capital": "Latakia",
   "city_on_site": "Laodicea ad Mare",
   "km": 1.5
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Tartus",
   "capital": "Tartus",
   "city_on_site": "Antaradus",
   "km": 1.0
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Idlib",
   "capital": "Idlib",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Raqqa",
   "capital": "Raqqa",
   "city_on_site": "Nicephorium / Callinicum",
   "km": 4.3
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Deir ez-Zor",
   "capital": "Deir ez-Zor",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Hasakah",
   "capital": "Hasakah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Daraa",
   "capital": "Daraa",
   "city_on_site": "Adraa",
   "km": 1.5
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "As-Suwayda",
   "capital": "Suwayda",
   "city_on_site": "Dionysias",
   "km": 0.5
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "unit": "Quneitra",
   "capital": "Quneitra",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Beirut",
   "capital": "Beirut",
   "city_on_site": "Berytus",
   "km": 1.0
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Mount Lebanon",
   "capital": "Baabda",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "North",
   "capital": "Tripoli",
   "city_on_site": "Tripolis",
   "km": 3.7
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Akkar",
   "capital": "Halba",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Beqaa",
   "capital": "Zahle",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Baalbek-Hermel",
   "capital": "Baalbek",
   "city_on_site": "Heliopolis",
   "km": 0.4
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "South",
   "capital": "Sidon",
   "city_on_site": "Sidon",
   "km": 0.2
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Nabatieh",
   "capital": "Nabatieh",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "unit": "Keserwan-Jbeil",
   "capital": "Jounieh",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Israel",
   "unit": "Jerusalem District",
   "capital": "Jerusalem",
   "city_on_site": "Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina)",
   "km": 0.1
  },
  {
   "country": "Israel",
   "unit": "Northern District",
   "capital": "Nazareth",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Israel",
   "unit": "Haifa District",
   "capital": "Haifa",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Israel",
   "unit": "Central District",
   "capital": "Ramla",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Israel",
   "unit": "Tel Aviv District",
   "capital": "Tel Aviv-Yafo",
   "city_on_site": "Joppa",
   "km": 4.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Israel",
   "unit": "Southern District",
   "capital": "Beersheba",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Jenin",
   "capital": "Jenin",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Tubas",
   "capital": "Tubas",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Tulkarm",
   "capital": "Tulkarm",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Nablus",
   "capital": "Nablus",
   "city_on_site": "Neapolis",
   "km": 0.4
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Qalqilya",
   "capital": "Qalqilya",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Salfit",
   "capital": "Salfit",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Ramallah and al-Bireh",
   "capital": "Ramallah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Jericho",
   "capital": "Jericho",
   "city_on_site": "Jericho",
   "km": 0.2
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Jerusalem (al-Quds)",
   "capital": "Jerusalem",
   "city_on_site": "Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina)",
   "km": 0.1
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Bethlehem",
   "capital": "Bethlehem",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Hebron",
   "capital": "Hebron",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "North Gaza",
   "capital": "Jabalia",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Gaza",
   "capital": "Gaza",
   "city_on_site": "Gaza",
   "km": 2.5
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Deir al-Balah",
   "capital": "Deir al-Balah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Khan Yunis",
   "capital": "Khan Yunis",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Palestine",
   "unit": "Rafah",
   "capital": "Rafah",
   "city_on_site": "Raphia",
   "km": 1.1
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Amman",
   "capital": "Amman",
   "city_on_site": "Philadelphia",
   "km": 0.7
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Irbid",
   "capital": "Irbid",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Zarqa",
   "capital": "Zarqa",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Mafraq",
   "capital": "Mafraq",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Balqa",
   "capital": "Salt",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Madaba",
   "capital": "Madaba",
   "city_on_site": "Medaba",
   "km": 0.2
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Jerash",
   "capital": "Jerash",
   "city_on_site": "Gerasa",
   "km": 0.7
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Ajloun",
   "capital": "Ajloun",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Karak",
   "capital": "Karak",
   "city_on_site": "Charachmoba",
   "km": 0.3
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Tafilah",
   "capital": "Tafilah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Ma'an",
   "capital": "Ma'an",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "unit": "Aqaba",
   "capital": "Aqaba",
   "city_on_site": "Aila",
   "km": 0.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Baghdad",
   "capital": "Baghdad",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Basra",
   "capital": "Basra",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Nineveh",
   "capital": "Mosul",
   "city_on_site": "Ninos (Nineveh)",
   "km": 3.5
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Erbil",
   "capital": "Erbil",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Sulaymaniyah",
   "capital": "Sulaymaniyah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Duhok",
   "capital": "Duhok",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Kirkuk",
   "capital": "Kirkuk",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Salah ad-Din",
   "capital": "Tikrit",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Anbar",
   "capital": "Ramadi",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Diyala",
   "capital": "Baqubah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Babil",
   "capital": "Hillah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Karbala",
   "capital": "Karbala",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Najaf",
   "capital": "Najaf",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Al-Qadisiyyah",
   "capital": "Diwaniyah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Wasit",
   "capital": "Kut",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
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  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Maysan",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Dhi Qar",
   "capital": "Nasiriyah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Al-Muthanna",
   "capital": "Samawah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iraq",
   "unit": "Halabja",
   "capital": "Halabja",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
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   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Tehran",
   "capital": "Tehran",
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   "country": "Iran",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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   "country": "Iran",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Qazvin",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Zanjan",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "East Azerbaijan",
   "capital": "Tabriz",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "West Azerbaijan",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Ardabil",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Golestan",
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   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
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   "capital": "Bojnurd",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Razavi Khorasan",
   "capital": "Mashhad",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
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   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Semnan",
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   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
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   "country": "Iran",
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   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
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   "capital": "Shahrekord",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
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   "city_on_site": "",
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  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Fars",
   "capital": "Shiraz",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Bushehr",
   "capital": "Bushehr",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Khuzestan",
   "capital": "Ahvaz",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Ilam",
   "capital": "Ilam",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Kermanshah",
   "capital": "Kermanshah",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Kurdistan",
   "capital": "Sanandaj",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Hamadan",
   "capital": "Hamadan",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Lorestan",
   "capital": "Khorramabad",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Kerman",
   "capital": "Kerman",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Hormozgan",
   "capital": "Bandar Abbas",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Sistan and Baluchestan",
   "capital": "Zahedan",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "unit": "Yazd",
   "capital": "Yazd",
   "city_on_site": "",
   "km": null
  },
  {
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "unit": "Nicosia",
   "capital": "Nicosia",
   "city_on_site": "Ledra / Leucosia (Nicosia)",
   "km": 2.3
  },
  {
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "unit": "Limassol",
   "capital": "Limassol",
   "city_on_site": "Neapolis / Nemesus (Limassol)",
   "km": 0.9
  },
  {
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "unit": "Larnaca",
   "capital": "Larnaca",
   "city_on_site": "Citium (Kition)",
   "km": 0.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "unit": "Paphos",
   "capital": "Paphos",
   "city_on_site": "Nea Paphos",
   "km": 2.6
  },
  {
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "unit": "Famagusta",
   "capital": "Famagusta",
   "city_on_site": "Ammochostos (Famagusta)",
   "km": 0.7
  },
  {
   "country": "Cyprus",
   "unit": "Kyrenia",
   "capital": "Kyrenia",
   "city_on_site": "Cerynia (Keryneia)",
   "km": 0.4
  }
 ],
 "patriarchates_sees_today": [
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Patriarchate of Jerusalem",
   "seat": "Jerusalem (Old City, Christian Quarter; patriarchal offices by the Holy Sepulchre)",
   "country": "Jerusalem (East Jerusalem)",
   "kind": "patriarchal see",
   "lat": 31.7784,
   "lon": 35.2296
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Metropolis of Nazareth and all Galilee",
   "seat": "Nazareth",
   "country": "Israel",
   "kind": "metropolis",
   "lat": 32.7019,
   "lon": 35.2978
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Qatar",
   "seat": "Doha",
   "country": "Qatar",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 25.2854,
   "lon": 51.531
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
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   "seat": "Jerusalem (title from Sebastia, near Nablus)",
   "country": "Palestine (West Bank)",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.2764,
   "lon": 35.1897
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Mount Tabor",
   "seat": "Monastery of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor",
   "country": "Israel",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.6866,
   "lon": 35.3904
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Metropolis of Capitolias",
   "seat": "Jerusalem (title from Capitolias, Beit Ras)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.5917,
   "lon": 35.8603
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Metropolis of Diocaesarea",
   "seat": "Jerusalem (title from Diocaesarea/Sepphoris)",
   "country": "Israel",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.7526,
   "lon": 35.2797
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Abila (Avila)",
   "seat": "Jerusalem (title from Abila, Quwaylibah)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.6806,
   "lon": 35.8694
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Pella",
   "seat": "Jerusalem (title from Pella, Tabaqat Fahl)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.4497,
   "lon": 35.6167
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Constantina",
   "seat": "Jerusalem",
   "country": "(title of an ancient see; location to check)",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": null,
   "lon": null
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Hierapolis",
   "seat": "Jerusalem",
   "country": "(title; location to check)",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": null,
   "lon": null
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Kyriakoupolis",
   "seat": "Jerusalem",
   "country": "(title; location to check)",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": null,
   "lon": null
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Orthodox Archdiocese of Jordan (patriarchal vicariate)",
   "seat": "Amman (bishop's house next to the Church of the Presentation, built 1983)",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 31.9539,
   "lon": 35.9106
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Jerusalem",
   "see": "Patriarchal vicariate of Gaza (Church of St Porphyrius)",
   "seat": "Gaza",
   "country": "Palestine (Gaza)",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 31.5047,
   "lon": 34.4642
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Antioch and Damascus (patriarchal archdiocese)",
   "seat": "Damascus, Mariamite Cathedral (Bab Sharqi)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "kind": "patriarchal see",
   "lat": 33.5108,
   "lon": 36.3133
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Aleppo (and Alexandretta) and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Aleppo",
   "country": "Syria",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 36.2021,
   "lon": 37.1343
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Latakia and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Latakia",
   "country": "Syria",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 35.5167,
   "lon": 35.7833
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Homs (Emesa) and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Homs",
   "country": "Syria",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 34.7324,
   "lon": 36.7137
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Hama (Epiphania) and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Hama",
   "country": "Syria",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 35.1318,
   "lon": 36.7578
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Bosra, Hauran and Jabal al-Arab",
   "seat": "Hauran (seat town to check)",
   "country": "Syria",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 32.5175,
   "lon": 36.4817
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Beirut and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Beirut (St George Cathedral, downtown; residence in Ashrafieh)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 33.8969,
   "lon": 35.5059
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Byblos, Batroun and Dependencies (Mount Lebanon)",
   "seat": "Broummana (residence; to check)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 33.8828,
   "lon": 35.6206
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Tripoli, al-Koura and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Tripoli",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 34.4367,
   "lon": 35.8497
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Akkar and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Sheikh Taba (Akkar)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 34.59,
   "lon": 36.1
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Zahle, Baalbek and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Zahle",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 33.8463,
   "lon": 35.902
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Tyre, Sidon and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Marjayoun (with an office in Sidon)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 33.3606,
   "lon": 35.5911
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Archdiocese of Baghdad, Kuwait and Dependencies",
   "seat": "Baghdad (headquarters; the metropolitan is often in Kuwait: to check)",
   "country": "Iraq; Kuwait; Oman (Muscat); Antioch claims the rest of the Arabian peninsula",
   "kind": "archdiocese",
   "lat": 33.3152,
   "lon": 44.3661
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Metropolis of Shahba (titular)",
   "seat": "Moscow (representative of the patriarch)",
   "country": "Syria (title from Shahba / Philippopolis)",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 32.8556,
   "lon": 36.6292
  },
  {
   "patriarchate": "Antioch",
   "see": "Patriarchal monastery and University of Balamand",
   "seat": "Balamand, Koura",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "kind": "titular",
   "lat": 34.3686,
   "lon": 35.7814
  }
 ],
 "greek_communities_after_1800": [
  {
   "city": "al-Hamidiyah",
   "country": "Syria",
   "lat": 34.717,
   "lon": 35.933,
   "start": "1897 (Cretan Muslim refugees settled by Abdülhamid II)",
   "peak": "about 3,000-3,500 Greek-speaking Muslims before the war (Lasithiotaki; T-Vine 2018; WP: 3,000 = 60% of the town). WP 'Greeks in Syria' gives 8,000 citing Tsokalidou, which is more than the whole town (7,404 at the 2004 census) and probably conflates Hamidiye with Tripoli.",
   "peak_year": 2010,
   "today": "Town of 7,404 at the 2004 Syrian census. Cretan Greek still spoken, but declining and kept mainly by older speakers in families (Shafaq News, July 2026). After 2011 some families moved to Crete (a community of about 500 in Chania by 2018, 'up to one in six' of the town by one informant) and to Cyprus (about 200 had residence rights there before the war).",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "R. Tsokalidou, 'Oi ellinofonoi Kritikoi ston Livano kai ti Syria: i epiviosi mias idiaiteris ethnotikis taftotitas', in A.-F. Christidis et al. (eds), Dialektikoi thylakoi tis ellinikis glossas, Thessaloniki: Centre for the Greek Language 1999, pp. 77-81 (online summary at greek-language.gr)",
     "url": "https://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/studies/dialects/thema_b_6_1/index.html"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Al-Hamidiyah' (Syria CBS 2004 census; Tsokalidou)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hamidiyah"
    },
    {
     "title": "Roula Tsokalidou, 'Greek-Speaking Enclaves of Lebanon and Syria', Proceedings of the II Simposio Internacional sobre o Bilinguismo (Vigo, c. 2002/2005)"
    },
    {
     "title": "Shafaq News, 'Cretan Greek survives in Syria after nearly 130 years' (24 July 2026)",
     "url": "https://shafaq.com/en/Middle-East/Cretan-Greek-survives-in-Syria-after-nearly-130-years"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Syria' (Hellenic MFA 'Relations with Syria', archived 2012; Tsokalidou 2002; T-Vine 2018)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Syria"
    },
    {
     "title": "Efsevia Lasithiotaki, PhD research profile, University of Exeter (Greek-speaking Muslims of Hamidiye and Tripoli)",
     "url": "https://eprofile.exeter.ac.uk/efsevialasithiotaki/?section=2"
    },
    {
     "title": "Ertan Karpazli, 'Europe's forgotten Greek Muslims still suffer 120 years after exile', T-Vine, 24 May 2018 (UK-based Turkish Cypriot community outlet; interview-based)",
     "url": "https://t-vine.com/europes-forgotten-greek-muslims-still-suffer-120-years-after-exile"
    },
    {
     "title": "Rachel Ainsworth, 'The Cretan Rebellion of 1897 and the Emigration of the Cretan Muslims', Refugee History blog, 20 July 2017 (cites Chermside to Salisbury 17 Apr 1897; Middle Eastern Studies article doi 10.1080/00263206.2012.743891)",
     "url": "https://refugeehistory.org/blog/2017/7/20/the-cretan-rebellion-of-1897-and-the-emigration-of-the-cretan-muslims"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "A"
  },
  {
   "city": "Tripoli (El Mina)",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "lat": 34.452,
   "lon": 35.814,
   "start": "1897-98 (Cretan Muslims)",
   "peak": "about 7,000 (Tsokalidou, c. 2002); 6,000-7,000 in Tripoli and El Mina (Lasithiotaki, Exeter PhD research, c. 2020s)",
   "peak_year": 2002,
   "today": "About 6,000-7,000 people of Cretan Muslim descent in Tripoli and El Mina (Lasithiotaki); close-knit and endogamous until the civil war of 1975-90, when many left; Greek retained by part of the community; some identify as 'Cretan Turks'.",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "R. Tsokalidou, 'Oi ellinofonoi Kritikoi ston Livano kai ti Syria: i epiviosi mias idiaiteris ethnotikis taftotitas', in A.-F. Christidis et al. (eds), Dialektikoi thylakoi tis ellinikis glossas, Thessaloniki: Centre for the Greek Language 1999, pp. 77-81 (online summary at greek-language.gr)",
     "url": "https://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/studies/dialects/thema_b_6_1/index.html"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Lebanon' (Hellenic MFA; Tsokalidou)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Lebanon"
    },
    {
     "title": "Roula Tsokalidou, 'Greek-Speaking Enclaves of Lebanon and Syria', Proceedings of the II Simposio Internacional sobre o Bilinguismo (Vigo, c. 2002/2005)"
    },
    {
     "title": "Efsevia Lasithiotaki, PhD research profile, University of Exeter (Greek-speaking Muslims of Hamidiye and Tripoli)",
     "url": "https://eprofile.exeter.ac.uk/efsevialasithiotaki/?section=2"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Cretan Muslims'",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretan_Muslims"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "A"
  },
  {
   "city": "Beirut",
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "lat": 33.8938,
   "lon": 35.5018,
   "start": "19th c.; thousands of Greek refugees from Smyrna and Asia Minor reached Beirut in 1922 (documentary by George Eid, 2016)",
   "peak": "no reliable figure found",
   "peak_year": 0,
   "today": "Small and ageing: 'no more than 2,500' Greeks before the 2006 war, most evacuated on Greek ships (Greek embassy); WP gives about 1,500 Greek citizens (conflicting figures); the community's cultural centre was destroyed in the port explosion of 4 Aug 2020",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic, Embassy in Beirut, 'Greece and Lebanon: political relations'",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/en/lebanon-en/bilateral-relations/political-relations.html"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Lebanon' (Hellenic MFA; Tsokalidou)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Lebanon"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greece-Lebanon relations'",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece%E2%80%93Lebanon_relations"
    },
    {
     "title": "Chania Film Festival archive: George Eid, 'Good morning from Beirut / Kalimera men Beirut' (documentary, 2016), synopsis",
     "url": "https://archive.chaniafilmfestival.com/?p=20090"
    },
    {
     "title": "Pappas Post, 'Emotional film shares story of dying Greek community of Lebanon through a zeibekiko' (16 Dec 2020)",
     "url": "https://www.pappaspost.com/emotional-film-shares-story-of-dying-greek-community-of-lebanon-through-a-zeibekiko/"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Aleppo",
   "country": "Syria",
   "lat": 36.2021,
   "lon": 37.1343,
   "start": "Ottoman period merchants; refugees of 1922-23",
   "peak": "'12,000 Greek refugees were fed by Americans' (Near East Relief; LoC photo caption, c. 1922-23); other figures: about 8,000 Anatolian Greek refugees in Aleppo by 1923 (Near East Relief history page); 17,000 in Syrian cities (Yildirim 2006, via Greek Reporter) or in Aleppo itself (Pappas Post)",
   "peak_year": 1923,
   "today": "About 50 families of the 'historic Greek community' with an honorary Greek consul (Dec 2024); the Greek MFA now counts about 1,500 people of Greek descent in Syria, mostly in Aleppo and Damascus (down from about 4,500 on its c. 2012 page). Many Greek Orthodox Aleppines (Arabic-speaking 'Arab Hellenes') moved to Athens after 2011.",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Library of Congress, Bain News Service photograph 'Greek refugees at Aleppo, Syria' (c. 1920-25; LoC item 2014715755), caption 'Where 12,000 Greek refugees were fed by Americans. The Near East Relief ...', as reproduced by greek-genocide.net",
     "url": "https://greek-genocide.net/index.php/photos/37-greek-refugees-at-aleppo-syria"
    },
    {
     "title": "Greek Reporter, 'There Was A Time Greeks Sought Refuge In Syria' (29 Sept 2015), citing Onur Yildirim, Diplomacy and Displacement: Reconsidering the Turco-Greek Exchange of Populations, 1922-1934 (Routledge 2006) and the Library of Congress photo 'Greek refugees at Aleppo'",
     "url": "https://greekreporter.com/2015/09/29/there-was-a-time-greeks-sought-refuge-in-syria/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Near East Relief Museum blog, 'Near East Relief in Aleppo' (2015)",
     "url": "https://neareastmuseum.com/2015/11/24/near-east-relief-in-aleppo"
    },
    {
     "title": "Pappas Post, 'A Matter of Perspective and Historical Remembrance While Syrians Flock to Greece' (2015; journalistic, gives 17,000 for Aleppo itself)",
     "url": "https://www.pappaspost.com/a-matter-of-perspective-and-historical-remembrance-while-syrians-flock-to-greece/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Syria' (Hellenic MFA 'Relations with Syria', archived 2012; Tsokalidou 2002; T-Vine 2018)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Syria"
    },
    {
     "title": "iefimerida.gr (English), 'Diplomatic sources: Greeks in Aleppo safe' (3 Dec 2024)",
     "url": "https://www.iefimerida.gr/english/diplomatic-sources-greeks-aleppo-safe-greece-supporting-christians-middle-east"
    },
    {
     "title": "Owen Harris, Hellenes and Arabs at Home and Abroad: Greek Orthodox Christians from Aleppo in Athens, MA thesis, University of Washington 2021",
     "url": "https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/items/a8f91770-ba59-48d1-b4dd-7c1e4c4b96bb/full"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, 'Bilateral relations: Syria' (current page, consulted Oct 2026)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/en/bilateral-relations/syria/"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Damascus",
   "country": "Syria",
   "lat": 33.5138,
   "lon": 36.2765,
   "start": "Small organised Greek community since 1913",
   "peak": "about 150 members (current Greek MFA page)",
   "peak_year": 2025,
   "today": "About 150 members; takes part in the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE); Greek embassy (chargé d'affaires level) and consular office. The embassy suspended operations in late July 2012 and later resumed.",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, 'Bilateral relations: Syria' (current page, consulted Oct 2026)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/en/bilateral-relations/syria/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, Foreign Minister Avramopoulos's reply to a parliamentary question from A. Loverdos (2 Aug 2012)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/en/foreign-minister-avramopouloss-reply-to-current-question-from-pasok-mp-loverdos/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Syria' (Hellenic MFA 'Relations with Syria', archived 2012; Tsokalidou 2002; T-Vine 2018)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Syria"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Tehran",
   "country": "Iran",
   "lat": 35.6892,
   "lon": 51.389,
   "start": "1920s-30s (Pontic refugees, many via the Caucasus; railway craftsmen 1927-38); community founded 1941",
   "peak": "about 3,000",
   "peak_year": 1970,
   "today": "Fewer than 100 by 1981; fewer than 20 in 2016; about 100 in 2017 (Iranica); 'about 80 members', descended from settlers who came after 1922, with the Annunciation church used mainly in Holy Week and a priest sent by the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Greek embassy page, undated). The Greek embassy moved temporarily from Tehran to Baku on 12 March 2026.",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Evangelos Venetis, 'Greeks in Modern Iran', Encyclopaedia Iranica online (2021)",
     "url": "https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/greeks-in-modern-iran/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic, Embassy in Tehran, 'Cultural relations and Greek community' (Greek; undated)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/iran/bilateral-relations/cultural-relations-and-greek-community.html"
    },
    {
     "title": "To Vima, 'Ellada-Iran: oi istorikoi desmoi kai ta stena tis diplomatias' (30 Mar 2026)",
     "url": "https://www.tovima.gr/2026/03/30/diplomatia/ellada-iran-oi-istorikoi-desmoi-kai-ta-stena-tis-diplomatias/"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "A"
  },
  {
   "city": "Rasht and Bandar Anzali",
   "country": "Iran",
   "lat": 37.2808,
   "lon": 49.5832,
   "start": "19th c.; first Greek consul-general in Iran at Tabriz 1837 (P. A. Rallis)",
   "peak": "about 150 families, 800-1,000 people in northern Iran",
   "peak_year": 1900,
   "today": "none",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Evangelos Venetis, 'Greeks in Modern Iran', Encyclopaedia Iranica online (2021)",
     "url": "https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/greeks-in-modern-iran/"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "A"
  },
  {
   "city": "Baghdad",
   "country": "Iraq",
   "lat": 33.3152,
   "lon": 44.3661,
   "start": "20th c.",
   "peak": "no figure for ethnic Greeks found; the Orthodox archdiocese (Antiochian; mostly Arabic-speaking) counted about 600 families in Baghdad in 1991",
   "peak_year": 1991,
   "today": "No Greek community known; the Orthodox archdiocese of Baghdad had no more than 30 families in 2014; Greek embassy in Baghdad and consulate general in Erbil (from 2016)",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Baghdad, Kuwait and Dependencies'",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Orthodox_Archdiocese_of_Baghdad,_Kuwait_and_Dependencies"
    },
    {
     "title": "Panayiota Pyla, 'Back to the Future: Doxiadis's Plans for Baghdad', Journal of Planning History 7.1 (2008); and 'Rebuilding Iraq 1955-58: modernist housing, national aspirations, and global ambitions'",
     "url": "https://gnosis.library.ucy.ac.cy/handle/7/42573"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "C"
  },
  {
   "city": "Akhtala and Alaverdi",
   "country": "Armenia",
   "lat": 41.1513,
   "lon": 44.7639,
   "start": "1763: Greek mining experts from Gümüşhane invited by Erekle II to work the Akhtala silver and copper mines (about 800 households in the standard account); 18th-19th c. Pontic Greek miners at Alaverdi copper mines",
   "peak": "",
   "peak_year": 0,
   "today": "Armenia's remaining Greeks (365 at the 2022 census) live mainly in Alaverdi and Yerevan, then Vanadzor, Gyumri, Stepanavan, Hankavan, Noyemberyan; Yaghdan described (2009) as the last Greek village in Armenia. Greek embassy (2023): about 900 people, mostly of mixed marriages, fully integrated; settlements listed: Alaverdi, Akhtala, Madan, Samluh, Bedik, Yaghdan, Kochs, Gyumri, Bayandur, Kavart, Ankavan ('Mishana'); Union of Greek Communities of Armenia (nine local communities and a youth organisation).",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Akhtala' (1763 arrival of Greek mining experts from Gümüşhane at the request of Erekle II; uncited passage)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhtala"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Alaverdi, Armenia' (Madan quarter's Greek community; Asatryan & Arakelova, The Ethnic Minorities of Armenia)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaverdi,_Armenia"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Armenia' (Demoscope Weekly for Soviet censuses; armstat.am for 2011, 2022)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Armenia"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Georgia' (census table from Soviet censuses via Demoscope Weekly; Georgian 2002, 2014)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Georgia"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic, Embassy in Yerevan, 'Cultural relations and Greek community' (updated 15 Mar 2023)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/en/armenia-en/bilateral-relations/cultural-relations-and-greek-community.html"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Baku",
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "lat": 40.4093,
   "lon": 49.8671,
   "start": "later 19th c. (oil boom); Greek Benevolent Society licensed to build a church 1907",
   "peak": "about 800 in the city",
   "peak_year": 1907,
   "today": "About 500 (president of the Hellenic Association 'Argo', on the embassy page updated Jan 2026), in Baku and its suburbs; Pontic-origin families who came in the late 19th-early 20th c., some from Georgia; Russian is their usual language; Centre for Modern Greek Language and Culture at the Slavic University of Baku (about 50 students)",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Azerbaijan' (Demoscope Weekly for 1939-1989; Zeynalova 2009; Pilijov)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Azerbaijan"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic, Embassy in Baku, 'Cultural relations and Greek community' (updated 9 Jan 2026)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/en/azerbaijan-en/bilateral-relations/cultural-relations-and-greek-community.html"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Amman",
   "country": "Jordan",
   "lat": 31.9454,
   "lon": 35.9284,
   "start": "20th c.",
   "peak": "about 500 Greeks, mostly Greek women married to Jordanians; about 15 families with two Greek parents",
   "peak_year": 2025,
   "today": "about 500; the Orthodox faithful of Jordan (about 120,000, Arabic-speaking, 29 churches) belong to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic, Embassy in Amman, 'Cultural relations and Greek community'",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/en/jordan-en/bilateral-relations/cultural-relations-and-greek-community.html"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Jerusalem (Greek Colony, 'HaMoshava HaYevanit')",
   "country": "Israel (West Jerusalem)",
   "lat": 31.7613,
   "lon": 35.2135,
   "start": "1902 (community centre); early 20th c. quarter built on land bought by wealthy Greek Orthodox, encouraged by Archimandrite Euthymios of the Holy Sepulchre to relieve the crowded Christian Quarter; architect Spyro Houris designed the first 20 houses before 1914",
   "peak": "760 Greek speakers in Jerusalem",
   "peak_year": 1922,
   "today": "The Greek Community Centre (1902, Yehoshua Bin Nun St.) still runs Greek dancing and language classes; Greek Consulate General in Jerusalem nearby; most Greek Orthodox residents left in 1948 and the houses were given to Jewish immigrants",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greek Colony, Jerusalem' (Kark & Oren-Nordheim, Jerusalem and its Environs 1800-1948, Wayne State UP 2001, p. 173)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Colony,_Jerusalem"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Israel' (Palestine census of 1922, J. B. Barron ed.)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Israel"
    },
    {
     "title": "Simple English Wikipedia, 'Greek Colony, Jerusalem'",
     "url": "https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Colony,_Jerusalem"
    },
    {
     "title": "Open Jerusalem archives: 'Correspondence of the Consulate General of Greece in Jerusalem' (Diplomatic and Historical Archive of the Greek MFA, files 1890-1911)",
     "url": "https://www.archives.openjerusalem.org/index.php/correspondence-of-the-consulate-general-of-greece-in-jerusalem/informationobject/reports"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Jaffa",
   "country": "Israel",
   "lat": 32.0504,
   "lon": 34.7522,
   "start": "19th c.",
   "peak": "161 Greek speakers",
   "peak_year": 1922,
   "today": "",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Israel' (Palestine census of 1922, J. B. Barron ed.)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Israel"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Haifa",
   "country": "Israel",
   "lat": 32.794,
   "lon": 34.9896,
   "start": "19th c.",
   "peak": "205 Greek speakers",
   "peak_year": 1922,
   "today": "",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Israel' (Palestine census of 1922, J. B. Barron ed.)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Israel"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, 'Bilateral relations: Israel'",
     "url": "https://mfa.gr/en/bilateral-relations/israel"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Jeddah and Riyadh",
   "country": "Saudi Arabia",
   "lat": 21.4858,
   "lon": 39.1925,
   "start": "later 20th c. (companies, engineers)",
   "peak": "no figure given",
   "peak_year": 0,
   "today": "Most Greeks live in the west (Jeddah, Yanbu), some in Riyadh; numbers fell, then started to rise again (2013 page)",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic, Embassy in Riyadh, 'Cultural relations and Greek community' (updated 3 Dec 2013)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/en/saudi-arabia-en/bilateral-relations/cultural-relations-and-greek-community.html"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Kuwait City",
   "country": "Kuwait",
   "lat": 29.3759,
   "lon": 47.9774,
   "start": "after 1964 (diplomatic relations)",
   "peak": "'limited to a few people'",
   "peak_year": 0,
   "today": "a few employees of Greek or foreign companies",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, 'Bilateral relations: Kuwait'",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/en/bilateral-relations/kuwait/"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Abu Dhabi and Dubai",
   "country": "United Arab Emirates",
   "lat": 24.4539,
   "lon": 54.3773,
   "start": "later 20th c.",
   "peak": "about 1,500 Greeks living and working in the UAE",
   "peak_year": 2025,
   "today": "about 1,500, mostly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, 'Bilateral relations: United Arab Emirates' (Greek version)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/bilateral-relations/united-arab-emirates/"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Mehmana (Martakert/Aghdara district)",
   "country": "Azerbaijan (Karabakh)",
   "lat": 40.1528,
   "lon": 46.6692,
   "start": "early 19th c. (Pontic Greek miners of silver and lead; 1830s per WP 'Greeks in Azerbaijan')",
   "peak": "",
   "peak_year": 0,
   "today": "One Greek resident left in 2010; village destroyed in the first Karabakh war, inhabitants fled, many to Greece",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Mehmana'",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmana"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Azerbaijan' (Demoscope Weekly for 1939-1989; Zeynalova 2009; Pilijov)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Azerbaijan"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  },
  {
   "city": "Latakia and Tartus",
   "country": "Syria",
   "lat": 35.5317,
   "lon": 35.7915,
   "start": "",
   "peak": "no figure found",
   "peak_year": 0,
   "today": "Greek honorary consulates in Latakia and Tartus stayed open in 2012 to help Greeks who remained; the Latakia appointment was pending with the Syrian authorities on the current MFA page. WP 'Greeks in Syria' (from an older MFA page) puts part of the c. 4,500 in Baniyas and Tartus.",
   "sources": [
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, 'Bilateral relations: Syria' (current page, consulted Oct 2026)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/en/bilateral-relations/syria/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Hellenic Republic MFA, Foreign Minister Avramopoulos's reply to a parliamentary question from A. Loverdos (2 Aug 2012)",
     "url": "https://www.mfa.gr/en/foreign-minister-avramopouloss-reply-to-current-question-from-pasok-mp-loverdos/"
    },
    {
     "title": "Wikipedia, 'Greeks in Syria' (Hellenic MFA 'Relations with Syria', archived 2012; Tsokalidou 2002; T-Vine 2018)",
     "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Syria"
    }
   ],
   "grade": "B"
  }
 ],
 "census_figures": [
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 1926,
   "figure": 2980,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Armenia"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 1939,
   "figure": 4181,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Armenia (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 1959,
   "figure": 4976,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Armenia (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 1970,
   "figure": 5690,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Armenia (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 1979,
   "figure": 5653,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Armenia (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 1989,
   "figure": 4650,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Armenia (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 2001,
   "figure": 1176,
   "basis": "Armenian census",
   "source": "WP Ethnic minorities in Armenia"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 2011,
   "figure": 900,
   "basis": "Armenian census",
   "source": "WP Ethnic minorities in Armenia; WP Greeks in Armenia"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 2022,
   "figure": 365,
   "basis": "Armenian census (WP 'Greeks in Armenia' table gives 364)",
   "source": "WP Ethnic minorities in Armenia (armstat 2022)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Armenia",
   "year": 2023,
   "figure": 900,
   "basis": "Greek embassy estimate, mostly mixed marriages",
   "source": "mfa.gr Armenia (updated Mar 2023)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 1897,
   "figure": 936,
   "basis": "Russian imperial census: 278 in Baku and 658 in Elisabethpol governorates (territory not identical to today's)",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Azerbaijan"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 1939,
   "figure": 1248,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Azerbaijan (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 1959,
   "figure": 839,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Azerbaijan (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 1970,
   "figure": 820,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Azerbaijan (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 1979,
   "figure": 648,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Azerbaijan (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 1989,
   "figure": 583,
   "basis": "Soviet census",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Azerbaijan (Demoscope)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Azerbaijan",
   "year": 2026,
   "figure": 500,
   "basis": "community estimate (Argo association)",
   "source": "mfa.gr Azerbaijan (updated Jan 2026)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "year": 1900,
   "figure": 1000,
   "basis": "estimate, 800-1,000 people (c. 150 families) in northern Iran c. 1870-1914",
   "source": "Venetis, Iranica"
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "year": 1970,
   "figure": 3000,
   "basis": "estimate for the 1960s-70s",
   "source": "Venetis, Iranica"
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "year": 1981,
   "figure": 100,
   "basis": "'fewer than 100'",
   "source": "Venetis, Iranica"
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "year": 2016,
   "figure": 20,
   "basis": "'fewer than 20'",
   "source": "Venetis, Iranica"
  },
  {
   "country": "Iran",
   "year": 2017,
   "figure": 100,
   "basis": "'about 100'",
   "source": "Venetis, Iranica"
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "year": 1923,
   "figure": 17000,
   "basis": "Asia Minor Greek refugees in Syrian cities (at least)",
   "source": "Yildirim 2006 via Greek Reporter"
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "year": 2012,
   "figure": 4500,
   "basis": "Greek MFA estimate, mostly Syrian nationals (archived 2012 page; year of estimate unclear)",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Syria"
  },
  {
   "country": "Syria",
   "year": 2025,
   "figure": 1500,
   "basis": "'about 1,500 people of Greek descent', mostly Syrian citizens, in Aleppo and Damascus (current MFA page; excludes the Cretan Muslims of al-Hamidiyah)",
   "source": "mfa.gr Syria"
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "year": 2006,
   "figure": 7000,
   "basis": "Greek-speaking (mostly Cretan Muslim) people of Tripoli and El Mina, scholar's estimate as cited by WP; Tsokalidou's 1999 text gives about 7,000 for Tripoli and Hamidiye (Syria) together",
   "source": "Tsokalidou via WP 'Greeks in Lebanon'"
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "year": 2006,
   "figure": 2500,
   "basis": "'no more than 2,500' before the 2006 war (Greek embassy)",
   "source": "mfa.gr Lebanon"
  },
  {
   "country": "Lebanon",
   "year": 2020,
   "figure": 1500,
   "basis": "Greek citizens, WP estimate (flagged as conflicting)",
   "source": "WP Greece-Lebanon relations"
  },
  {
   "country": "Mandatory Palestine",
   "year": 1922,
   "figure": 1315,
   "basis": "Greek speakers, Palestine census 1922 (1,230 in towns: Jerusalem 760, Jaffa 161, Haifa 205, Nazareth 12, Bethlehem 29)",
   "source": "WP Greeks in Israel, from the 1922 census (Barron)"
  },
  {
   "country": "Jordan",
   "year": 2025,
   "figure": 500,
   "basis": "embassy estimate, mostly Greek wives of Jordanians (undated page, consulted 2026)",
   "source": "mfa.gr Jordan"
  },
  {
   "country": "United Arab Emirates",
   "year": 2025,
   "figure": 1500,
   "basis": "Greek MFA estimate",
   "source": "mfa.gr UAE"
  }
 ]
}