Bostra
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Bostram Proper-name noun feminine accusative singular of Bostra
- the capital of the Roman province of Arabia from the time of Trajan, now Bozra, Amm.14, 8, 13. —Called Bosra, Vulg. Isa. 34, 6; id. Jer. 48, 24 al.
- —Hence, Bostrēnus, a, um, adj., of Bozra.—Only subst.: Bostrēnus, i, m., an inhabitant of Bozra: praetextatus, Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 12, 3; plur., Inscr. Orell. 3440.
BOSTRA (τὰ Βόστρα, ἡ Βόστρα: O. T. BOZRAH properly BOTZRAH; LXX. Βοσόρ: Eth. Βοστρηνός, Βοστραῖος, Steph. B.: Busrah, Boszrah, Botzra, Ru.), a city of Arabia, in an oasis of the Syrian Desert, a little more than 1° S. of Damascus. It lay in the S. part of the district of Auranitis, the modern Haouran, of which it was the capital in the middle ages (Abulfeda), and is still one of its chief cities.
Respecting its earliest history, doubts have been thrown upon the identity of the Bozrah of the O. T. with the Bostra of writers under the Roman empire, chiefly on the ground that the former was a principal city of the Edomites, whose territory, it is urged, lay too far S. to include the site of Bostra (Gen. 36.33; Is. 34.6, 63.1; Jer. 49.13, 22; Amos, 1.12), while, in one passage (Jer. 48.24), a Bozrah of the Moabites is mentioned; and hence, by a well-known expedient of hasty criticism, it has been inferred that there were two Bozrahs, the one belonging to Edom, and the other to Moab; the latter corresponding to Bostra in Auranitis, and the former occupying the site of the modern Busseyra, in the mountains of Idumea. But, as the notices of Bozrah in the O. T. have all the appearance of referring to some one well-known place, and as the extent of the territories of the border peoples varied greatly at different times, it is at least equally probable that the possessions of Edom extended as far as Bostra, and that, from being on the frontier of the Moabites, it had been taken by the latter when Jeremiah wrote. The notice of Bossora (Βόσσορα) in the first book of Maccabees (1 Macc. 5.26) confirms this view. (Calmet, ad Jer. 49.13; Von Raumer, Paläst. p. 165, and in Berghaus's Annalen, 1830, p. 564; Winer, Bibl. Realworterbuch, s. v.; Kitto, Pict. Bibl. n. on Jer. 49.13.)
Cicero mentions an independent chieftain of Bostra (Bostrenum: ad Q. F. 2.12). The city was beautified by Trajan, who made it the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, an event commemorated by the inscription NEA TPAIANH BOCTPA on its coins, and also by a local era, which dated from A.D. 105. (Chron. Pasch. p. 253, ed. Paris, p. 472, ed. Bonn; Eckhel, Doctr. Num. Vet. vol. 3. p. 500, et seq.: John Malala erroneously ascribes its elevation to Augustus, instead of Trajan, Chron. 9. p. 233, ed. Bonn.) Under Alexander Severus it was made a colony, and its coins bear the epigraph NOVA TRAJANA ALEXANDRIANA COL. BOSTRA. (Damasc. ap. Phot. Cod. 272; Eckhel, l. c.) The emperor Philip, who was a native of the city, conferred upon it the title of Metropolis. (Ammian. 14.8; Eckhel, p. 502 ) It is described at this period as a great, populous, and well fortified city (Amm. Marc. l. c.), lying 24 M. P. north-east of Adraa (Edrei), and four days' journey S. of Damascus. (Euseb. Onom.; Hierocl.; Not. Imp. Or. ) Ptolemy mentions it, among the cities of Arabia Petraea, with the surname of Λεγίων, in allusion to the Legio III. Cyrenaïca, whose head-quarters were fixed here by Trajan. It is one of his points of recorded astronomical observation, having 14 1/1 hours in its longest day and being distant about two-thirds of an hour E. of Alexandria. (Ptol. 5.17.7, 8.20.21.)
Ecclesiastically, it was a place of considerable importance; being the seat, first of a bishopric, and afterwards of an archbishopric, ruling over twenty bishoprics, and forming apparently the head-quarters of the Nestorians. (Act. Concil. Nic. Ephes. Chalced. &c. )
Its coins range from the Antonines to Caracalla. Several of them bear emblems referring to the worship of the Syrian Dionysus, under the name of Dusires, a fact of importance in connection with the reference to the vineyards of Bozrah in the magnificent prophecy of Isaiah (lxiii, 1--3). Some scholars even derive its name from its vineyards. The verbal root botzar signifies to cut off, and hence, on the one hand, to gather the vintage, and, on the other hand, to make inaccessible; and hence some make Botzrah a place of vineyards, others an inaccessible fortress. (Eckhel, p. 502; Gesenius, Lexicon, s. v. )
The important ruins of the city are described by Burckhardt (Travels, p. 226) and Robinson (Bibl. Researches, vol. 3. p. 125). The desolation of this great city, which, at the time of its capture by the Arabs, was called the market-place of Syria, Irak, and the Hejaz,f urnishes a striking commentary on the prophecy of Jeremiah (49.13).
[P.S](τὰ Βόστρα; Bozrah O. T.; Busrah). A city of Arabia, in an oasis of the Syrian Desert, south of Damascus.
A royal Nabataean city in the Hauran plain, Bostra was annexed by Trajan in A.D. 106, becoming chief city of the Roman province of Arabia and the camp of Legio III Cyrenaica. An important Christian city in the late Byzantine period, Bostra was fortified by Justinian, then seized by the Moslem Arabs in A.D. 637.
Bostra was built of black basalt; the modern town lies over the ancient one, and many houses are constructed of reused stones. The wall surrounding the ancient city is very nearly oval. The rampart is best preserved on its W face, where it is ca. 4 m thick. The only gate still standing is that to the W, a high bay with semicircular arches, flanked by two square towers; in front of the gate there is an open place oval in shape. The main avenue is the decumanus, running from the W gate to the E end of the city. It was paved and was lined with porticos, the column shafts of which can still be seen. At the intersection of the decumanus and cardo, a tetrapylon stood in the center of a circular area. To the E, on the N side of the decumanus, was a vaulted cryptoporticus ca. 100 m long, lit by slits arranged in the steps of the porticos. Farther E is a monumental arch more than 12 m high and 18 m wide; it has a great semicircular bay flanked by two small ones; arches cut in the other direction permitted passage along the decumanus. The facade facing the decumanus has pilasters with Corinthian capitals and brackets for statues. At the N angles of the lateral faces and on either side of the central bay, to the S, are engaged columns with Ionic capitals, marking the beginning of the porticos.
At the S end of the street is a remarkably well-preserved theater, built in the second half of the 2d c. A.D. and transformed into a fortress at the end of the 8th c. It is built on level ground and strictly integrated into the city plan. The hemicycle, which is slightly over half a circle and has a diameter of more than 100 m, faces N. Its three tiers of 14, 18, and S rows of seats are crowned by a portico with a composite colonnade. Interior galleries, stairways, and admirably built vomitoria made for easy circulation; the direct access to the middle and upper stories and to the tribunals above the vaulted paradoi is remarkable. The orchestra is paved with stone. The scaenae frons, over 26 m high, is decorated with two rows of Corinthian columns in pink Egyptian granite, and flanked by two tall folded-back wings that have steps and loges descending laterally to the stage. Equally noteworthy are the vast side foyers, into which the paradoi are incorporated by a series of arcades. Coherent both architecturally and organically, this theater is considered the most perfect of all Roman and Italian theaters.
To the W of the theater there was probably a stadium; S of it was the hippodrome, which could accommodate 30,000 spectators. Only a few seats have been found.
To the E of the street and S of the decumanus are the ruins of baths of the Roman period, covered by modern houses, and called the S, W, or Trajan's baths. Designed on a T-shaped plan, they opened to the N through an 8-columned portico and two semicircular, arched doorways with a niche between them. The first room was the apodyterion, an 8-sided oblong hall with four semicircular recesses in the oblique sides. It was roofed with a flattened arch of volcanic scoriae. In the entrance axis was a wide arch leading to the tepidarium, and beyond that, in the same axis, to another room with a large window in its S wall. Both rooms had transverse cradle vaults. On either side, to E and W, are a series of rooms and exedras; the vaulting of the latter is still intact.
Farther along the decumanus are four tall, well-proportioned Corinthian columns with hexagonal bases, on a line diagonal to the intersection of the avenue and a cross street. Behind them was the broad curve of the apse of a nymphaeum. On the other side of the street are tall, slender Corinthian columns, one of which carries an entablature fragment supported by a pilaster; they were part of a late monument not identified. The facade is at an oblique angle to the street plan. The cross street is edged in part by an Ionic colonnade now included in the walls of houses; it leads N to the Omar mosque. This monument, of the early Omayyad period was built of magnificent reused marble columns with Corinthian and Ionic capitals. On the other side of the street are the baths and, some 50 m to the NE, more baths, now badly damaged.
At the top of the decumanus is the so-called Nabataean gate, with its great semicircular bay decorated with round pilasters and engaged columns surmounted by characteristic crocket capitals. Beside it, to the SE, is the building commonly known as Trajan's palace. It can be seen only from the E, where a large well-built basalt wall decorated with two superimposed rows of semicircular niches and rectangular doors gave on to two stories of outer porticos now gone. The palace formed an enormous rectangle with an E entrance opening onto a large porticoed courtyard. The residential wings, which were several stories high and had angle towers, were on the N and S sides. The first story in the N wing contained a spacious apartment with an entrance to the N, great apses to the E and W, and a deep rectangular exedra to the S.
To the NE is the 6th c. cathedral. Its square nave was completely covered by a large cupola supported by four semi-cupolas. Farther N is a rectangular basilica with pediments. The long S and N sides are lined with low porticos and pierced with windows; the W gable wall contains a great arch, while that to the E has an elliptical arch opening onto a semicircular apse and in the pediment, a row of three rectangular windows with an axial window over them. Remarkably simple in design and decorated with elegant molding, this basilica, which was used as a church, probably dates from Christian times. To the N are the ruins of a little apsidal structure built in the same style and with the same methods.
To the NW inside the surrounding wall is a great oblong-shaped excavation with springs flowing at the bottom of it. It is often referred to as the Naumachia, and may have been built in antiquity.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. E. Brünnow & A. v. Domaszewski, Die Provincia Arabia III (1909) MPI; H. C. Butler, PAES Pt. II, Architecture. Sec. A, Southern Syria (1914) MPI; E. Frézouls, “Les théâtres romains de Syrie,” Annales archéologiques de Syrie 2 (1952) PI; Syria 36 (1959); 38 (1961) I; S. Abdul-Hak, “Découvertes archéologiques récentes,” Annals archéologiques de Syrie 6 (1956); 8-9 (1958-59); H. Finsen et al., Le levé du théâtre romain à Bosra, Syrie (= Analecta romana instituti danici 6 suppl. 1972) PI.
J.-P. REY-COQUAIS