The Sandal & the Fall of Rome

Archaeologists have discovered a footprint made by the sandal -a hobnailed sandal called caliga- of a Roman soldier in a wall surrounding the Hellenistic-Roman city of Hippos, east of the Sea of Galilee.

The ancient city of Hippos (Sussita), at 350 meters above sea level, overlooks the Sea of Galilee. The city was established during the period of Seleucid rule. It flourished during the Roman and Byzantine periods until it was destroyed by an earthquake in the year 749. Hippos, together with Beit Shean and other cities east of the Jordan River, formed the "Decapolis", the area in which Jesus performed most of the miracles described in the New Testament.

"This rare footprint, which is complete and well preserved, hints at who built the walls, how and when," said Michael Eisenberg of the Zinman Institute at the University of Haifa.

The excavations of this section of the southern city walls also revealed towers and well-protected structures for positioning weapons such as catapults and ballistae built into the wall.

The remains of Sussita, its view of the Golan Heights and the Galilee and its historic significance in Christianity, have made it one of the most attractive sites in northern Israel.

The excavations have uncovered additional, important finds: the city's colonnaded street, some 240 meters long; a magnificent, marble-paneled bathhouse; and a glass bottle with an embossed face. On the final day of the dig another unusual find was uncovered: part of a white marble statue, a hand holding a staff, apparently part of a Greek god.

The great British historian Edward Gibbon observed in his masterpiece about the fall of Rome that nations which survive the longest tend not to empire, but, rather, to the needs and welfare of their own citizens. A profound lesson, that one hopes, we are learning now.

"It is scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated." Edward Gibbon, Chapter 2, The Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire

Posted by Casey Kazan. Adapted from a University of Haifa press announcement.

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