Preservation through Transformation: Identifying Late Roman Hula Valley Sites in Panias’s Diocletianic Boundary Stones

This paper identifies Late Roman sites in the Hula Valley mentioned in Diocletianic boundary stones. Employing a threefold methodological framework—toponymic preservation, archaeological evidence, and spatial analysis—it challenges longstanding assumptions that ancient toponyms in the region were entirely lost. Instead, it demonstrates that the majority of place names engraved on the boundary stones have survived, albeit through significant linguistic and morphological transformations over time: Tirthas (Khirbet Turrīthā), Golgol (Juneijil /al-Zūq al-Fawqānī), Mamsia (Marsīna), Beth-Achon (Tell al-Baṭṭīkha), Dēra (al-Dawwāra), Osea (al-ʿĀbsiya), Beth-Anath (Tell ʿAnt), and Migēramē (al-Muqārināt). These identifications are supported by historical-linguistic reconstruction, data from Ottoman and British Mandate cadastral surveys, and targeted archaeological evidence. The study highlights the complex processes of linguistic transformation—such as phonetic shifts, semantic reinterpretation, and folk etymology—that have shaped the survival of these toponyms in the northern Hula Valley. By integrating diverse sources of evidence, the paper not only revises the geographic understanding of Panias’s countryside but also proposes a replicable framework for reassessing ancient settlement continuity and cultural interaction across the broader Levantine frontier.