The Boule of Baitolethepha (Beit-Nattif): Evidence for Village and Toparchy Administration in Judea

Abstract

A clay seal from the collection of the late professor Dan Barag bears an inscription The Boule of Baitolethepha. The village of Baitolethepha (Beit-Nattif/Pella) was the administrative center of a Toparchy in Judea. This seal seems to prove that central toparchy villages, at least in Roman period Judea, had local councils called boulai and that this type of institution was not exclusive to poleis.