Berea & Pella in Southern Africa

As anyone with access to Google or Mapcarta can see for themselves, in and around the landlocked country of Lesotho, that used to be called Basutoland, is riddled with interesting ancient Biblical names. Be that of Greek and or Roman origin, most of them can be found in old Basutoland, but also in Griqualand East and West. So in this one we are going to look closer into the city and area of Berea, and not far from Berea was said to be a city called Pella or area referred to as Perea. Both cities appear in Roman geography and in many different historical sources, among them are the writings of Josephus. We can count several witnesses, and we think they are valid, so lets dive!

Now Berea as the first one we will take a closer look at, is today a district in Lesotho, and borders of the Free State Province in South Africa towards the west. It borders Leribe district in the North, Thaba-Tseka in the southeast and Maseru in the south. Teyateyaneng is the capital of Berea district. Are these Greek traces close to the Sothos? Lets dive!

This is Berea in Lesotho, as we know it today and not too much is worth mentioning of the area of modern times. As for the Biblical Berea, it would have been a city well know to both Greek and Roman historians. It was also called Berea (Veira) and was a part of northern Greece (remember Griqualand East is not far from Lesotho at all), and was said not to be far from Mount Olympus. Take a look at this token (called an Agricultural medal) made available by the short lived Griqualand West Government, dated 1885 but we believe its inspiration and foregoer is much older. This looks like an ancient Greek pendant, and we believe it does or bears resemblance to earlier works from the ancient Greek Empire. We will do a longer article on the Griquas and their heritage at a later stage, but we have to mention the ancient Greek civilisation were involved during the fall of Jerusalem and later the shaping of we know as the New Testament. Modern Griqua and ancient Greeks are not the same, we are not saying that. We are pointing to the ancient traces left here, years earlier.

Now the town and city of Berea is were The Apostle Paul, Silas and Timothy preached the Gospel. It does not get any less interesting when ancient sources say that ancient Macedonia was not far either, and Berea was said to be in northwestern Macedonia, home of Alexander the Great. That should give any serious historian some pause for thought on the matter on how much of ancient history is very much lacking as for correct country and area of of origin. Africans, as black people from Africa are called today, played all parts in ancient history. And respectfully must be included as such. So lets get to know these tribes.

Now the city was said to be named after the daughter of the King of Berroia, said to be the son of Macedonia. You see here, we are rewriting history now, again. But if you follow the sources, this city is old, like Polybius historical remarks, that mentions the place was surrendered to the Romans after Battle of Pydna. And this ties the place into Alexander the Great, we believe, also a black man from the continent. Alexander made this city of Berea the second most important AFTER Pella, another city you can find close to ancient Jerusalem on old maps. As we will include that further down in this post.

Now as the story goes, Paul, Silas and Timothy traveled to Berea AFTER fleeing from Thessalonica, as it is written in Acts 17,10:

10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

Now Paul, Silas and Timothy all traveled to Berea at night after fleeing from Thessalonica, as we can read in Acts 17,10:

10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

We can see that they immediately went to the Synagogue to preach, and we can read on that the People of Berea were understanding and accepting. A starch contrast to the Thessalonians, Bereans where open minded and willing to search the Scriptures, to fact check Paul and Silas, to see if they were telling the truth. And many people turned to Christ in Berea, but when the Hebrews (yes they were aBantu against the Scriptures) heard this they came to Berea only to stir people up, starting riots and whatnot. Only to ensure that Paul and Silas could not preach there. And Paul shortly after left for the coast, while Timothy and Silas stayed behind. Furthermore we can see that Paul was taken to Athens, where Timothy and Silas was to join him as soon as possible (Acts 17,10-15). From these verses and happenings cities like Berea, Thessalonica, Pella, Corinth, Athens and Ephesus, they all appear to be within short distance of one another.

So then, now we have to account for the historical city of Athens right? And naturally we have to account for architectural wonders inside cites like Ephesus, known to us today as Temple of Artemis? The answer is that Yes we do indeed, along with most of what we know of ancient Greek and Roman history. Most of it, if not all happened on African soil. Guys we got a lot of work to do.

Now lets get to the meat and bones, Berea was said to be within the Roman province of Macedonia, which would be part of Greece. We think this would be within the confines of the Lands of the 12 Tribes and happening in Judas lands. Although why does not Scripture call them this any longer? After The Temple fell, you will find less and less references to the lands of the 12 Tribes as you read on in the New Testament. Why is this? Paul would certainly know his own peoples lands, so was this deliberate? We think so. Paul knew that using Roman and Greek names, more people world wide would come to know the locations. Or as we are discovering, would come to know them in the future as well. All this summed up, we come too the conclusion that we could place both Greece and Macedonia in and around the country of Namibia in the north (still within in Judas Lands, presumably on both side of the Jordan), a long with more Greek and Roman lands towards parts of Zambia and quite possibly large parts of Angola (that still speaks a grammatically similar language to Greek in their colonial Portuguese), and furthermore quite possibly going in towards Central Africa and smaller independent countries around the Congo. And remember there would be a large body of water with many islands (as was ancient Greece descriptions) inland in Central Africa somewhere. We have to account for this at some point. Perhaps after he rains has come, this will become more evident.

Back to Berea, which did become a Roman episcopal station and pivotal for the spreading the Gospel but also of the other form of the gospel. The version that would grow and have children that formed into Catholicism, that now seems so prevalent all over the world. A religion that seems more in favour of control and worship of saints rather then getting closer to the Father. Now, we can read all about these events in the meticulous and well kept Roman historical documents, like Apostolic Constitutions, happenings at meetings like: Council of Sardica, Second Council of Ephesus, Council of Chalcedon, Council of Nicaea (later) and the several Councils of Constantinople. And believe us it is a lot to sift through. But gets more interesting when placing these councils on African soil, where they indeed belong.

Now if we look closer into historical Battles like Battle of Pydna, we will find that there were two major roads that joined the towns of Thessalonica and Berea, where one of these roads actually passed close to Pella on the way there. Battle of Pydna is extremely well documented, from people like Plutarch and the likes of him. And Romans chronicled their history so well, they would be turning in their graves if only they knew what would happen to their work in these days. Anyways, Battle of Pydna was won by the Romans and describes many of these places we are trying to place on the maps of Southern Africa. And as you can see from the image, the district of Berea in Lesotho and Pella in Namakwa in South Africa, are really not that far apart. So we will see if this theory stands the test of time, of if these lands where indeed further north and towards Central Africa.

Moving on to Pella that was said to be located in ancient Macedonia in Greece, and was the capitol of the ancient Greek Kingdom that we know historically as Macedon. Pella was said to be founded by Archelaus that replaced Aigai as their main city. Philip was born there as well as his son Alexander the Great. This city was sacked by Romans and Thessalonica (not far from her could be what we know today as Swakopmund or another port in the Eastern Cape depending on which way you read the map), would take over in its importance.

Now looking closer at German cartographer Richard Andree (1835-1912) and his map from 1887-1895, we can find both Pella and Jerusalem, not far from Giqualand West (remnants of the Greeks, article coming).

Now for Pella as a historical name to even appear in these lands, a long with others like Philiopolis, Goshen, Bethlehem and Berea, is nothing short of baffling and should be so to ANY students of ancient history. What on this earth are these ancient names doing in these areas? Just more confirmation for us, just strange for others. Anyways, Pella was said to be close to the ocean and was navigable by a river, ancient sources tell us. Hmmm, what river could that be? Well, off course, it is none other than the Jordan. And it is there, to this day.

Now what is the significance of Pella, is that it was said to be situated on the Perean (Pellaean) foothills of the Jordan River. This makes the location as a likely one, except we now have to account for the two Civilisations of ancient Macedon, although they where annexed into the Greek Empire, and the Greek Empire itself. Now as we mentioned before the Griqua might be the last traces of this people we have based much of our western sciences, medicines and structure of education really, it was and is all modelled after the ancient Greeks. To say they were not situated were they are believed to be today, will certainly cause an uproar. But, if Israel was in southern Africa, so where the Greeks.

Now Pella has a unique place in ancient history and will tell tales that testament to SoNiNi, perhaps that is why the name is still intact among all the Afrikaaner and German names littered in the surrounding area. Pella as a historical name and location takes us straight back in time and to the destruction of Jerusalem. We believe this was the most recent one for us. A time when Jerusalem was facing impending doom, after Christ indeed said it was going to go down (!), Pella became a place of refuge particularly for the followers of Christ, and the city gave safety and protection. Remember, flee to the mountains. This would be historically known as the flight to Pella, and is very well documented. You can take your pick among ancient Roman and Greek writers, many of them will chronicle the escape to Pella.

As we mentioned the early church fathers, Eusebius of Caesarea and Epiphanius of Salamis, both quote that they warned the early Christians present in Jerusalem just as the Romans were at the door, told them to flee to Pella. The city was said to be in the region of the Decapolis, across the Jordan. Name on the east side of the Jordan, which Pella of Namakwa indeed is. In the image we can see a relative close proximity of one of the possible locations for Jerusalem, across the border in the lands today known as Namibia.

Now we have to include historical elements such as the Decapolis, meaning 10 large Greek cities on the eastern front of the Roman Empire, we must take in consideration these cities in these mappings. And it does complicate things, but no more so then it already is. Large swaths of land, now privately owned, but to be found in its ground, great archeological discoveries. We will try to make a comprehensive article of the Decapolis in the near future, although that article will be very taxing. So we will have to give that one some time.

Now back to Pella and the Temple in Jerusalem, and the flight from Jerusalem to Pella, as quoted by Eusebius in Church History 3,5,3:

The people of the Church in Jerusalem were commanded by an oracle given by revelation before the war to those in the city who were worthy of it to depart and dwell in one of the cities of Perea which they called Pella. To it those who believed on Christ traveled from Jerusalem, so that when holy men had altogether deserted the royal capital of the Jews and the whole land of Judaea.

And a couple of quotes from Epiphanius and Panarion 29,7,7-8:

This heresy of the Nazoraeans exists in Beroea in the neighbourhood of Coele Syria and the Decapolis in the region of Pella and in Basanitis in the so-called Kokaba (Chochabe in Hebrew). From there it took its beginning after the exodus from Jerusalem when all the disciples went to live in Pella because Christ had told them to leave Jerusalem and to go away since it would undergo a siege. Because of this advice they lived in Perea after having moved to that place, as I said.

And in Panarion 30,3,7:

For after all those who believed in Christ had generally come to live in Perea, in a city called Pella of the Decapolis of which it is written in the Gospel that it is situated in the neighbourhood of the region of Batanaea and Basanitis, Ebion's preaching originated here after they had moved to this place and had lived there.

Epiphanius wrote again this time in On Weights and Measures 15:

So Aquila, while he was in Jerusalem, also saw the disciples of the disciples of the apostles flourishing in the faith and working great signs, healings, and other miracles. For they were such as had come back from the city of Pella to Jerusalem and were living there and teaching. For when the city was about to be taken and destroyed by the Romans, it was revealed in advance to all the disciples by an angel of God that they should remove from the city, as it was going to be completely destroyed. They sojourned as emigrants in Pella, the city above mentioned in Transjordania. And this city is said to be of the Decapolis.

And can read that an Angel of SoNiNi showed them what was about to go down, so they escaped. Pella again mentioned as being TransJordan, on the East side of the Jordan. Now we know that Christ did warn of the coming destructions in Matthew 24-15-20 (and Luke 21,20-24), and the Abomination of Desolation which would have been the Roman Empires absolute peak of arrogance when they slaughtered a pig at SoNiNis alter in the Temple. One can only imagine the scenes among the Hebrews. The women crying, the men hiding their faces in shame on account of the Romans fulfilling prophecy to the T.

So you see Pella is steeped in historical significance. And the early church fathers, like Eusebius and Epiphanius, said the escape to Pella was something that happened just before Jerusalem was destroyed (Eusebius, Church History):

"Pella stands as a testament to the importance of finding safety and solace during times of crisis."

Furthermore, the historical annals say that the city was built by Archelaus The First, who seemed to have gotten together the finest and best from the Greek Empire in the construction of his palace.

Archelaus went on to bring in celebrities like: Zeuxis, a man that can be the equivalent of our times Walt Disney he could create VERY realistic image and was favoured by famous Greeks like Aristotle and Xenophon of Athens, and others also taken in at the high court of Pella was Timotheus of Miletus a musician and poet that was known to add a string to the Lyre (an ancient African instrument that also King David was skilled at playing), and the great playwright and main of the three tragic Greek writers Euripides. These where celebrities of the Greek Empire. Men that the great well known authors such as Shakespeare built his words upon. The Bacchae was said to first have been staged at Pella. The writer and military man Xenophon wrote that Pella was the largest Macedon city, birthplace of Philip and Alexander the Great, people we would come to define African interior landscapes. All but until the Romans sacked the city some time before Christ, and made it a Roman Province of Macedonia.

So Pella, a very well documented Roman Greek city, that was on route to many other ancient cities, such as Dyrrachium (closer to Corinth and Corcyra) and the port of Thessalonica. Later Pella became a Roman colony, and was so at the time of Christ, Colonia Iulia Augusta Pella, Augustus Cesar choose to call it. Later Lucian of Samosata, that would have been an Assyrian (SouthWest-African) that was partial to Greek philosophy, went on to describe the town has having diminished with very few inhabitants even later on bearing the name Diocletianopolis for a while. Lucian also had some less favourable comments of Christ, and actually like other satirist today did ridicule religious practises as a whole. He would fit nicely into the world of unbelievers today. Lucian came from a small town on the banks of the Euphrates (Zambezi), which we believe would be in the country we today know as Angola.

This one had a lot of Greek history, but it is central to how the Gospel was to spread and the coming disagreements with what became the Roman catholics and their faith so prevalent in the world today. So it must be chronicled as well. And the fact is, it was the Greeks lastly that came to ask about Christ remember? Only Then was it that He said, Now! The Son of Man is ready to be given up to the authorities... And you can almost hear the thoughts of the Most High in this, Because when these people, the Greeks, come to ask about Me, I know they will write down my words and preserve them in their language. And indeed they did. The Greek heritage is a massive influence of education and history today, and very much for our Biblical Scholars, they know Koine Greek was the trade language of larger parts of the world at the time. And it, a long with Latin at a later stage then Babylonian/Assyrian Hebrew scholars, all of them Preserved the words we are left with today. Do people think that this happen on account of a coincidence? SoNiNi does not leave things up for a mere coincidence. Mdala knows, He knows the beginning and He knows the End. He made sure the Greeks wrote down everything, for us to read about it. So lets read more.

Coming up, will be an attempt to Chronicle Jacobs journeys in and around the Promised Lands of Southern Africa.

SoNiNi unathi