from ca. 1350 BCE containing clay tablets. The city was first mentioned in the 19th century BCE in Egyptian execration texts, and it continued to flourish throughout the Bronze Age. A Canaanite temple was uncovered during the 1994-2003 campaigns. Australian archaeologists also discovered Middle and Late Bronze Age temples and palatial residences (ca. 1800-1200 BCE), as well as a Late Bronze Egyptian governors's residence from ca. 1350 BCE containing clay tablets. In the Amarna Period (c. 1350 BC), the city was ruled by Mutbaal, a son of Labaya of Shechem. Apparently, they rebelled and expanded their territory and associated with the Habiru. The urban heart of the Iron Age city-kingdom seems to have suffered a major destruction in the later 9th century, from which it did not recover. Hellenistic period Re-established as an urban centre under the early Seleucids, its ancient name must still have been known, for its new, Greek name was a close synonym, Pella – the birthplace of Alexander the Great in Macedon. As yet no public buildings from the Hellenistic period have been identified, although well-appointed private houses attest to their integration into the wider norms of urban living, such as wall-paintings and statuary. Several of these houses suffered what appears to be the same fiery destruction in the Late Hellenistic period. This has been attributed to a massive destruction by the Hasmonean king, Alexander Jannaeus, about 83 or 82 BCE (Josephus, The Jewish War 14.4.8; Antiquities 14.4.4). From Josephus, it is clear that Pella had been damaged and so needed some restoration by Pompey decades afterwards, but his specific reference to the destruction of Pella by Jannaeus because its inhabitants refusing to follow Jewish customs, seems to refer to a different place (Antiquities, XIII.395-397): it is listed as if amongst southern Levantine cities and out of its more normal sequence between Gadara, Gerasa and Scythopolis. Roman period In 63 BCE, the Roman General Pompey integrated the region into the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire, converting the old Seleucid empire into the province of Coele-Syria and incorporating Judaea as a client kingdom. A group of cities claiming Greek Hellenistic foundations asked Pompey for freedom from the threat of incorporation within Rome's new client-state of Hasmonaean Judaea. Pompey agreed, and these cities were called the Decapolis – literally, the ten cities – although the lists which have survived vary in composition and number. Pella, however, is