Now referred to as Quweilbeh by locals, this was an ancient city in the Decapolis; the site is occupied by two Tells (Tell al-Abila and Tell Umm al-Amad) and the village of Hartha, approximately 13 km northeast of Irbid, Jordan. The name “Abila” is derived from the Semitic word Abel (in Arabic, “green growth”)

The largest site is located amidst verdant agricultural fields near the modern Ain Quweilbeh spring. Roman temples, Byzantine churches and early mosques lie amidst olive groves and wheat fields. Excavations indicate that the site was inhabited more than 5,000 years ago in the early Bronze Age, and appears to have been continually used by man since then.