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Perched on a lonely promontory a thousand feet above the sea, Sussita was one of the first Galilee cities to construct a harbor (below the town). In the first century B.C.E., Sussita gained jurisdiction over the neighboring region when it became a member of the Decapolis, the League of Ten Cities created by the Roman general Pompey in the Jordan Valley and in Transjordan. Ships from Sussita apparently ferried grain and other commodities to many locales around the sea: The Talmud describes Sussita and the surrounding region as the breadbasket of Tiberias, the largest city on the western shore of the Galilee.