The Mosaics of the Madaba Plateau of Jordan

1. The Mosaics of the Madaba Plateau of Jordan The beautiful "Swan" Mosaic in the Mosaic Museum in Madaba Most of the mosaics of Transjordan date from between the 1st century and the eighth century AD. Mosaics were used in many buildings to decorate walls, floors or ceilings, employing motifs mostly from everyday life : harvesting, hunting, fishing or just pastoral or mythological themes. Church mosaics often depicted stories from the Bible. Sadly, with the decree of the Emperor Leo in AD726, forbidding the use of people and animals in "images" ("God is the only creator") most of these mosaics were badly defaced. Those which survive today more or less intact, are almost always the mosaics which had been hidden by a later mosaic built above them. Otherwise all too often we see a mosaic with pastoral scenes or vignettes, but with the people hammered out. This is just as frustrating as you might imagine: a beautiful scene, and a big hole in the middle

2. This decree applied chiefly to churches, and the majority of the mosaics we can see today were found in Byzantine churches. Archaeologists digging in the ruins of churches in Jordan are accustomed to finding thousands of multicoloured glass tiles, which shows the extent of the mosaic decorations of the period. Ceilings and floors covered in brightly coloured pictures - they must have been beautiful • In Madaba the best known mosaic is the map of the Holy Land to be seen in the Church of St George. The great majority of visitors stop here for half an hour or so and nowhere else in Madaba, which is a pity. The central part of the map focuses on the City of Jerusalem. • The mosaic Map of Madaba was discovered in 1896 and was immediately recognised as an outstanding discovery. It was published a year later. This discovery drew upon the city the attention of scholars worldwide. It also positively influenced the inhabitants who shared the contagious passion of Brother Giuseppe Manfredi to whose efforts we owe the discovery of most of the mosaics in the city

3. What you see there today is just a remnant of the original mosaic which measured over 16m long by 6m wide and which depicted most of the present day Near East from Lebanon to the Nile Delta and from the Mediterranean to the eastern desert of Jordan. It dates from the sixth century and besides decorating the church was probably intended to help pilgrims making their way from one holy site to another. St George's Church is, of course, a modern church, and the original Byzantine building was much larger. This mosaic must have taken years to make. • It is most interesting that following the depiction on this map of the "Baptism Site of Christ" excavations were undertaken and the site of Bethany was uncovered, exactly on the site shown on the map!

4. Here you can see a detailof the River Jordan, withwhat is possibly a bridge or at least a crossing point between the two banks. A detail often remarked on is the fish, which arriving close to the Dead Sea turn and swim back again - no fish are shown swimming in the Dead Sea which at that time was just as salty and unsuitable for fish as it is today. • Notice too that just north of the bridge, the (presumably) hunters have been erased by the iconoclasts. No attempt has been made to restore them, since we have no idea what they actually looked like. A mixture of mosaic tiles has been put in place

5. Madaba is one of the oldest towns still existing that was mentioned in the Bible (Joshua 13 v9) as being part of the territory parcelled out by Moses to the Reubenites and the Gadites : "From Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon". The land was taken from the Moabites, as is said in Numbers 21 v30 : "Heshbon is perished, even unto Dibon and we have laid them waste even unto Nopha, which reacheth unto Medeba". This is indeed going a very long way back.

6. Dibon, incidentally, also still exists. Under the name of Dhiban it is the last town before Wadi Mujib (Nahal Arnon in Hebrew) when you go south on the Kings' Highway. There are numerous ruins and an important tell; it is here that the Mesha Stele was found in 1868. The stele recounts the rule of the "King Mesha" around 850BC and is now in the Louvre, but copies of it are displayed in museums all over Jordan, and you will find many references to it in histories of Jordan. See the webpage

7. Madaba was an important town at the beginning of the Christian era, and had its own bishop. Imposing churches were built there, including the Cathedral, the Church of the Apostles, the Church of the Virgin and the Church of St Elianos as well as St George's (the famous "Church of the Map"). All of these churches were copiously decorated with mosaics, the finest dating from the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Because of the iconoclasts, few remain and many of those in poor condition. However, a number of mosaics have been moved to Madaba to the Museum there from other sites on the Madaba Plateau : the mosaic from the baths of Herod's citadel at Mukawir dates from the 1st century AD

8. The Church of the Apostles in Madaba is a little bit away from the Old Town and the Mosaic Museum (or Archaeological Park). A special shelter has been built to protect the floor which has a gorgeous mosaic in the centre, showing a collection of "dancing pigeons" which I find very attractive. I didn't see one couple of pigeons identical to another.

9. in the centre of the floor shows a personification of the Sea. Notice the rudder held in the left hand. I am voluntarily showing copies made at the Mosaics School rather than the original which is both very difficult to take in photo and very very dusty as you can see from the photo of the floor above. The colours show here much better and it is easier to appreciate the beauty of the work. • Mosaics, incidentally, could be useful as well as ornamental. In the Archaeological Park you can see the mosaic shown below at the entrance to one of the houses. It indicated that shoes should be removed! Note the outline of a sandal above the round bit, which you can see better on the larger scaled photo .

10. abandoned and its ruins were untouched for centuries. At the end of the nineteenth century, some Christian families in Kerak • decided to move away from there, following • trouble with their Moslem neighbours. They • settled in Madaba, took over the lands and • began to cultivate them and to construct • their own houses and places of worship. • The Islamic authorities allowed them to do • so, but on condition that the Christian • churches should only be built on the sites • previously occupied by the Byzantine • churches. This led to a general exploration • of the town ruins, and the clearance of many • buried churches. You will find many • "modern" buildings on the ancient sites - in Madaba do not judge the age of a house or any building by its exterior

11. Hippolytus Hall was a rich Byzantine mansion, and themosaic found there in 1982 beneath the present day Church of the Virgin is one of the treasures of Madaba

12. The mosaic depicts the legend of Phaedra and Hippolytus as dramatized by Euripides. On the right Aphrodite is seated beside Adonis, and is threatening with her slipper one of the Cupids presented to her by the Three Graces. On the left, a servant is carrying a basket of fruit and a dead partridge. One of the Cupids has his head in a beehive, a reference to a love poem by Theocrites.

13. The mosaic shown above dates from 597AD when the church was rebuilt and greatly enlarged. Again the left and right hand photos are details of the central one. Today it is displayed on the wall. • The mosaic on the left was discovered when the 597AD was removed for cleaning. A perfectly beautiful mosaic, dating from 531AD it shows four panels of scenes of hunting and husbandry. • The animals are beautifully depicted, and notice (in the enlargement) the peasant sitting under a tree while his charges graze. • The animal at the bottom is a bit weird, something of a mixture of a zebra and perhaps a giraffe? Presumably the artist had seen neither.

14. Khirbet al-Mukhayyat • This village just off the road from Madaba toMount Nebo is mostly neglected by tourists, but it contains one of the most beautiful mosaics discovered in Jordan, almost perfectly preserved. A shelter has been built to protect it in the ruins of the church of St Lot and St Procopius. It is pity thatno public transport goes to Khirbet al Mukhayyat. • Again I show two details of the complete mosaic and with them you can better appreciate how impressive the mosaic is. • Some other mosaics have been found there but are not on general display

15. The famous mosaic and its place in the church before the shelter that you can see above was built. On the right you can see the mosaic that is reproduced in the panel below.

16. The major interest of the mosaic floor in the church of Saint Stephen lies in the frame depicting cities of Palestine, of Jordan and of Egypt. In the north row can be identified : Jerusalem, Neapolis (Nablus) showing the church of the Theotokos on Mount Garizim, Sebastis (Sebastia), Caesarea on the sea, Diospolis (Lidda), Eleutheropolis (Beit Gibrin), Askalon and Gaza. In the south row a series of seven Jordanian cities is shown starting with the double plan of Kastron Mefaa-Umm er-Rasas, followed by Philadelphia (Amman), Madaba, Esbounta (Hesban), Belemounta (Ma'in), Areopolis (Rabba) and CharachMouba (el-Kerak). Two additional Jordanian cities, Limbon and Diblaton are portrayed, one at the head of each aisle, associated with portraits of benefactors and inscriptions. There is a mention of the monastery of Mount Nebo which gave an offering for the church. The inner frame, which depicts a river with fish, birds, and water flowers, as well as boats and boys fishing or hunting, also portrays a series of ten cities in the Nile Delta : Alexandria, Kasin, Thenesos, Tamiathis, Panau, Pilousin, Antinau, Eraklion, Kynopolis and Pseudostomon. • The names of the "sponsors" of this mosaic are given, and seem to be semitic, probably local

17. Here are some details from the central design

18. By: Al-fdaeen School Teacher: -Sana’a Harahsha -Nawal Zanouny Student : Yara Al-harahsha