Travelbeat Editorial Review THE MOSAICS OF EMPIRE Historic Byzantium In Modern Jordan Story and photos by Kerry Hennigan Throughout the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan are the remains of countless Byzantine churches, many containing traces of what were once stunning pictorial and geometrical mosaics. The archaeological evidence accessible to the modern traveller in Jordan is itself like one giant mosaic of the Christian Empire of Byzantium's once extensive influence in the Levant between the 4th and 7th Centuries AD. Even after the Arab conquest of the Middle East, mosaic making continued and some of the most important Christian mosaics were created during the 8th century under Islamic (Umayyad) rule. At places like Um Qais and Jerash in the north, Madaba and Mt Nebo in the west, Umm ar Rasas in central Jordan, and Petra and Aqaba in the south, remnants of multiple layers of occupation, from prehistory to the Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods overlap. Here the foundations, pillars, arches and especially mosaics, covering what were once the floors of Byzantine churches, have been discovered and preserved in situ. One high and seldom-visited outpost of Byzantine worship is Mar Elias, near the modern town of Ajlun. Near here it is believed that the Old Testament prophet Elijah was born, making it a place of significance to the three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. If you visit in winter you may be the only person scrambling over the hilltop, which also provides exceptional views of Jordan and its neighbours (left). But you have to watch where you put your feet on the top of the hill as it is scattered with scraps of mosaic that once adorned the floors of the 7th Century AD church complex that crowned the summit. A sign warns visitors not to walk on the mosaics, which poses no problem where they are actually roped off and, during winter, covered in protective plastic sheeting. But a few metres away are large areas of exposed tiles faded to the colour of the local limestone. Here you run the risk of stepping on the mosaics before you've even noticed their existence. But, never fear, the local caretaker taking shelter from the incessant wind in his caravan will probably sing out a warning before any damage is done. Umm ar Rasas, another spot often left off tour itineraries, contains amongst its extensive Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic period ruins, those of a number of churches. Most significant is the church of St Stephen, now under a large shelter shed, with elevated walkways to maximise views of the church's perfectly preserved mosaic floor (the largest in Jordan) created in 718 AD (centre left). The pattern on this giant pictorial scene features a border of cities of the Holy Land and pilgrims travelling between them. The interior is a display of the bounty of God's creation, fruits, flowers, people, animals, all beautifully realised in the natural colours of tesserae cut from native stone found throughout Jordan. These natural colours, still used in the country's modern mosaic workshops (lower left), set the mosaics of Jordan apart from those from other parts of the former empire, where they were composed of gold or brilliantly coloured glass tiles. Located between the Jordanian capital Amman and the Dead Sea, the town of Madaba, which had been a Bishop's see during the Byzantine period, boasts the most famous mosaic of all - a map of the Holy Land as known to pilgrims in the 6th Century AD. Visible now on the floor of the Greek Orthodox Church of St George (see photos at top of article), this mosaic was a phenomenal discovery when it came to light in 1884 beneath the rubble of an earlier church built on the site. Originally part of the floor of a large cathedral, no-one now knows the original extent of the map, created between 542 - 570 AD, which places Jerusalem at its centre and features many other recognisable towns and cities from Tyre and Sidon to the Egyptian Delta and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Eastern Desert. Open daily the Church of St George, though of fairly recent construction (1896), is a suitably reverent and atmospheric guardian of this earliest surviving map of what was then the Eastern Byzantine World. For the cost of a 1JD donation, visitors can examine first hand an archaeological and artistic treasure that opens a window onto the colourful 'mosaic' of Jordan's amazing past. References and further reading: · The Mosaic Map of Madaba: An Introductory Guide by Herbert Donner, Kok Phaos Publishing House, Kampen, The Netherlands, 1992. This book is sold in the Visitor Centre adjacent to St Georges Mosaic Map Church Madaba, but you might also find it listed on Amazon.com · Insight Guide: Jordan. APA Publications GmbH & Co, Verlag KG (Singapore branch) 2008. This guide is one of the most up-to-date currently on the market and has plenty of interesting reading matter on Jordan, its history and its people, is well illustrated with colour photographs and has excellent maps. · The Jordan Tourism Board. The following link will take you directly to information on Madaba and other nearby attractions: www.visitjordan.com/default.aspx?tabid=189. Where sources give conflicting information - particularly with respect to historic dates - I have tended to favour the Tourism Board version. Back to Front Page