Into Jordan— Part One

Though we were only in Jordan for a single day (and that was a happy accident as our flight to Cairo from Tel Aviv was canceled and so we went to Jordan for the day instead), it was jam-packed.  We went to Madaba, Mt. Nebo, and the new Amman Archaeology Museum which is excellent.  Let’s start with Madaba/Medaba.  Medaba is probably the most Christian town in all of Jordan. There are various historic churches there, like the church

of the apostles, and there is the alive and well church of St. George which we must visit first.  The  main  reason  to  heed  the  calling  of  the  bells  is  the  remarkable mosaic  map  in  the  ancient  floor  of  the  church.

Here is a guide to what you will see..

This little subsection is of Judaea. See if you can identify some towns there…

Here we have the most famous part of the map, the city of Jerusalem complete with Roman cardo running from Damascus gate right through the heart of the city.  This is by the way the oldest map of the land in antiquity, and it dates to about the 4th-5th century. Jerusalem in the 2nd and following centuries was a Roman city with a Roman cardo and the city was actually renamed as Aelia Capitolina….with a pagan temple to boot.

Another interesting part of the map is the Jordan river flowing into the Dead Sea…. notice the fish turning around when they get to the Dead Sea.  Also notice various towns mentioned, like Jericho…

In the following picture you have Bethlehem….

There is much more to see and identify, but notice that these designations are all in Greek capital letters, Greek being the language of the eastern part of the church in the early centuries.