July 15 – The Kings's Highway

The King's Highway derives its name from its long history as the trade route from

Egypt north through the upper Sinai Peninsula, through Jordan and to Damascus and Iraq.  It was paved by the Romans all the way from Petra to Damascus.

At lunch time today , Sunday, we all climbed on the bus for a short ride to Madaba where we were taken to an auditorium for a mini-conference.  There are about 7 separate groups of archaeologists currently working at sites in the general area of Madaba, and for the last 3 years Doug Clark has brought all of these groups together for what has now became an annual local archeological conference.  We listened to presentations from the directors of each site and that gave us a good overview of the extent of work being done here on the Madaba Plain.  After the conference we had an opportunity to briefly walk around the central part of the city which is fairly large with a population of 100,000. 

Jordan has a population of a little over 6 million inhabitants of whom 95% are Muslim.  But about 5% are Christian and many of these live in Madaba.  They are Arabs, but are descended from those early Christians.  During the Byzantine era (324-635 AD) the whole population became Christian and Madaba was an important Christian center.  The ruins of 16 Byzantine churches have been found in Madaba and many of these were ornately decorated with elaborately designed mosaic floors.  Some of those mosaic floors can be seen today in reconstructed churches or in preserved archaeological sites, and they are spectacular.  Madaba has been called the Mosaic City.

Part of the mosaic in the floor of the Byzantine church on Mount Nebo

We had a spectacular day yesterday, comfortable because our bus was air-conditioned and informative because we were treated to a local tour guide.  First we stopped in Madaba at St George’s church to view the most famous mosaic of all, a map that depicts all of the sacred sites in the Holy Lands, from Galilee, to the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and all the way into Egypt and the Nile Delta.  It is the oldest map in existence.  From Madaba we drove the few miles south to Mount Nebo, also called Pisgah, a high point to the east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.  It was from this point that Moses viewed the Promised Land and where he died.  The view is spectacular, overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea and across to Jerusalem on the distant hills to the west.  Mount Nebo is only 2,680 feet high but it is one of the highest points overlooking the Jordan valley which is 1400 feet below sea level, a drop of 4000 feet.  There is a large Byzantine church built right at the highest point of the mountain and like those in Madaba, this church had a marvelous mosaic floor.

Mekawir - the palace is on top of the hill overlooking the dead Sea

From Mount Nebo we drove south to Mekawir, an isolated and inaccessible high point overlooking the Dead Sea.  On top of a high hill Alexander the Great built a fortress which was expanded by the Romans.  Then Herod the Great enlarged it and turned it into a palace.  Herod the Great died in 4 BC and the throne passed to Herod Antipas who married his brother’s wife.  John the Baptist didn’t approve of this unlawful marriage, and for his criticism Herod had John imprisoned.  It was at this palace, Mekawir that Herod held a lavish birthday feast and his daughter Salome performed a dance for the guests.  She danced so well that Herod offered to give her anything she wished.  Salome asked her mother what she should request, and her mother, still presumably smarting from John’s criticism, suggested John’s head.  So John was beheaded here at this palace.  It was a difficult and taxing climb to get from the Visitor’s Center to the palace, but I did it along with all those healthy young people.  The other places we visited on this trip were Lahun, an old city about the same age as Umayri, situated on a ridge that overlooked Wadi Mujib, the Grand Canyon of Jordan.  Our last stop was Umm ar-Rasas, another large and well-known Byzantine site that is famous for the best, largest and most-preserved mosaic floor in all of Jordan.

Tomorrow it is back to the dig.