Apr 11 - Madaba and Mukawir

Second post for today.....

From Amman, we headed southwest. We passed some fairly good looking farm land. There are a lot of greenhouses that grow crops such as strawberries, eggplant and cauliflower. The rest of the land is basically semi-desert with lots of rocks and a few low scrub bushes and some patches of grass. We arrived in shortly in Madaba. The Madaba Mosaic Map is a map of the region dating from the 6th century and preserved in the floor of the Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George, sometimes called the "Church of the Map". With two million pieces of colored stone, the map depicts hills and valleys, villages and towns in Palestine and the Nile Delta. The mosaic contains the earliest extant representation of Byzantine Jerusalem, labeled the "Holy City." The map provides important details about its 6th-century landmarks, with the cardo, or central colonnaded street, and the church of the Holy Sepulchre clearly visible. This map is one key in developing scholarly knowledge about the physical layout of Jerusalem after its destruction and rebuilding in 70 AD.

On the road again, this time winding our way up and down narrow roads to Mukawir to see Machaerus which is a fortified hilltop palace located in Jordan 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the mouth of the Jordan river on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. According to Flavius Josephus, it is the location of the imprisonment and execution by beheading of John the Baptist. According to the chronology of the Bible (Mark 6:24; Matthew 14:8), this infamous execution took place in 32 AD shortly before the Passover, following an imprisonment of two years. The site also provides the setting for four additional New Testament characters: Herod the Great; his son, Tetrarch Herod Antipas; his second wife, Princess Herodias, and her daughter, Princess Salome.

Along the way today, we have checked out some pretty sketchy washrooms. "Be prepared!" is now my mantra when entering the facilities in Jordan.

We had tea/coffee, and hit the road again, this time heading to Umm Ar-Rasas. See next footprint for today.Read more