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The
modern Arab village of Medeba (Madaba) is built on the ruins of biblical
Medeba. During construction of the Church of St. George,
the beautiful "Madaba Map" was found. This map was originally part of
the floor of a Byzantine church, built during the reign of emperor
Justinian, 527-565 A.D. It is the oldest map of the Holy Land that is
still extant. Five other Byzantine churches have been discovered in
Madaba, all with nice mosaics. This has led to Madaba’s designation as
"the city of mosaics." Madaba is 20 miles (32 km) south of Jordan's
capital city of Amman. The map is in the center of the modern church,
with the crowds gathered around it in the picture at right. The current
remains are 34.5 ft x 16.5 ft (10.5 m x 5 m, but patchy and not entirely
square), only about one-third the original size. There are currently
750,000 cubes remaining. The original size of the map was approximately
51 ft x 19.5 ft (15.5 m x 6 m), although no borders are visible. The map
is made of various colors. It has 150 Greek inscriptions in various
sizes, and covers the area from Tyre in the north to the Egyptian Delta
in the south.
Bible Places
Most of the labels are in Cisjordan, and are concerned with Biblical
locales, regional names, and events. For example, the map marks Jericho
with palm trees, 12 stones at Gilgal, Jacob’s well in Shechem, tribal
allotments, the Oak of Mamre at Hebron, John's baptism of Jesus in the
Jordan River, Benjamin, Judah, and Bethlehem. The map was restored in
1965 under the direction of H. Donner.
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