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The ruins of
Um Al-Rassas lie near the Kings' Highway, 30 kilometers south
east of Madaba, in a barren desert, no longer the lush fertile
terrain it was during the Roman rule, as described by the Jewish
historian of the time, Josephus. The biblical name of this
town, Kastron Mepha'at, is mentioned in Joshua 13:18 and in
Jeremiah 48:21.
The Roman
fortress, originally a Nabatean city, is a square walled town
with very high walls supported by towers. A 15-meter tower
stands in the middle and has generated a much speculation on the
purpose it served. Some think it was a watch tower, but the
fact that it had no stairs leading down from the domed room at
the very top and had carved crosses on the walls supports the
theory that it was home for a monk, a practice common throughout
the Middle East in the 5th century. |
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The area in
and around Um Al-Rassas abounds with churches that have the most
magnificent works of mosaics. Inside the town walls are the
ruins of four churches, while there are 12 churches outside
it. The two most important are Byzantine churches of the 6th
and 7th centuries that seem to have been used well into the
Islamic period. Both have complete and well-preserved mosaic
floors going back to the 6th century.
Some of the mosaics show the names of the main cities of the
period from both the east and the west banks of the Jordan.
They include Hagia Polis (Jerusalem), Neapolis (Nablus), Gaza,
Philadelphia (Amman). |
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