St. George church, Madaba, Jordan
Madaba is the capital city of Madaba Governorate in central Jordan, with a population of about 60,000. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of the Holy Land. Madaba is located 30 kilometres (19 miles) south-west of the capital Amman. Madaba dates from the Middle Bronze Age. The town of Madaba was once a Moabite border city, mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 21:30 and Joshua 13:9.[5] Control over the city changed back and forth between Israel and Moab, as mentioned in the Mesha Stele. During its rule by the Roman and Byzantine empires from the 2nd to the 7th centuries, the city formed part of the Provincia Arabia set up by the Roman Emperor Trajan to replace the Nabataean kingdom of Petra. The first evidence for a Christian community in the city, with its own bishop, is found in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon in 451, where Constantine, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bostra (the provincial capital) signed on behalf of Gaiano, "Bishop of the Medabeni." It was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in 629 after the Battle of Mut'ah. During the rule of the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate, it was part of the southern district of Jund Filastin within the Bilad al-Sham province.
Size: 6016px × 4016px
Location: Madaba, Jordan
Photo credit: © Roberto Cornacchia / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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