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Madaba
This small town 32km (19 miles) from Amman is best
known for its Byzantine mosaics. These are housed in both private
and public buildings, but the most noteworthy is located in the
Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George.
The mosaic is a map of the Christian Holy Lands and although it is
far from complete, many features can still be distinguished,
including the River Nile, the Dead Sea and the city of Jerusalem.
This mosaic was made from over two million pieces and originally
measured 25 meters by 5 meters. It was probably made around 560 A.D.
During the Roman-Byzantine period (II-VII Century A.D), the city
formed part of the Provincia Arabia set-up by the roman emperor
Trojan to replace the Nabathean kingdom of Petra. During the Islamic
epoch under the Omayyad dynasty, it was part of the southern Jund of
Palestine.
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Mt. Nebo
Close to the village of Faysaliyah seven kilometres
west of Madaba, Mount Nebo rises from the Trans Jordanian plateau.
Nebo provides a unique natural balcony for a bird's - eye view of
the Holy Land and southern Jordan. On very clear days the unaided
eye can pick out the Dead Sea, Bethlehem and not far from there the
singular cone that was Herod's fortress of Herodium, the towers and
buildings of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives all the way to
Ramallah.
From the mute testimony of scattered dolmens it is certain that the
ridge of Nebo was inhabited from remote antiquity.
However, its real fame is derived from the biblical event that
occurred upon it as described in the Book of Deuteronomy: the death
of the prophet Moses. Until Byzantine times the name Nebo was also
given to the fortified village that sits astride the peak of el-
Mukhayyat. In the Old Testament this ancient village is mentioned
along with other cities of Moab such as Madaba
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