Bethany Beyond the Jordan

-

 


Bethany Beyond the Jordan

Plate 1.
Earlier course of the Jordan at Bethany. Photo: D. Campbell.

At the Jordan River opposite Jericho there are presently two observation platforms and access for baptisms at the place of Jesus’ baptism by John-the-Baptist: one on the Jordanian side and one on the Israeli side. This, however, is not the exact original site of Jesus’ baptism because the river has changed its course. Archaeological excavations support the identification of the location in Plate 1 as the correct spot of John the Baptist’s activities. When this photograph was taken it was a dry riverbed and soil covered the monumental staircase that candidates for baptism walked down to enter the water. 

Jesus came here for his baptism and later when he was taking refuge from the authorities in Jerusalem (John 10:40). The large crowds that gathered to hear Jesus preach included people from the cities of the Decapolis (Mt. 4:25) six of which are in modern Jordan; so he was well known in the area. 

After many seasons of excavation on the Eastern side of the Jordan River, archaeologist Mohmmad Waheeb in, ‘The Discovery of Byzantine Laura of St Mary of the Egyptians in Site of Jesus Baptism, Annals of Archaeology 2.1 (2019), p. 8, concluded: “the biblical texts, early pilgrims’ reports, the Madaba mosaic map, and recent archaeological work all agree in locating the place of the activities of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus east of the Jordan River at Bethany beyond the Jordan, near Elijah’s Hill”. 

Because Jesus was baptised at the Jordan River it was central to early Christianity. Monasteries were built along both of its banks and became hubs for missionary activity among the neighbouring peoples and major sites for pilgrimage and baptisms. Monasteries continued their ministry until the 8th century, well after the Muslim conquest of 638 CE. 

Jordan’s rich but much damaged Christian remains include buildings, many artefacts, inscriptions and clay lamps, pottery vessels and mosaic floors, perhaps the most famous of which is the Madaba Map but the greatest site is Bethany beyond the Jordan because Jesus visited it a number of times and Elijah was taken to heaven from nearby. 

For more information see Deslee Campbell, “The Other Holy Lands: Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon” (Amazon, 2020) and as an ebook.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three 1st -Century Synagogues In Galilee

-
Image
1. Gamla This synagogue is in the destroyed town of Gamla in the Golan Heights, above and overlooking the Lake of Galilee. The Jewish historian, Josephus, as commander of Jewish forces in the Galilee, supervised Gamla’s fortification and was, perhaps, an eye-witness to its ruin as he described how Gamla fell to the Roman invaders in 67 CE. The textual evidence of his history, War of the Jews, dovetails with what the archaeologists eventually found. Gamla lay in the Golan Heights, untouched for almost 2,000 years. The synagogue, in Plate 1, pre-dates the Common Era and may date from the first century BCE. Details of the destruction of Gamla are discussed more fully in our YouTube presentation ‘The Ruins of Gamlain Northern Israel’. There is much interest in the question of whether an upper storey was (or contained) a gallery for women. A temporary separation barrier between men and women may have been used (canes or rugs have been suggested) even in small, early, single-storey synagogue...
Read more

Melisende Queen of Jerusalem (1106-1161)

-
Image
  Melisende or Milicent, the oldest of four daughters of King Baldwin II, was the first Crusader Queen of Jerusalem to rule in her own right. Her father trained her in statecraft and diplomacy and she had the support of the Catholic heirarchy, the Council (the Haute Cour) and the people. Her arranged marriage to Fulk, Count of Anjou, elevated him to the throne and they were jointly crowned. Fulk, however, openly dismissed her hereditory right and ignored her authority but she refused to be overlooked; which he came to accept. Melisende ruled as Queen of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem for almost half a century: first as co-ruler with her father for a decade, then for 14 years with her husband, King Fulk, and then as regent for her thirteen year old son, Baldwin III. Finally she was queen-regnant: co-ruling with this son until her end. Both of her children became king in turn as Baldwin III and Amalric I, and Amalric’s son was Baldwin IV. Queen Melisende patronised culture, scholarsh...
Read more

the Grand Theatre of Ephesus

-
Image
  The ancient Grand Theatre looking down Harbour Street. The Grand Theatre has survived from Antiquity relatively well. This was the theatre in which the events of Acts Chapter 19:21ff were played out. The acoustics of Greco-Roman theatres are excellent so there was no need for a microphone or megaphone when Alexander or the grammateus (mayor, but usually translated ‘town clerk’) addressed the multitude. The theatre was cut into the hillside and was commenced before the turn of the eras. It was increased in diameter under the Emperor Claudius (41-54 A.D.) and it was this version of the theatre that St Paul would have known. It was extended to its final size and seating capacity (of over 24,000) during the Emperor Trajan’s period (98-117 A.D.). The remains of buildings visible to the right of Harbour Street may have included a synagogue as some artefacts bearing Jewish symbols (such as the menorah) have been found in that area, but the synagogue in which Paul preached has not yet be...
Read more

More non-imperial donations

-
Image
 Many of the religious and political leaders of Anatolia and Asia (Asia Minor) lived in Ephesus but had wider power and derived income from the whole region. Wealth was also derived from trade and depended upon the deep-water port (until it silted up). The Harbour Baths, that were upgraded and decorated a number of times, show that people lived around the port as it was too far out of town, otherwise. Numerous people in Ancient Ephesus were sufficiently wealthy to erect large structures for the welfare of the city. In c.4 B.C. the ex-slaves, Mazaeus and Mithridates,* built the triple-arched gate to the Commercial Agora as a gesture of thanks to the Emperor Augustus and his son-in-law Agrippa, who had freed them. Donations were either decorative (in praise of a person, family or deity) such as the Memmius Monument* on the Curetes Street*, or provided amenities, such as free water. After Gaius Sextilius Pollio had built the Marnas Aqueduct to bring extra water from the Marnas River i...
Read more

the Temple of Hadrian, Ephesus, Turkey

-
Image
This building is on the main street, Curetes Street, that later led to the great Library of Celsus in Ephesus (built in 135 CE). The Temple of Hadrian was the second temple to be built in Ephesus for the worship of a Roman Emperor. The first had been built by Domitian (81-96 CE) and featured a statue of himself. The head and one forearm have survived, indicating that the figure, if standing, would have been 7 metres tall. We can assume that Hadrian’s image in his temple would also have been “larger than life”. Hadrian (117-138 CE) visited Ephesus two or perhaps three times. An extant i inscription states that Hadrian’s temple in Ephusus was built by one P. Quintilius. It is quite small and consists of a front porch supported by two Corinthian-style columns and two matching pillars and an inner vaulted cella (room) with an altar and a statue. Because of the honours paid to the Roman Imperial Cult the city was awarded the epithet “Temple-Wardenship”. The four pedestals just visible at th...
Read more

The Scholastikia Baths in Ephesus

-
Image
 Scholastikia was a very wealthy Christian lady of the 4th century who acquired public baths that dated back to the late 1st century (towards the end of St John’s life). In about 400 A.D. Scholastikia extended and restored this into an up-market private facility for up to 1,000 people. Originally it was near a public latrine, which could seat 50 people simultaneously, along with a brothel, which all seems to have been incorporated into the Byzantine period facility. There were numerous baths in Ephesus but Scholastikia’s were just off the Curetes Street in a central position. In Italy, the public baths at Pompeii and Herculaneum had separate bath-houses for men and women but at the turn of the eras the Romans began to have mixed bathing so that, in St Paul’s day, different cities, even different facilities, would have had different practices. Bishop Clement of Alexandra (c.150-c.215) was the first Christian leader to express concern about mixed bathing, and others followed. Some su...
Read more

non-imperial donations in Ephesus

-
Image
  Many of the religious and political leaders of Anatolia and Asia (Asia Minor) lived in Ephesus but had wider power and derived income from the whole region. Wealth was also derived from trade and depended upon the deep-water port (until it silted up). The Harbour Baths, that were upgraded and decorated a number of times, show that people lived around the port as it was too far out of town, otherwise. Numerous people in Ancient Ephesus were sufficiently wealthy to erect large structures for the welfare of the city. In c.4 B.C. the ex-slaves, Mazaeus and Mithridates,* built the triple-arched gate to the Commercial Agora as a gesture of thanks to the Emperor Augustus and his son-in-law Agrippa, who had freed them. Donations were either decorative (in praise of a person, family or deity) such as the Memmius Monument* on the Curetes Street*, or provided amenities, such as free water. After Gaius Sextilius Pollio had built the Marnas Aqueduct to bring extra water from the Marnas River ...
Read more