Saint Stephen’s Church

The extensive ruins of Umm al-Rasâs are situated 30 km to the South-East of Madaba, close to the Mount Nebo, where, according to the tradition, Moses died. It consists of a rectangular castrum which includes four churches plus an open quarter outside to the north where eight churches have been identified. The most remarkable among these churches is the one dedicated to St. Stephen which forms part of a large monastic complex.

The church has a basilical plan consisting of a nave flanked by two aisles. In addition to the main entrance on the west, access to the church was also possible from two doors opened in the south wall. The church is of great interest both for the score of inscriptions, the date of construction and the richness of the motifs in its mosaic pavement. There are sixty-four Greek inscriptions, mainly dedications with the names of benefactors. It is interesting to note that the names of the majority of those benefactors are Arabic origin, e.g. Abdallos, Obados, Naoum, Kaioun, Elias and Petrson Arabos (Peter the Arab).

The dedicatory Greek inscription along the step of the presbytery provides both the construction date of the church (718 A. D., dated according the era of the province of Arabia) and the ancient name of Umm al-Rasâs, Mayfa’a or Kastron Mayfa’a. It also provides evidence for an organized Christian community administrated by a deacon with a bishop and local clergy in such a late date and some 85 years after the arrival of the Arab Muslims. The second inscription in the apse is dated to the year 756 A. D., the year when the geometrical decoration of overlapping ovals was laid down. It mentions the name of the mosaicist, “Staurachios son of Zada” from Heshbon (Hisban), and as such he is the first mosaicist in the region whose place of origin is known. However, it is the mosaic of the nave which is of particular interest. Although the benefactors and the scenes depicting agricultural and pastoral life of the central portion have been disfigured carefully by iconoclasts, the double frame that surrounds these scenes is intact. In the northern frame we find vignettes of cities from Palestine, each accompanied by its toponym in Greek: Jerusalem (The Holy City), Neapolis (Nablus), Diospolis (Lydda), Eleutheropolis (Bayt Jibrin), Askalon and Gaza. In the southern frame there are depiction of seven towns from Jordan: Kastron Mayfa’a (Umm al-Rasas), Philadelphia (Amman), Madaba, Esbounta (Hesban), Belemounta (Ma’in), Areopolis (Rabbah) and Charachmoba (Kerak). An inner frame, decorated with Nilotic scenes depicting fish, birds, water plans and boys fishing, also portrays a series of cities in the Nile Delta: Alexandria, Anticiaous, Eraklion, Kyuopolis, Pseudostomon, Kasin, Thenessos, Tamiathis, Panau, and Pilousin. The representations of cities or architectures can be seen also in the Great Mosque of Damascus (705 – 715), realized in glass mosaics; they probably derived from Roman painted depictions.