Publication Date
Year 100 AH / 719-720 AD
Publication Place
-
Madaba Archaeological Park
Subject
Cubes of stone mosaic.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الطول: 16.5 م؛ العرض: 9.5 م
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
object;ISL;jo;Mus01_H;40;ar
Library Location
Madaba Archaeological Park
Date
Year 100 AH / 719-720 AD
Notes
Ma'in is located to the west of Madaba, and it is the last of the villages to be inhabited on the road leading to Hammamet Ma'in and Al-Zara. During archaeological excavations conducted by the Department of Antiquities in 1973, a church complex was found on a hill located southwest of Ma'in containing mosaic floors. The most important mosaic floor is located in the nave of the Acropolis Church, and this floor was dated based on the inscription on it to the year 100 / 719 - 720. This mosaic floor includes a central carpet surrounded by several unequal width frames, some of which are wider At two metres. The first frame contains yellow squares and black clips. This frame is followed by another frame decorated with acanthus flower motifs, containing hunting scenes and wild animals, most of which were destroyed during the iconoclasm (the removal of human and animal figures) and replaced with various floral decorations. This frame is followed by another frame that includes shapes of buildings surrounded by fruit trees, and it shows eleven buildings, each of which bears the name of a geographical location in Greek specific to one of the cities located to the east and west of the Jordan River. All of these cities were of religious importance except for the city of Ma'in, which was distinguished by a civilian character. The central part of this mosaic floor was decorated with geometric shapes and human and animal figures that were destroyed during the iconoclasm and replaced with new decorations. Includes a fruit basket figure and a sailboat figure. The floor also contained the shape of a bull, which was destroyed and replaced with the shape of a tree, but its hind limbs, tail and one of its forelimbs are all still visible. In the eastern part of the nave there is a frame decorated with flowers in which appears a rectangular panel with an inscription inside. This shape is known as Tabula Ansata. Surrounding this panel are geometric shapes and three wreaths of grape vines emerging from a small jar. There is another mosaic floor in the room to the north of the church. This floor measures 6.8 x 3.5 m and is decorated with three panels. Only the upper part of the decoration and some overlapping circles remain in the middle panel of the floor. In the eastern panel, one can see the tail, feet, back of an animal, bushes, and the upper end of an animal's horns. At the top of these figures there is an inscription in Greek. This scene was destroyed during the Iconoclasm, and originally included a scene of a cow-like animal and a lion looking at a tree. This scene was replaced with bushes on the left side and a jug on the right side, and the tree branches in the middle were also replaced.
Sample Text
Ghada Al-Yousef “Mosaic from Ma'in” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;jo;Mus01_H;40;ar
