Umm ar-Rasas

Umm ar-Rasas began as a Roman military camp and grew into a Byzantine and early Islamic town, and its principal survival is the mosaic floor of the church of St Stephen, laid in 785 and among the largest in the region, with panels showing cities of the Holy Land and the Nile delta named in Greek. A tower of some fifteen metres standing alone nearby has no stair and is understood as a stylite tower, where an ascetic lived on the top.

Background

Umm ar-Rasas, the ancient Kastron Mefa'a, lies 30 km southeast of Madaba in the semi-arid steppe of central Jordan and was once reached by branches of the King's Highway. It has been linked with Mephaat, a settlement named in the Book of Jeremiah. The Romans kept a garrison here, and later Christian and Islamic communities lived on the site. The Studium Biblicum Franciscanum excavated its northern end in 1986, but much of the area is still buried under debris. It became a World Heritage Site in 2004, and the ruins lie at about 760 metres.

Source: Wikipedia, "Umm ar-Rasas"

The main sights

• The St Stephen mosaic - the 785 floor with named cities of the region and Egypt.
• The stylite tower - a fifteen-metre tower with no stair, for an ascetic on top.
• The church complex - the group of Byzantine buildings within the walls.
• The Roman camp - the fortified rectangle the settlement grew from.

When to go

March to May and October to November are the comfortable months. Summer heat is severe with no shade. The site keeps daytime hours.

Before you go

The mosaics are under a shelter that is sometimes closed, which removes the main reason to come. There is no shade elsewhere on the site. Interpretation is limited.

Nearby

Madaba is northwest, and Machaerus is southwest.

Key facts