The sea medallion
Thalassa among fish and dolphins.
Kyle Taylor — CC BY 2.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0
A Byzantine church on the southern edge of Madaba with one of the city's largest well-preserved mosaic floors. Its lost dedication inscription recorded that this church of the Apostles was completed under Bishop Sergius in 578–579 AD; at the heart of the nave lies a large medallion of Thalassa, the sea in the form of a woman. Father Giuseppe Manfredi, Madaba's Latin parish priest, recorded the ruins in 1902; Ute Lux supervised excavations in 1967 for the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology, and between 1990 and 1998 the mosaics were lifted, restored and relaid. The floor even carries a signature: the Greek prayer around the medallion asks God to give life to Anastasius, Thomas and Theodora, probably its main donors, and names the mosaicist Salamanios. Today the ruins lie under a stone shelter designed by Ammar Khammash, built in the 1990s with arches spanning 16 metres and ancient stones recovered from old Madaba houses. Side walkways look down on the medallion, some 2.2 metres across, where the woman rises from the waves among fish and dolphins; around it, inside an acanthus border, are dozens of pairs of parrots among trees. Smaller panels of lambs, gazelles and hares pave the rooms to the north. It stands on the King's Highway at the southern entrance to town, an easy walk from three sights to the north: the church of St John the Baptist at about 350 metres, the Archaeological Park at 500 metres and the Madaba Map Church (St George's) at 650 metres. Mount Nebo is about 9 km north-west.
Thalassa among fish and dolphins.
Salamanios named in the prayer.
Dozens among trees and plants.
King's Highway at the southern entrance to Madaba, about 500 m south of the Archaeological Park
Shrine of the Beheading of St John the Baptist (Madaba)A Roman Catholic church on the highest point of Madaba's old town, known locally4 minutes walk
Madaba Archaeological ParkA park of ruins in central Madaba holding some of the town's finest mosaics alon6 minutes walk
Madaba Map ChurchAn Orthodox church in the centre of Madaba whose floor holds the oldest known ma8 minutes walk4.3Yes. One 3 JD ticket for non-Jordanians covers this church, the Archaeological Park, the Burnt Palace and the Madaba Archaeological Museum; the Jordan Pass includes all four.
By its dedication inscription, recorded by Father Manfredi in 1902 and since lost: it gave the year 473, counted in the era of the Roman province of Arabia, which is 578–579 AD.