Madaba, Jordan
Umm ar-Rasas is located 30 km southeast of Madaba in the Amman Governorate in central Jordan. It was once accessible by branches of the King's Highway, and is situated in the semi-arid steppe region of the Jordanian Desert. The site has been associated with the biblical settlement of Mephaat mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah. The Roman military utilized the site as a strategic garrison, but it was later converted and inhabited by Christian and Islamic communities. In 2004, the site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is valued by archaeologists for its extensive ruins dating to the Roman, Byzantine, and early Muslim periods. The Franciscan academic society in Jerusalem, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF), carried out excavations at the north end of the site in 1986, but much of the area remains buried under debris.
Umm ar-Rasas, ancient Kastron Mefa'a, is an archaeological site on the edge of the Jordanian steppe about 30 km south-east of Madaba, inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2004. It began as a Roman camp on a branch of the King's Highway, grew in the Byzantine and Umayyad periods into a thriving town with sixteen churches, and stayed inhabited after the Muslim conquest of 634 into the Abbasid period. Most of the site is still unexcavated; what visitors see are the walls of the Roman camp, ruined houses and stone arches, and churches uncovered beneath modern shelters. Its treasure is the mosaic floor of the Church of St Stephen, the largest mosaic in Jordan, completed in 718 in the Umayyad period and signed by six artists. It shows hunting, fishing and farming scenes, framed by bands depicting named cities of the Levant and Egypt, among them Al-Quds, Nablus, Gaza, Madaba, Jerash and Amman, a rare map of the region's towns at the dawn of the Islamic era. Beside it stands the Church of Bishop Sergius (587) with the remains of its mosaics. About 1.5 km to the north rises a square stone tower some 15 m high, the Stylite Tower, on top of which a hermit once lived in the tradition of the pillar ascetics; nothing like it survives elsewhere in the region. The Studium Biblicum Franciscanum has excavated the site since 1986 under Fr Michele Piccirillo, and there is a visitor centre on site.
Umm ar-Rasas is a quiet site with few visitors and needs an hour to an hour and a half; come in the morning or late afternoon, since the ground is open with no shade apart from the church shelter. Reach it by car from Madaba or from Dhiban on the King's Highway; there is no practical bus. The ticket is 3 JOD with children under 12 free according to the official ticketing portal, and the site is included in the Jordan Pass. Start with the St Stephen mosaic, then walk out to the tower, and watch children among the collapsed walls. It combines easily with Madaba and Mount Nebo, or with Karak Castle to the south.
Hours and prices change — check before you go. Source: en.wikipedia.org
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