BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN  

Baptismal site, Jordan River
(by permission of the Jordan Tourist Board)

John the Baptist's settlement at "Bethany beyond the Jordan" sheds new light on baptism tradition in Jordan
By 
Rami G. Khouri

  Note: This is one of a series of articles on the five sites in Jordan that the Catholic church bishops in the Middle East, inspired by the Vatican Jubilee 2000 calendar,  designated as pilgrimage sites for the year 2000; the other four sites are Macherus (modern Mukawir) where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded; the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Mountain in Anjara, a modern shrine to Jesus' mother Mary; Listib el-Wahadneh near Ajlun, identified as ancient Tishbe in Gilead, the birthplace of the Prophet Elijah; and Mount Nebo, from where Moses saw the Promised Land before dying and being buried in that area. [ Pope John Paul II visited the site during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land this spring.]

For the past three years, the Jordanian Department of Antiquities has systematically surveyed , excavated and conserved a series of ancient sites that collectively represent one of the most important archaeological discoveries in modern Jordan -- the settlement and region of  "Bethany beyond the Jordan"  (or Bethabara), where John the Baptist lived, preached, and baptized. This area includes the place where Jesus was baptized, according to the overwhelming evidence of the available biblical, archaeological and historical textual resources, though the precise spot where John baptized Jesus probably will never be conclusively identified.

The area in question comprises the entire length of the Wadi Kharrar, a two-kilometre-long perennial riverbed that starts at the natural springs and oasis at Tell el-Kharrar, and winds its way towards the Jordan River. The village of Bethany beyond the Jordan was located at or around the natural hill at Tell el-Kharrar. John 1:28 explicitly mentions "...Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing," while John 10:40 mentions an incident when Jesus escaped from hostile Pharisees in Jerusalem and "went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized..."   

Beyond its ties to the lives of Jesus and John the Baptist, the region of Bethany beyond the Jordan also enjoys several other significant associations with ancient prophets and biblical personalities, including Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. The main mound at Tell el-Kharrar has long been called Elijaha's Hill, or Tell Mar Elias in Arabic, due to its identification as the place from which the Prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot and horses of fire, after having parted the waters of the Jordan River and walked across it with his anointed successor the Prophet Elisha. Joshua crossed the Jordan River in this area, and the Prophet Elisha performed the miracles of cleansing the leper Neâman the Syrian in the river water and made iron axe-heads float on the river surface. Bethany beyond the Jordan is within the wider region of the south Jordan Valley that is called "the Plains of Moab" in the Bible (Numbers 22:1;26:63;31:12;33:48-50;36:13). This is the area where Moses camped after the Exodus, received the final law from God, told the people to "choose life," repeated the Great Commandment to "love the Lord with all your heart and all your might," and made his farewell address to his people before going to Mount Nebo to die. In the Byzantine period, the entire length of the Wadi Kharrar formed part of the early Christian pilgrimage route between Jerusalem, the Jordan River, Bethany beyond the Jordan, and Mt. Nebo. (The site of this Bethany beyond the Jordan River is not to be confused with the Bethany near Jerusalem, which was the home town of Lazarus.)  

The DoA  (Department of Antiquities) team directed by Adad Hadidi, has identified 20 related sites from the Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic periods, within an area stretching three kilometres east of the Jordan River, mostly along the south bank of Wadi el-Kharrar. The key discoveries to date are the Byzantine monastery and Roman era remains at Tell el-Kharrar, widely identified as Bethany beyond the Jordan; several smaller churches, chapels, monks' hermitages, caves, and cells; a large Byzantine church complex adjacent to the Jordan River; an impressive ceramic pipeline bringing water to Bethany beyond the Jordan from several kilometres to the east; a large plastered pool and adjacent chapel halfway between the Bethany settlement and the Jordan River; a pilgrims' rest station and caravanseri east of Bethany, on the route to Mount Nebo; and other scattered remains whose function is not clear.

More of the region will be systematically surveyed as the few remaining mine fields are cleared by the armed forces (for decades this was a front line in the Arab-Israeli conflict, until the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace accord allowed archaeologists and church officials to explore it once again). Most of the area is still under military jurisdiction and is not open to visitors yet; after excavations and conservation work are completed at the sites, the region will be prepared for tourist and pilgrimage trips as of early 2000, including visits to the Jordan River itself. Contracts have been awarded for the basic infrastructural works, including a new road from the Dead Sea area, a visitors' centre, paths and walkways to the most important religious and archaeological sites, and all necessary sanitary and transport facilities.

The Bethany beyond the Jordan of John 1:28 and 10:40 has also been known by other names. It is sometimes called Beth-Abara or Bethabara (Beit el-'Obour in Arabic) meaning 'house of the crossing', referring to the Joshua and Elijah crossings of the Jordan River; Arabic Bible translations call it Beit 'Anya. The name Bethabara was given to the area in the mid-3rd Century by the church writer Origen, who thought it was the correct name for the site of Bethany beyond the Jordan. Some Greek Bible texts call it Bethania, and in the Old Testament the same area may be the one referred to as Beth-barah in Judges 7:24-25, where Gideon defeated the Midianites and slayed two of their princes.

This same crossing point across the Jordan is thought to be the place referred to in Judges 12:4-6, where Jephthah the Gileadite seized the river fords during his battle against the Ephraimites (Gilead is the area roughly between Amman and the Yarmouk River, in north Jordan). The Bethany area was known as Bethennabris in the Roman period. The 6th Century AD Byzantine Madaba mosaic map of the Holy Land labels it as 'Ainon where now is Saphsaphas'. The name Saphsaphas ('the place of willows') (also, Saphsas or Sapsas), comes from the Arabic word for willow tree. The Madaba map depicts a ferry crossing just north of the Bethany area (one of two such ferries on the map), corresponding to the location of the current King Hussein Bridge (also called the Allenby Bridge). 

Bethany/Bethabara  may also have referred to a region, rather than only a specific settlement. Western travelers to the region at the turn of the century reported that the Greek Orthodox clerics and monks who lived in the south Jordan Valley, and the native valley residents themselves, referred to the whole area around the river and east along the Wadi Kharrar as Bethabara.

Thus the original settlement was known as was known as Bethany beyond the Jordan during and immediately following the days of Jesus and John the Baptist in the 1st Century AD; after the 3rd Century AD it was more commonly known as Bethabara, and by the 6th Century AD it had become known as Aenon and Saphsapha (or Sapsas, Sapsafas). It is called el- Maghtas today in Arabic.

The spiritual importance of this area is matched by its ecological splendors. Within the surrounding dry, barren landscape, the springs at the head of Wadi Kharrar emerge from the earth to create a beautiful oasis of tamarisk and palm trees, reeds, grasses and shrubbery. From here, the Wadi Kharrar stream winds its way for some two kilometers to the Jordan River. Its entire route is defined by the sound of running water, the sight of thick, green vegetation, and the sights and sounds of an assortment of wild animals and birds. A Jordanian team headed by Dr Daoud Issawi of the University of Jordan has just completed an ecological survey of the entire area. Their work will provide valuable information on the unique ecology of this small, lush, watered valley linking the surrounding arid plains with the forest belt around the Jordan River itself.

                                                            John the Baptist's village

 The main complex still being excavated and investigated comprises structures on and around a small natural hill located two kilometres east of the Jordan River, adjacent to the spring and small oasis at the head of the Wadi Kharrar. The recent excavations have identified a settlement that was inhabited from the time of Christ and John the Baptist (early Roman era), throughout most of the Byzantine period, into the early Islamic era, and again in Ottoman centuries.

The site was also visited by scholars earlier this century, but never firmly identified as Bethany beyond the Jordan, The late director of antiquities in Jordan, Lankester Harding, identified Byzantine remains on the surface, and the survey team of James Sauer, Kheir Yassine, and Mouawiyah Ibrahim in the 1980s collected pottery there dating from the early Roman through the late Byzantine periods. A visit to the area by Father Michele Piccirillo of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem and Mount Nebo also confirmed the presence of distinctive local early Roman domestic pottery on the site's south plateau, confirming that the site was used at the time of Christ.

The excavations have revealed a walled monastery that includes at least four churches and chapels, a 'prayer hall', a sophisticated water conveyance and storage system, three pools, and a surrounding protective wall.  The protective wall built around the monastery mainly aimed to prevent erosion, rather than offer protection against attack, Dr Waheeb said in a recent interview at the site. Extensions of the surrounding wall to the south reached other associated structures, such as the prayer hall and a church.  

The main hill accommodated at least two churches and perhaps a third smaller chapel. The larger church on the north side of the summit dates from the late Byzantine era (6th-7th Centuries AD); it retains the remains of its chancel area and nave, and entrances in its north and west walls. Its partly preserved mosaic floor includes a five-line Greek inscription near the altar area which reads: "By the help of the grace of Christ our God the whole monastery was constructed in the time of Rhotorios, the most God-beloved presbyter and abbot. May God the savior give him mercy."   The main nave mosaic included cross marks and geometric designs within a surrounding frame. A few associated structures of unknown function north of the church are poorly preserved. A second, slightly smaller church with a nave and two side aisles was located around the corner to the south-west, on another platform and retaining wall erected amidst the natural rock and Lisan core of the hill. The apse of this late Byzantine church was cut into the hillside, and was actually located underneath some of the monastery's plastered water pools. The floor was once covered in colored mosaics, though only fragmentary remains reveal some of the original small cross motifs. The third church (or chapel) was just discovered in July 1999 and seems to have been built around a natural cave on the west side of the hill that was used in the days of John the Baptist (possibly the same cave that Byzantine pilgrims called "the cave of John the Baptist"). The fourth church (or chapel) is located south of the main tell, on a saddle of land connecting the tell with the surrounding plain. This Late Byzantine rectangular structure measured some 13 x 9 metres, but little remains of it other than some foundation walls, floor patches with cross-decorated colored mosaics, and wall stones resting on a lime-plastered surface. Arches once supported the roof.

In this same area, south of the main tell, the excavators identified another rectangular building made of undressed field stones, measuring nearly 12 x 8 metres in size. The simple white mosaic floor of the building was slightly disfigured by the remains of ashes from the structure's final destruction -- probably burnt roof beams. Dr Waheeb interprets this as a Christian pilgrims ' 'prayer hall', rather than a church or chapel, on the basis of its location and style of construction. The evidence from the excavations suggests a slightly earlier date for this structure than the other parts of the monastery, probably in the Late Roman period (2nd-3rd Century AD?) when Christians were known to be active in this region. If so, it could be the earliest church or Christian prayer hall yet discovered in Jordan and the whole world.

Water system

The monastery's elaborate water collection, storage, and conveyance system may have related to baptism activities  for why else would the people living there bring in water from afar when they had a perfectly good supply of fresh water throughout the year from the adjacent springs? The fresh spring at the site of Elijah's Hill, called both 'John the Baptist's Spring' and 'Elijah's Spring' by ancient writers and pilgrims, provided enough water for the life needs of the resident population, Dr Waheeb said. Ceramic water pipes identified some 300 metres south-east of the main settlement and traced well to the east brought water to the site from the nearby wadis Kefrein, Ramah, and Gharabah, which flow into the valley floor from the eastern foothills.

 The pipes brought water into a medium-size settling tank near the prayer hall, from where the water was carried in a stone aqueduct to two smaller settling tanks, and then via three branches to a nearby reservoir/pool and cistern and a third as yet undetermined destination. The main aqueduct continued over stone arches to supply the monastery and its three (baptism?) pools. This aqueduct cut through the two rooms associated with the prayer hall, and thus was built some time after those rooms went out of use, Dr Waheeb notes.

The main reservoir/pool south of Tell el-Kharrar was dug out of the natural Lisan marl, and its internal sides were build of well-cut sandstone ashlar blocks covered with a thick layer of lime and a smooth plaster face. A vault system supported the roof, and a mosaic floor was placed over the roof. The pottery from this structure suggests a Late Byzantine date.   A large nearby cistern dug into the ground was square-shaped, and it also had plastered ashlar blocks forming its internal side walls. The bottom of the cistern still retains water today, from the natural ground water table.

Another deep, circular well with handsome stone-build sides was excavated recently on the summit of the tell, adjacent to the main church. It tapped the underground spring-fed water table, 12 metres below the surface of the tell. Artifacts recovered from this well included ashlar blocks, sand, pottery sherds, and coins, dating from the Early Roman to the Late Byzantine period (1st to 6th Centuries AD).                                                                 

Baptism pools?

The three plastered rectangular pools on the tell itself, within the walls of the monastery, were used in the Byzantine period -- but early Roman period pottery sherds found here also raise the possibility that the pools may have been used for baptism in the time of John the Baptist in the 1st Century AD. A wide staircase runs across the entire eastern side of the southern pool, and similar but smaller staircases once provided access into the two other pools. The internal walls of the pools were covered with three thick layers of lime and plaster, and the floors were made of fieldstones covered by a lime layer. The pools were fed by the aqueduct that reached the site from the south-east.   The two northern pools were connected to one another, and were also built of local fieldstones held together by a dark lime mixture.

It is difficult to determine the precise chronological order of the construction and use of the  pools, cisterns and wells; further excavations and analysis are required to ascertain which if any of these facilities were built and used at the time of Christ and John the Baptist, and which were established in the later Byzantine period. Pottery and other evidence confirms the use of this settlement at the time of John the Baptist, though most built structures appear to date from the later Byzantine monastery.   Pottery and coin remains excavated at the site date from as early as the Late Hellenistic/Herodian period (2nd Century BC-1st Century AD) and the Early Roman period (1st/2nd Century AD), through the Late Byzantine and early Islamic periods (5th-8th Century AD).

Dr Waheeb tends to think that the three pools and the churches on the tell were built in the Late Byzantine period (5th-6th Century AD) -- when the monastery was established on a site that people then associated with the lives and missions of John the Baptist and the Prophet Elijah. (Byzantine texts also associate Elijah with the site). Several other stone and mud structures on the summit of Elijah's Hill and on adjacent hills to the south and east date from the mid-to-late Ottoman period (16th-18th Centuries); Greek Orthodox monks at that time established a monastery at the site, comprising structures for worship, residence, and accommodating visiting pilgrims.

The Byzantine period complex was clearly a monastery and a memorial church built to commemorate the spot of the baptism and preaching activities of John the Baptist, and continued to be used as a pilgrimage site throughout the Byzantine, Islamic and medieval eras. Some pilgrims came here only to pray at the site, while others continued on to Mount Nebo and Madaba. The Madaba map depicts two concentric circles at the site, which have variously been interpreted as symbols for the hill itself, the nearby caves, or the spring.

The hill forming the core of Bethany beyond the Jordan was already revered in antiquity as a holy site marking the spot from which Elijah ascended to heaven (2 Kings 2:5-14); perhaps that is why John the Baptist lived and baptized there, for the personalities, lifestyles, and missions of John and Elijah are frequently associated in the New Testament. The Byzantine writers Jerome and Eusebius mentioned 'Bethabara beyond the Jordan' in the 4th Century as a pilgrimage destination where people went to be baptized in the same waters that John the Baptist used for his mission. Pilgrims' accounts as early as the 4th and 6th Century AD mention the hill at Bethany east of the river, where Elijah ascended to heaven.

In the late 3rd or early 4th Century AD, according to much later sources from the 11th and 14th Centuries, Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is said to have crossed the Jordan River and visited Elijah's Hill and the cave where John the Baptist lived, and built a church there to commemorate John the Baptist. Byzantine era writers also called the hill 'Hermon Hill'.

Scholars continue to debate two related points that are linked with this site: where did John the Baptist baptize, and where was Jesus baptized?

John could have baptized in built pools at Bethany beyond the Jordan; in the adjacent Wadi Kharrar riverbed; in the natural pools formed by springs at the mouth of Wadi Kharrar (called John the Baptist's Spring by ancient writers); at pools built along the route of the Wadi Kharrar; at the eastern edge of the river water-filled floodplain of the Jordan River; in the Jordan River itself -- or in any or all of these locations. The biblical texts are not clear on this, suggesting that John baptized in the river and at other sites with running water.

The exact place of Jesus' baptism also is not known. It has always been assumed that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, but the archaeological and textual evidence now being re-examined suggests to some that John may have baptized Jesus in the Wadi Kharrar or at the settlement of Bethany beyond the Jordan. The Jordan River in antiquity was often not easily accessible, due to flooding and its setting down within a deep gorge. The course of the Jordan River also has changed over time, which is why ancient texts give slightly different accounts of Bethany's distance from the river.

The combined evidence of the biblical text, Byzantine and medieval writers' accounts, and the latest archaeological work all firmly locate the tradition of John the Baptist's mission, including the baptism of Jesus, in the area directly east of the Jordan River. John 1:28 specifies "Bethany, beyond the Jordan" as the place "where John was baptizing"; the expression "beyond the Jordan"  refers to the east bank of the river. In a later reference to the same place on the east bank, John 10:40 says that Jesus traveled "across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized." Matthew 3:13 states that Jesus came from Galilee "to the Jordan" to be baptized by John, while Mark 1:9 says Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee "and was baptized in the Jordan by John."   These references to Jesus' movement from Galilee  to the Jordan to John, conform with the normal route through Decapolis and Perea, bypassing Samaria, that Jesus would have taken between Galilee and Bethany beyond the Jordan in the lower reaches of the Jordan River.

John the Baptist and Jesus baptized people in different places, according to the biblical texts, including "in the Jordan River" (Matthew 3:5; Mark 1:5), at "Aenon near Salemä (John 3:22-23), and at other, unspecified places. The biblical texts in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-23; 4:1, and John 1:28-34 use different expressions to refer to places and events associated with the baptism of Jesus. This multiplicity of terms and possible meanings is compounded by the different Biblical translations. Matthew and Mark both say that after his baptism Jesus came up "from the water" or "out of the water". Luke 4:1 says that after his baptism and temptation "Jesus left the Jordan". There are references also in Matthew 3:5 to the "whole Jordan district", or "all the region about the Jordan", or "the entire Jordan region". The expression "the Jordan"  can refer both to the Jordan River and to the general region around the Jordan River, while the baptism of Jesus is mentioned in association with "the water", "the Jordan", and "the Jordan River".   John 1:33-34 reports that after baptizing Jesus, John the Baptist said..."I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."   Later, when John was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, some of his disciples "came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him." (John 3:26). The double reference within the Book of John to the fact that John the Baptist "bore witness" to Jesus immediately after His baptism "beyond the Jordan"  strengthens the east bank of the Jordan River as the place of Jesus' baptism.

Thus, the considerable new archaeological evidence indicates that: a) 'Bethany beyond the Jordan' may refer to a region as well as to a specific settlement, almost certainly the settlement located at Tell el-Kharrar that would become a Byzantine monastery in the 5th Century and later; b) 'the Jordan' refers to the Jordan River as well as to the area flanking its banks;   c) the Jordan River itself occasionally expanded to a kilometer wide or more, due to seasonal flooding, and thus; d) "the waters"  of the baptism could have referred to the Jordan River itself, the river's floodplain extending a kilometer to the east, or the flowing water of Wadi el-Kharrar at its start at Tell el-Kharrar, anywhere along its course, or where it entered the Jordan River.  

Pilgrims' route

The 20 sites identified from the Jordan River to Wadi Kharrar and eastwards to Wadi Gharabah formed stations along the pilgrim's route from Jerusalem to the Jordan River and finally to Mount Nebo. That itinerary commemorated places associated with the lives of some of the greatest prophets, including Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. When the French priest-scholar Denis Buzy visited the area in 1930, he reported seeing white mosaic cubes along most of the route from the river to the start of Wadi Kharrar at Bethany beyond the Jordan.

One of the most exciting recent discoveries in this respect is a large church complex located adjacent to the east bank of the Jordan River, dating from the 5th-6th Centuries AD, Dr Waheeb says. The complex has at least two and perhaps three churches, including remains of foundations and walls, mosaic floors, fine colored stone pavements, Corinthian capitals, and column drums and bases, all from the late Byzantine period. This church is almost certainly the one described by Byzantine texts as having been built by the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius (491-518 AD) to commemorate the baptism of Jesus. This site also has Islamic era pottery and architecture from the 8th-9th Centuries AD, reflecting the continued use of the pilgrim's route and river crossing in early Islamic centuries.

This church and a nearby complex of two rooms may also possibly be associated with the story of the life of St Mary the Egyptian. This former prostitute's repentant transformation and miraculous conversion at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in the 4th or 5th Century was recounted in Greek by Sofronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. He said that the voice of the Virgin Mary told her to cross the Jordan River in order to "find rest". She lived alone for 47 years in this area east of the river, fasting and praying. Before dying she was found by the monk Zosima, to whom she told her story.   When she died Zosima buried her with the assistance of a lion. (The presence of lions in the Jordan Valley is attested in biblical passages, and a lion or leopard is depicted on the Madaba mosaic map. Jeremiah 49:19 uses the phrase "...like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan.")

In between the settlement of Bethany beyond the Jordan and the Jordan River itself, at the point where the valley plain (the ghor) plunges down into the depression surrounding the Jordan River (the zor), the Jordanian archaeologists have discovered and excavated a large, stone-built, plastered pool measuring some 25 x 20 metres. Cut water channels bring water into the eastern end of the pool from Wadi Kharrar, and carry water out of the pool's western end towards the Jordan River. Pottery at this site included sherds from the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods.

  Dr Waheeb and his colleagues are exploring possible uses for this ancient structure. They tend to see it as a multi-purpose pool that served pilgrims on their way from the river towards Bethany and Mount Nebo. It could have been used for baptism, ritual cleansing, refreshing baths, or other purposes. The badly damaged remains of a Byzantine chapel have been excavated on a small promontory directly above the pool, with a magnificent panoramic view of the entire valley floor, Jericho, and the Palestinian hills leading to Jerusalem.

 Dr. Waheeb believes that pilgrims stopped at this place to wash and refresh themselves and pray in the chapel, before continuing their journey to Bethany and Mount Nebo. One theory being explored is that this pool and chapel were built after the Church of John the Baptist adjacent to the river went out of use in the 7th Century AD.

The seasonal flooding of the Jordan River in antiquity would have seen the river waters reach this point, occasionally making "the Jordan"  over a kilometer wide. Such flooding is well documented from earlier this century; but it no longer occurs due to the modern construction of dams on the tributaries that flow into the river from its east and west banks.

 The anonymous Pilgrim of Bordeaux in 333 AD located the site of Jesus' baptism at five Roman miles (7400 metres) north of the Dead Sea shore, which is the area near where Wadi Kharrar enters the Jordan River. Several church writers and pilgrims in the 5th-to-7th Centuries AD mentioned churches commemorating the baptism of Christ located in the lower Jordan River and Bethany region. 

The pilgrim Theodosius around 530 AD was the first to mention   the church at the Jordan River built by the Emperor Anastasius a few decades earlier. Built on arcades and square in shape, the church had a marble column with an iron cross marking the spot where people thought Jesus was baptized.

 The pilgrim Arculf in the 7th Century mentioned seeing the ruins of the church at this spot on the east bank, along with a wooden cross in the river, and steps leading into the water from the west bank, from where most pilgrims entered the river after their journey from Jerusalem. Another nearby chapel, probably part of the same church complex, was said to have marked the spot where Jesus' clothes were kept while he was being baptized.

                                                            Sacred caves

About a kilometre east of the river, just beyond the thick belt of trees and bushes called "the jungle of the Jordan" or "the pride of the Jordan" in the Bible (Jeremiah 12:5; Zecharaiah 11:3), the landscape suddenly changes into a soft, chalky, and stark whitish marl. The result of sedimentation at the bottom of a freshwater lake in ancient times, this barren area is called the 'wilderness' in the Bible. Here Dr. Waheeb's team identified at least two natural caves that had been transformed into hermits' and monks' cells, or chapels. One cave has three apses inside it.

Numerous ancient texts from the Byzantine and medieval periods mention Christian hermit monks living in caves and cells in this area, alongside springs. John Moschus, writing in his 7th Century book The Spiritual Meadow, mentions a monastic complex (or laura) in this area with many cells inhabited by hermits. He recounts the story of the monk John from the monastery of Abba Eustorgius near Jerusalem who was on a pilgrimage to Sinai via Aila (Aqaba).   The monk suffered a fever and took refuge in one of these caves east of the river. John the Baptist appeared to him in a vision and told him to cancel his trip and stay in the cave, saying that "this little cave is greater than Mount Sinai. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself has come in here to pay me a visit."   The feverish monk recovered and in gratitude converted the cave into a church for the hermits living in the area. John Moschus said the area was called the Laura of Saphsaphas, or Sapsas. The 6th Century Madaba mosaic map gives the name of Bethany beyond the Jordan as Ainonä and ãSaphsaphasä.

The traveler Antonin de Plaisance in 570 AD mentioned a 'fountain' some two miles east of the river, thought to be the spring at Bethany. The monk Epiphanius, writing in the late 8th or mid-9th Century AD, mentions a cave located near a spring nearly three miles east of the river, where John the Baptist lived and baptized. Perhaps this was the same cave that was developed into a church on the western edge of the monastery, and that was rediscovered in July this year.

The early 12th Century traveler Abbot Daniel mentions a grotto of St. John the Baptist, and in 1187 Jean Phocas wrote about a shrine and cave of John the Baptist located east of the river. Ancient texts associate both John the Baptist and Elijah with caves and springs in this area. (Some scholars believe that this is also the area where Elijah sought refuge, upon God's command, and was fed meat and bread by the ravens every morning and evening [1 Kings 17:2-7]. If so, the biblical Brook of Cherith [or Kerith Ravine] might be associated with the Wadi Kharrar, though most scholars to date have associated it with Wadi Yabis [also called Wadi Rayyan], in the north Jordan River Valley.)

Thus, the textual evidence from the 4th through the 12th Centuries AD reveals a consistent tradition locating John the Baptist's settlement of Bethany beyond the Jordan at and around the spring source of Wadi Kharrar, two kilometres east of the Jordan River, in an area that was dotted with caves. Early Christian tradition also consistently recognized the sacred associations of the territory east of the river with the baptism of Jesus. This is why Christian monks, hermits and monasteries have been attested east of the river since the earliest Christian centuries. In fact, the entire Bethany area from the Jordan River to Elijah's Hill is in the custody of the Greek Orthodox Church, which has always recognized the sacred nature of this terrain.

Fragmentary remains of numerous small structures with tiles, pottery, and cut stones -- possibly churches or monks' residences -- have been identified between the river and the Bethany settlement. The scholar Father R.P. Federlin explored the Bethany area from his base in Jerusalem in 1899 onwards. He thought that Bethany beyond the Jordan was located at Tell el-Medesh (now called Tell ed-Dhahab), a few kilometres north of Bethany, east of the Jordan River. He walked through the entire Wadi Kharrar and documented ancient remains, including nicely cut building stones on Elijah's Hill and adjacent hills.

Denis Buzy in 1931 traced the remains of 'hundreds' of small dwellings or buildings along a 500-metre-long stretch of the south bank of Wadi Kharrar, which he identified as remains of the 1st Century AD village of Bethany beyond the Jordan. He said that the stones mentioned by Federlin were no longer there, because they had been used by Greek Orthodox monks at the site who were building new facilities for themselves and/or for pilgrims.   The Greek Orthodox Church has long officially sanctioned the presence of monks in ascetic cells (units smaller than monasteries) east of the river; church documents attest that three monks lived in the area between Bethany and the river in 1905.

                                                            Pilgrims' facilities

About a kilometre east of Bethany, on Wadi Gharabah, are the remains of the water channel that supplied Bethany beyond the Jordan and also served a Byzantine complex of structures that has been recently discovered and excavated. The site includes a large caravansari building measuring some 30 x 25 metres, two large pools or cisterns, and the water aqueducts leading to and from the site. Dr Waheeb believes this was a Byzantine pilgrims' rest stop and overnight station. If so, it was used by travelers on the road between Jerusalem and Mt Nebo, passing through Jericho, the Jordan River, Bethany beyond the Jordan, and the Byzantine town of Livias, south of South Shouneh (Livias is identified today with the unexcavated Tell er-Ramah, which has surface evidence of pottery or mosaic stone cubes from the Byzantine and early Islamic eras).

A royal commission of Jordanian and international members, headed successively by HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal and by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad, oversees the study, development and protection of the Wadi Kharrar area. The Jordan Valley Authority and the Department of Antiquities share jurisdiction for licensing any construction or development in the area.

@1999 Rami G. Khouri

9/8/99

used with permission of the author

[Editor's note:  Rami G. Khouri is the author of numerous articles and travel guides of archaeological sites in Jordan.  His articles appear frequently in the Jordan Times, he has served as a news commentator for Jordan TV, and is President of the Friends of Archaeology in Jordan.]

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