NO. 2111. MEDEliA !}10SAIC MAP OF PALESTINE— CASANOW J VZ. 305 



that the pilgrim had chosen, among so many other basiUcas where he 

 might have had the work executed — to commence with Jerusalem — 

 just the church of a remote town at the bottom of the land of Moab." 



To this objection may be answered that Medeba seems to have been 

 in the Byzantine period a center of the mosaic art or mosaic technique. 

 Many beautiful mosaics which belonged to churches and monasteries 

 of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries have been uncovered, and 

 may still be seen in hovels, stables, and farmyards. Mosaics of much 

 artistic taste are also found in private houses. According to eye- 

 witnesses almost every house was adorned with this decoration. 

 It has therefore been called "The City of Mosaics." * This would 

 account for such an elaborate piece of work as the map is having 

 been undertaken at Medeba. Clermont-Ganneau's own theory, 

 advanced by liim as "pure conjecture," is: "It is necessary to con- 

 sider before aU the position of Madeba. It is situated close to Mount 

 Nebo. In its immediate neighborhood Moses received the order to 

 climb the summit of Pisgah, where he was to die, and to contemplate 

 in one supreme vision in aU its extent the Land of Promise which was 

 to belong to his people, but where he was not himself allowed to 

 enter" (Deuteronomy xxxii, 48-52; xxxiv, 1-8; compare iii, 27; 

 Numbers xxvii, 12). 



"This geographical picture, which was virtually unrolled under the 

 eyes of Moses, was intended to reproduce in the mosaic of the basilica 

 of Madeba — that is, in the neighboring town to this memorable 

 scene." 



"One could thus explain why this map comprises not only the 

 Promised Land, properly so called, but also lower Egypt; that is to 

 say, the scene of the high deeds of Moses and the events preceding 

 the Exodus which took place in this region." 



DATE OF THE MAP. 



The art style of the mosaic which indicates the transition from ihe 

 antique tradition to the conventional schematism of the Byzantine 

 period would comport with the sixth century A. D., more specifically 

 with the age of Justinian (527-565 A. D.). With this date would 

 also agree the neatness of the characters in the inscriptions, which are 

 almost free from ligatures and abbreviations, which was later on in 

 vogue, and the substantially correct orthography. 



PLACES AND INSCRIPTIONS ON THE MAP. 



The places are illustrated by some picture or vignette representing 

 a town or building (some of which are wanting on the reproduction) . 

 In addition to the geographical names there are in some cases added, 



• Lamtnens, Etudes publi^es par des pftres de la eompagnie de JiJsus, I, 73, 721, and I, 74, 44, quoted by 

 Jacoby, Pas geographische Mosaic von Madaba, p. 21; compare also PEFQS, 1895, p. 208. 



