Real and Sacral Geography in the Decorative Program of the Early Christian Basilica of Moses on Mount Nebo
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18688/aa2414-2-7Keywords:
Early Christian mosaic, decorative program, pilgrimage architecture, basilica of Moses, mount Nebo, art of TransjordanAbstract
The decorative program of the pilgrimage basilica of the prophet Moses on Mount Nebo included numerous floor mosaics and marble carvings of the pulpit and the chancel screens. It developed throughout the 6th century and finally took shape in the early 7th century. One of its distinctive features was the importance of biblical geography, which was treated differently in various mosaic panels. The Pilgrimage texts show the primary attention that the believers paid to the views of Palestine. Local monks actualized them for pilgrims by recalling the biblical narrative and reciting the corresponding psalms. Through mosaics, these views served as tangible confirmation of the words of the Scriptures even when the pilgrims were inside the church and did not see the real landscape. The theme of sacred geography is revealed in the decoration of the basilica on several levels. Firstly, the mosaic scene illustrating the Psalm 50 presents the image of the city, both Earthly and Heavenly Jerusalem. Secondly, the symbolic images of local fruits appearing both in the mosaic and in the carving allude to the image of the Promised Land, directly linked to the prophet Moses, who is believed to have first seen it from Mount Nebo. And, thirdly, in the mosaic with hunting and pastoral scenes a collective image of the world emerges, gathering different countries and lands as representing the divine creation. Chronologically, the broadest of these images (universum) was the earliest among these three to appear in the basilica in the first third of the 6th century. Then, at the turn of the 6th-7th centuries it ceded place to more specific geographical associations, extremely important for the pilgrims who visited the basilica of Moses and who sought to confirm the words of the Scriptures with the views of the surrounding landscape.
References
Acconci A. Elements of the Liturgical Furniture. Mount Nebo: New Archaeological Excavations 1967–1997. Jerusalem; Gorle, Editrice Velar Publ., 1998, pp. 468–542.
Bader G. Paula and Jerome: Towards a Theology of Late Antique Pilgrimage. International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2018, no. 18 (4), pp. 344–353.
Bianchi D. A Shrine to Moses. A Reappraisal of the Mount Nebo Monastic Complex between Byzantium and Islam. Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press Publ., 2021. 240 p.
Bisheh G. An Iconographic Detail from Khirbet al-Majar: The Fruit-and-Knife Motif. The Archaeology of Jordan and Beyond: Essays in Honor of James A. Sauer. Winona Lake, Indiana, Eisenbrauns Publ., 2000, pp. 59–65.
Bitton-Ashkelony B. Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity. Berkeley, University of California Press Publ., 2005. 250 p.
Branham J. R. Mapping Sacrifice on Bodies and Spaces in Late-Antique Judaism and Early Christianity. Architecture of the Sacred: Space, Ritual, and Experience from Classical Greece to Byzantium. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Publ., 2012, pp. 201–230.
Branham J. R. Sacred Space under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches. The Art Bulletin, 1992, no. 74, pp. 375–391.
Çetinkaya H. Four Newly Discovered Churches in Bithynia. Zakharova A.; Maltseva S.; Staniukovich-Denisova E. (eds.). Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of Articles, vol. 9. St. Petersburg, NP-Print Publ., 2019, pp. 244–252. DOI 10.18688/aa199-2-23
Cianca J. Written by the Body: Early Christian Pilgrims as Sacred Placemakers. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 2019, no. 7 (1), pp. 11–21.
Corbo V. Nuovi scavi archeologici nella cappella del battistero della basilica del Nebo (Siyagha). Liber Annuus, 1967, no. 17, pp. 241–258 (in Italian).
Corbo V. Scavi archeologici sotto i mosaici della basilica del Monte Nebo (Siyagha). Liber Annuus, 1970, no. 20, pp. 273–298 (in Italian).
Dauphin C. M. Byzantine Pattern Book: A Re-Examination of the Problem in the Light of the “Inhabited Scroll”. Art History, 1978, no. 1, pp. 400–423.
Dauphin C. M. Inhabited Scrolls from the 4th to the 7th Century A.D. in Asia Minor and the Eastern Provinces of the Byzantine Empire (unpublished Ph.D. thesis). Edinburgh, 1974. 369 p.
Elsner J.; Rubiés J.-P. (eds.). Voyages and Visions: Towards a Cultural History of Travel. London, Reaktion Books Publ., 1999. 344 p.
Fathy E. From Earthly to Divine: The Transition of the asàrotos òikos Motif into Late Antiquity and Early Christian Art. Humanitas, 2020, no. 75, pp. 93–120.
Frank G. The Memory of the Eyes: Pilgrims to Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity. Berkeley, University of California Publ., 2000. 219 p.
Hachlili R. Ancient Mosaic Pavements: Themes, Issues, Trends. Leiden, Brill Publ., 2009. 317 p.
Hamarneh B. Topografia cristiana ed insediamenti rurali nel territorio dell’odierna Giordania nelle epoche bizantina ed islamica: V–VIII sec. City of Vatican, Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana Publ., 2003. 348 p. (in Italian).
Hartel W. von. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vol. 30: Sancti Pontii Meropii Paulini Nolani Opera. Pars II: Carmina. Pragae; Vindobonae, F. Tempsky; Lipsiae, G. Freytag Publ., 1894. 453 p. (in Latin).
Külzer A. Pilgrims on their Way in the Holy Land: Roads and Routes According to Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Travel Accounts. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Journeys, Destinations, Experiences across Times and Cultures: Proceedings of the Conference held in Jerusalem, 5th to 7th December 2017. Heidelberg, Propylaeum Publ., 2020, pp. 11–21.
Leatherbury S. V. Competitive Sacrifice: Christian Visual Engagement with Jewish Sacrificial History and the Temple in Late Antique Arabia. Jewish Art in its Late Antique Context. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism, 2016, no. 63, pp. 279–302.
Limor O. “Holy Journey”: Pilgrimage and Christian Sacred Landscape. Christians and Christianity in the Holy Land. Turnhout, Brepols Publ., 2006, pp. 321–353.
Maguire H. Earth and Ocean: The Terrestrial World in Early Byzantine Art. University Park; London, Pennsylvania State University Press Publ., 1987. 109 p.
Maraval P. Les itinéraires de pèlerinage en Orient (entre le 4e et le 7e s.). Akten des XII. Internationalen Kongresses für christliche Archäologie: Bonn, 22–28 September 1991. City of Vatican, Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana Publ.; Münster, Aschendorff Publ., 1995, pp. 291–300 (in French).
Maraval P. Lieux saints et pèlerinages d’Orient. Histoire et géographie des origines à la conquête arabe. Paris, Éditions du Cerf Publ., 1985. 448 p.
Maraval P. The Earliest Phase of Christian Pilgrimage in the Near East (before the 7th Century). Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 2002, no. 56, pp. 63–74.
Michaeli T. Allusions to the Nile and Nilotic Landscape in Ancient Art in Israel. Lieux de mémoire en Orient grec à l’époque impériale. Bern, Peter Lang Publ., 2013, pp. 109–138.
Medennikova A. E. Conches in Early Christian Art: Borders of Spatial Perception. Zakharova A.; Maltseva S.; Staniukovich-Denisova E. (eds.). Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of Articles, vol. 9. St. Petersburg, NP-Print Publ., 2019, pp. 210–219. DOI 10.18688/aa199-2-20 (in Russian).
Migne J.-P. (ed.). Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca. Vol. 80–84: Theodoreti Cyrensis Episcopi Opera Omnia. Paris, Ateliers catholiques du Petit Montrouge Publ., 1860–1864.
Miziur M. Exotic Animals as a Manifestation of Royal Luxuria. Rulers and Their Menageries: From the Pompe of Ptolemy II Philadelphus to Aurelian. Phasis. Greek and Roman Studies, 2012–2013, no. 15–16, pp. 451–465.
Obraztsova K. B. The Animalistic Mosaics in Early Christian Macedonia. Zakharova A.; Maltseva S.; Staniukovich-Denisova E. (eds.). Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of Articles, vol. 11. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Publ., 2021, pp. 408–421. DOI 10.18688/aa2111-04-32 (in Russian).
Ostenberg I. Staging the World: Spoils, Captives, and Representations in the Roman Triumphal Procession. Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press Publ., 2009. 327 p.
Ousterhout R. New Temples and New Solomons: The Rhetoric of Byzantine Architecture. The Old Testament in Byzantium. Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Publ., 2010, pp. 223–304.
Piccirillo M. Chiese e Mosaici di Madaba. Jerusalem, Franciscan Printing Press Publ., 1989. 374 p. (in Italian).
Piccirillo M. The Mosaics of Jordan. Amman, American Center of Oriental Research Publ., 1993. 383 p.
Piccirillo M. The Activity of the Mosaicists of the Diocese of Madaba at the Time of Bishop Sergius in the Second Half of the Sixth Century A.D. Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan, 1995, no. 5, pp. 391–398.
Piccirillo M. The Exploration. Mount Nebo: New Archaeological Excavations 1967–1997. Jerusalem; Gorle, Editrice Velar Publ., 1998, pp. 13–52.
Piccirillo M. Pilgrims’ Texts. Mount Nebo: New Archaeological Excavations 1967–1997. Jerusalem; Gorle, Editrice Velar Publ., 1998, pp. 71–83.
Piccirillo M. The Mosaics. Mount Nebo: New Archaeological Excavations 1967–1997. Jerusalem; Gorle, Editrice Velar Publ., 1998, pp. 265–371.
Piccirillo M.; Alliata E. (eds.). Mount Nebo: New Archaeological Excavations 1967–1997. Jerusalem; Gorle, Editrice Velar Publ., 1998. 634 p.
Pullan W. Intermingled until the End of Time: Ambiguity as a Central Condition of Early Christian Pilgrimage. Pilgrimage in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Antiquity: Seeing the Gods. Oxford, Oxford University Press Publ., 2005, pp. 387–409.
Ritter M. Do ut des: The Function of Eulogiai in the Byzantine Pilgrimage Economy. Pilgrimage and Economy in the Ancient Mediterranean. Leiden, Brill Publ., 2020, pp. 254–284.
Roll I. The Roads in Roman-Byzantine Palaestina and Arabia. The Madaba Map Centenary 1897–1997: Travelling through the Byzantine Umayyad Period. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Amman, 7–9 April 1997. Jerusalem, Franciscan Printing Press Publ., 1999, pp. 108–113.
Saller S. J. The Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo: Part I. The Text. Jerusalem, Franciscan Printing Press Publ., 1941. 371 p.
Schumacher G. Ergebnisse meiner Reise durch Ḥaurān, ʿAdschlūn und Belḳā. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 1893, no. 16, pp. 72–83 (in German).
Suslenkov V. E. Egyptian Motifs and the Image of the Earthly Paradise on the Floor Mosaics of early Christian Churches of the Middle East. Vizantiiskii Vremennik, 2011, vol. 70 (95), pp. 219–235 (in Russian).
Talgam R. The Representation of the Temple and Jerusalem in Jewish and Christian Houses of Prayer in the Holy Land in Late Antiquity. Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire: The Poetics of Power in Late Antiquity. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press Publ., 2013, pp. 222–248.
Vinogradov A.; Zakharova A.; Chernoglazov D. Khram Sviatoi Sofii Konstantinopol’skoi v svete vizantiiskikh istochnikov (The Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople in the Light of the Byzantine Sources). Saint-Petersburg, Pushkinskiy dom Publ., 2018. 486 p. (in Russian).
Vitto F. Wall Decoration of Early Byzantine Churches and Synagogues in the Eastern Mediterranean. Zakharova A.; Maltseva S.; Staniukovich-Denisova E. (eds.). Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of Articles, vol. 9. St. Petersburg, NP-Print Publ., 2019, pp. 198–209. DOI 10.18688/aa199-2-19
