Madaba

Madaba is located on a plateau of orange groves overlooking the Jordan Valley. The scanty Roman columns next to the government Rest House hardly evoke visions of a flourishing trade center that once was the size of Jerash. Yet the elaborate mosaics scattered throughout the town are a testament to Madaba’s importance as a Byzantine ecclesiastical center. Leveled by an earthquake in the 8th century AD, Madaba lay untouched for nearly 1100 years until Christian clans from Karak reinhabited the city in the late 1800s.