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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


A grotto and a church reportedly dedicated to *John the Baptist (S00217) or *Elijah/Elias (Old Testament prophet, S00020) at Sapsaphas/Wadi-Kharrar (= Ainon/Betharaba in Bethany, Palaestina I). Possibly with a Greek floor mosaic inscription referring to the saint(s). Probably late antique.

Evidence ID

E02692

Type of Evidence

Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

In their list of the places of Christian cult in the borderland of Jordan and Palestine, Sylvester Saller and Bellarmino Bagatti record at Sapsaphas 'a grotto and a church either in honor of St. John [the] B[aptist] or St. Elias [= Elijah, the Old Testament Prophet] or both'. It is, however, not specified, what was the basis for this identification (a dedicatory floor mosaic, a graffito, etc.). The site was revisited by Michele Piccirillo in 1995 and in 1997 was excavated by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. The excavators unearthed a chapel with a single aisle and a squarish choir, and floor mosaics including a Greek inscription of five lines.

The site is discussed by Anne Michel. See also Manns 2011, 197-198 who mentions a marble fragment inscribed with the letters ΙΟΥ ΒΑΤΤ, found in a 7th c. church at the site. It is not clear, whether it is the church we discuss here.


Sapsaphas is usually identified with Ainon/Betharaba in Bethany beyond the Jordan, the place where John the Baptist preached to the Jews, recorded in the Mosaic Map of Madaba (see E02524, no. 1). The site is known to the Pilgrim of Bordeaux (AD 333,
EXXXXX); Theodosius (who mentions a shrine of John the Baptist built by the emperor Anastasius, squarish and set on arcades; that church housed a marble column fitted with an iron cross, to mark the place of the baptism of Jesus, EXXXXX). The grotto at Sapsaphas is also mentioned by John Moschus as the place of an apparition of John the Baptist (EXXXXX). See: Manns 2011, 198.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Holy cave
Place associated with saint's life

Non Liturgical Activity

Construction of cult buildings
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings

Bibliography

Further reading:
Manns, F., "The historical character of the Fourth Gospel", Liber Annuus 61 (2011), 197-198.

Michel, A.,
Les églises d'époque byzantine et umayyade de Jordanie (provinces d'Arabie et de Palestine), Ve-VIIIe siècle: typologie architecturale et aménagements liturgiques (avec catalogue des monuments; préface de Noël Duval; premessa di Michele Piccirillo) (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive 2, Turnhout: Brepols, 2001), 418.

Papparlardo, C., "Ceramica dal Wadi Kharrar – Sapsafas. Ricerca storico-archeologica in Giordania 17",
Liber Annuus 47 (1997), 509-512 and Pl. 53.

Piccirillo, M., "Il santuario di Sapsafas nel Wadi Kharrar. Ricerca storico-archeologica in Giordania 15",
Liber Annuus 45 (1995), 515-518.

Piccirillo, M., "Il Parco del battesimo di Wadi-Kharrar 1997. Ricerca storico-archeologica in Giordania 17",
Liber Annuus 47 (1997), 506-509.

Piccirillo, M., Alliata, E.,
The Madaba Map Centenary, 1897-1997: Travelling through the Byzantine Umayyad Period (Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 1999), 218-221.

Saller, S.J., Bagatti, B.,
The Town of Nebo (Khirbet El-Mekhayyat): with a brief survey of other Christian monuments in Transjordan (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1949), 226, no. 59.


Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

12/04/2017

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00020John the BaptistUncertain
S00217Elijah/Elias, Old Testament prophetUncertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E02692 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02692