The Sanctuaries of Jordan visited by the Pilgrims
The phenomenon of Christian pilgrimage, intimately connected as it is with the biblical accounts of the Old and the New Testaments, necessarily encompasses the region east of the Jordan river. The area of greatest interest in the sources which we have at our disposal is the region opposite Jericho and the south east shore of the Dead Sea.

The main literary sources which enable us to identify and localise these sanctuaries are itineraries written by pilgrims who either crossed the Jordan river and visited the area themselves or who wrote about them having heard from others. These itineraries cover the period ranging from the beginning of the IV Century to the XII Century. The main sources are:

- The Itinerary of Egeria (end of IVth century)
- The Life of Peter the Iberian written by John Rufus (Vth Century)
- The Topography of the Holy Land, by Theodosius (ca 530)
- The Itinerary by the anonymous Pilgrim from Piacenza (second half of the VIth Century, ca 570)
- The Holy Places by Adomnan based on the visit of Arculfus to the Holy Land in 670
- The Holy City and the Holy Places by Epiphanius the Monk(middle of the VIIIth Century)
- The Life of Saint Stephen from Saint Saba, by Leontius from Damascus (beginning of the IXth Century).

According to the texts written by the pilgrims, the most venerated and frequented sanctuaries in the transjordanian territory were the Moses Memorial on Mount Nebo and the sanctuary indicating the spot where John baptised on the eastern bank of the River Jordan. The place is also recorded in the mosaic Map at Madaba.

The Sanctuary of Saint Lot in Zoara-Ghor al-Safy

The papyri recently found in a church in Petra, records the monastery of the Holy High Priest Aaron. The small mosque built on Jebal Haroun on the ruins of a byzantine monastery, perpetuates the memory of the christian shrine. The Spiritual Meadow and the Life of St. Stephen from St. Saba also record particular localities on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, amongst which the sanctuary dedicated to St. Lot near to Zoara which is shown on the Madaba Map.

The sanctuary was already known from the Life of St. Stephen from St. Saba. The author writes that the holy monk, “during the Lenten period, wandered around the Dead Sea from one extremity to another up to Zoara and beyond (p. 84). He had placed along the track, markings with stones, so as not to get lost. He would go to the caverns, used by the holy Fathers, in al-Ruba, Cutila, Arnun, Giariba and other places frequented by the holy Fathers (p. 88). He lived … in the caves at Arnun or Giariba … at Mar Lut or Mar Harun or on the other side of the Dead Sea” (p. 96).

Modern archaeological research is progressively explaining and identifying the monastic geography of the east shore of the Dead Sea with the sanctuaries recorded in the available sources. Recently, an expedition funded by the British Museum in London and lead by Constantinos Dino Politis, has brought to light the monastery and church of Saint Lot. The sanctuary which clings on to the steep slopes of the mountain on the other side from Zoara-Ghor es-Safy was built close by a venerated cave. The cave, originally used as a burial place in the second millennium BC, was absorbed into the church to remember the place chosen by Lot and his daughters, to live in, having escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave” (Gn 19, 30).

The Sanctuaries along the Roman Road Esbus-Livias
The area most visited by pilgrims is that which extends, opposite Jericho, from the east bank of the river to the sanctuary of Moses on Mount Nebo. They were attracted to the places along the Jordan in the territory of Livias, which were connected with the memory of the baptism of Jesus and the preaching of John the Baptist, as well as to the places, further inland, which were related to the final episodes of the life and mission of Moses in the territory of Madaba.

Both groups of sanctuaries were located along the Livias-Esbus sector of the Roman road connecting Jerusalem to the Via Nova Traiana on the jordanian high-plateau. In there itineraries the pilgrims reckon the distance from one place to another along this road. According to the Onomasticon, Mount Nebo “is that which now has his name and which is on the way up from Livias to Esbus'“ (On. 16, 24), and that which is shown to travellers from the sixth milestone to the west of Esbus (On. 136, 5). According to the Pilgrim from Piacenza, “it is eight miles from the Jordan to the place where Moses died”.

The exploration of the Roman-Byzantine road from Esbus to Livias, begun in the last century and recently continued by the Hesban Expedition, has rediscovered milestones numbered with Esbus as starting point, thus confirming that this was the road followed by the pilgrims coming from Jerusalem to Mount Nebo. Visitors today can still see 13 milestones at the 5th Mile, and 4 milestones are still visible at the 6th Mile near the Roman-Byzantine fortress of al-Mehatta. Here the detour starts that today gets one to Ayoun Mousa, the Springs of Moses.

© Michele Piccirillo
SBF