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By Rami G. Khouri
Staff, Daily Star (Lebanon)
Friday, May 20, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan: Substantial new evidence from archaeological excavations may have located where Jesus was baptized. Scholars long identified Jesus’ baptism as taking place at the lower reaches of the Jordan River, east of Jericho - prompted by a combination of biblical references, Byzantine and other mediaeval texts, and the uninterrupted traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, which has custody of the area.
Following the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement, archaeologists promptly resumed the search for the place the Bible called “Bethany beyond the Jordan.” That search had begun over a century earlier.
In a region of some 8 square kilometers on the east bank of the Jordan River, archaeologists have identified and examined over 30 different archaeological remains. Numerous artifacts confirm the area was inhabited in the Early Roman period, the time of Jesus and John the Baptist.
Located some 11 kilometers north of the Dead Sea shore, about a 40-minute drive from Amman, Bethany beyond the Jordan is fast becoming a major new destination for Christian pilgrims.
The key discoveries are the Byzantine monastery and earlier Roman-era remains at Tell al-Kharrar; several smaller Byzantine churches, chapels, monks’ hermitages, caves, and hermit cells; a large Byzantine multi-church complex; a ceramic pipeline bringing water to the site from several kilometers east; a large plastered pool and adjacent khan halfway between Tell al-Kharrar and the Jordan; another pilgrims’ rest station and khan several kilometers east, on the ancient pilgrimage route to Mount Nebo.
The discoveries have excited archaeologists and biblical geographers alike. This seems the only site where textual, archaeological and traditional evidence converge.
The puzzle about the precise site of Jesus’ baptism is complicated by several factors: the different ancient names used to designate the area, the imprecise narrative in the biblical text, and the different modern sites where pilgrims commemorate the baptism.
John 1:28 explicitly names “Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing” as the location - though John is unclear as to whether the itinerant preacher was passing through, or lived there on a semi-permanent basis. John 10:40 mentions Jesus’ escaping Jerusalem and going “away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized …”
Full article
Staff, Daily Star (Lebanon)
Friday, May 20, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan: Substantial new evidence from archaeological excavations may have located where Jesus was baptized. Scholars long identified Jesus’ baptism as taking place at the lower reaches of the Jordan River, east of Jericho - prompted by a combination of biblical references, Byzantine and other mediaeval texts, and the uninterrupted traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, which has custody of the area.
Following the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace agreement, archaeologists promptly resumed the search for the place the Bible called “Bethany beyond the Jordan.” That search had begun over a century earlier.
In a region of some 8 square kilometers on the east bank of the Jordan River, archaeologists have identified and examined over 30 different archaeological remains. Numerous artifacts confirm the area was inhabited in the Early Roman period, the time of Jesus and John the Baptist.
Located some 11 kilometers north of the Dead Sea shore, about a 40-minute drive from Amman, Bethany beyond the Jordan is fast becoming a major new destination for Christian pilgrims.
The key discoveries are the Byzantine monastery and earlier Roman-era remains at Tell al-Kharrar; several smaller Byzantine churches, chapels, monks’ hermitages, caves, and hermit cells; a large Byzantine multi-church complex; a ceramic pipeline bringing water to the site from several kilometers east; a large plastered pool and adjacent khan halfway between Tell al-Kharrar and the Jordan; another pilgrims’ rest station and khan several kilometers east, on the ancient pilgrimage route to Mount Nebo.
The discoveries have excited archaeologists and biblical geographers alike. This seems the only site where textual, archaeological and traditional evidence converge.
The puzzle about the precise site of Jesus’ baptism is complicated by several factors: the different ancient names used to designate the area, the imprecise narrative in the biblical text, and the different modern sites where pilgrims commemorate the baptism.
John 1:28 explicitly names “Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing” as the location - though John is unclear as to whether the itinerant preacher was passing through, or lived there on a semi-permanent basis. John 10:40 mentions Jesus’ escaping Jerusalem and going “away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized …”
Full article