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Tabaqat Fahl (Pella)

Above the modern town of Mashare in the Jordan valley are the remains of the ancient city of Pella, exactly at sea level altitude.

The ruins overlook the Jordan Valley. The site is inhabited since the stone ages. Evidences of a Neolithic.

Farming village was found. Remains of Chalcolithic settlement were excavated. Evidences of the Bronze ages and the Iron ages.

After the Roman siege, the early Christians fled to Pella. In the seventh century the Islamic army defeated the  Byzantine army. 

Baptism

The Baptism site was called in the Biblical time as Bethany beyond the Jordan. Located at or around the natural hill at Tell el Kharrar where John the Baptist lived, preached and baptized, the village of Bethany beyond the Jordan was explicitly mentioned in the Bible, John 1:28

  Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was Baptized, while John 10:40 mentions an incident when Jesus escaped from hostile Pharisees in Jerusalem and   went away again across the  Jordan to the place where John at first baptizing.

The region of Bethany beyond the Jordan witnessed many significant associations with ancient prophets and biblical personalities including Moses, Joshua, Elisha. The main mound at tell el-Kharrar has long been calls Elijah's Hill, or tell Mar Elias in Arabic. It has been identified  as the place from which Prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot and horses of fire after having parted the water of the River Jordan and walked across it  with his successor the Prophet Elisha.

In the Roman periodt The Bethany area Known as Betennaboris.

 The 6th century AD Byzantine Madaba mosaic map of the Holy Land labels it as Ainon where now is Saphsaphas.

(The name Saphsaphas  comes from the Arabic word for willow tree).

Starting with a small hill where Elijah ascended to heaven in the fiery chariot, this vally cross over the ancient road between Mount Nebo and Jericho and ends by the River Jordan, where churches dedicated to John the Baptist were later built.

 King's Highway

It is the ancient rout between Amman and Petra. In the 1st millennium BC this rout liked  the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Edom. In the Nabatean times it was used to transport  goods like frankincense, Myrrh, and spices from the Southern Arabia to the Mediterranean, Hellenistic and the Roman world. Along this route are the most historical sites of Jordan.

It goes along the mountains to the east of the Dead Sea. You drive through the small towns,  which are depending on agriculture.

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 Hammamat Ma'in

It is well known as one of the relaxing places in Jordan. Zarqa Ma'in (biblical Belemounta), 58 km south of Amman and 120 meters below sea level, is the thermal mineral hot springs and waterfalls, where Herod the Great was said to have bathed in its medicinal water, and where people have come for thermal treatments, or simply to enjoy a hot soak, since the days of Rome.

It is now being restored and rebuilt as a comprehensive spa and natural clinic providing treatment for people with skin diseases, blood circulatory problems and bone, joints, back and muscular pains. With a 4-star hotel, leisure, bathing, and therapeutic facilities.

 The area is famous for the hot springs and waterfalls, which are known for a wide range of therapeutic treatments.

[Nebo & Maeen Madaba Photo Gallery]

Mukawir

This Herodian fortress palace, named Macherud in Greek, is known today as Mukawir, and is located 66 km south west of Amman.

 It retains the memories of some very h dramatic ancient human and political events, including the beheading of John the Baptist, a Jewish revolt against the Roman rule,  and prolonged Roman siege and destruction of the rebels.

 Umm Al Rasas

The Town of Um Al Rasas, as it is known, was an important town in the Nabatean times and  became a frontier station in the Roman time. The city wall, houses and churches are  the remains of the ancient Kastron Mefaa.

Little Petra

 Little Petra is located to the north of Petra, only a 10 minute drive away. A classical temple stands guard outside the miniature siq which would appear to have been an important suburb of the city of Petra, situated at the point where several ancient caravan routes met, linking Wadi Araba with Gaza, Egypt and the Mediterranean coast.

The narrow file, only some 350 m long, is crammed with tombs, temples, triclinia, houses, water channels and cisterns, in brief, a "Little Petra". Of particular note are the remains of painted frescoes on plaster dating from the 1st century AD, which are to be found in one of the biclinia.

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