Mukāwir (Machaerus)
Mukāwir (Machaerus)
The site is 70km from the capital, Amman, and 32km from the city of Madaba. It is located near the town of Makawer in Ḍhiban District of Madaba Governorate.
Site coordinates: (31.56762145561792 North, 35.624306874567296 East).
In 90BC Alexander Janius built the castle of Mukāwir to be a center of resistance against the Romans, but it was not long before they seized it in 57BC, and it was destroyed by the commander, Pompey.
It was under the control of Herod the Great between the years 25 and 13BC, and he rebuilt it and surrounded it with a huge wall on all sides. It subsequently came under the control of his son Herod Antipas before the Romans again occupied it in the year 70AD.
It is said that in this castle, King Herod beheaded the Prophet Yahya bin Zakaria (John the Baptist) after he had imprisoned him for a while.
Pope John Paul II visited it in 2000 and it was adopted as a Christian pilgrimage site.
The most important features of the site:
1. The Castle:
It was built during the Roman Age in several stages and contains a fortress surrounded by a defensive wall with two towers: western and southern.
2. The Palace:
The oldest mosaic panel in Jordan (from the first century BC) was discovered here. It is a square adorning the cold water pool entrance in the palace bath. The panel is composed of black and white stone cubes. It was transferred to Madaba Archaeological Park.
3. The Byzantine Village:
The village includes several ancient churches:
a. Malachius Church:
i. It is a basilica church with a middle nave, two aisles, a semi-circular apse, and two side rooms. Destroyed mosaic floors dating back to the first half of the seventh century AD were found.
b. North Chapel:
This chapel is on the northern slope of the village, specifically to the north of the modern town cemetery. It is a hall system building, consists a hallway, an internal semicircular apse, and a southern side room. The prayer hall is 13.4m long and 6m wide.
c. Western Church:
This church, constructed in a basilica plan with dimensions of (20×19m), is located on the western slope of the village of Makawer and next to the street leading to the castle. It consists of a nave, side rooms, a southern porch, and an apse, of which simple parts remain. The church was built of limestone, and its floor was paved with mosaics. In its middle nave, the mosaics have designs of vine scrolls surrounded by images of trees and birds. The animal images in the mosaics were subjected to deliberate vandalism during the period known as Byzantine Iconoclasm, and parts of this floor were transferred to the Traditional Jewelry and Costumes Museum in the Roman Theater in Amman.
4. Heritage Houses:
a. There are several heritage houses that used some ancient stones from the castle in their construction, and several caves are spread on the southern and northern slopes of the village of Makawer.
5. Other Parameters:
a. Defensive towers, Roman and Byzantine tombs.