A SHRINE TO MOSES

This monograph is devoted to the re-examination of the monastic complex of the Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo, one of the most important Byzantine shrines in Jordan. The subject of the first part is the new archaeological investigation that was carried out between 2012 and 2014 by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum and in which the author was actively involved. Archaeological excavations have made it possible to uncover an intact burial site in the centre of the nave. The tomb, empty at the time of discovery, is located on the highest point of Mount Nebo, sunk into the ground and lined with reused material (spolia of alabaster marble). Based on the examination and evaluation of the findings (ceramics, architectural elements, liturgical furniture, and coins), the stratigraphy and the masonry, the author proposes a new interpretation of the architectural phases of the monastic church. The second part of the book is devoted to the contextualization of the monastery within the network of monastic shrines that are richly concerned with the veneration of biblical figures in Jordan. The other monasteries have been analysed using hagiographic sources, travelogues and archaeological data to highlight the similarities with the Nebo complex, particularly the pilgrimage. The publication then includes an analysis of daily life in the monastery, with particular emphasis on the management of the complex, agricultural aspects, the diet of the monks and their social composition. The last chapter of the second part deals with the continuity and decline of the monasteries beyond the Jordan at a time between the end of the Umayyad period and the beginning of the Abbasid era. The reflection, which also takes into account the studies of ceramics from the area and from the cistern of the monastery, concerns the possible political, economic, social and religious causes that contributed to the progressive abandonment of these ecclesiastical institutions.