'Ein el Ma'amudieh - Chapel

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

'Ein el Ma'amudieh

Identification:

In some publications Ain el Ma'amudieh (= “the spring of baptism”). Traditionally it commemorates John the Baptist’s early ministry, prior to his settlement on the shore of the Jordan river - the "wilderness of Saint John the Baptist near Hebron".

Church name:

Chapel

Functional Type:

Baptismal chapel

Church type:

Chapel - Free standing

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

203.92

604.50

Coordinates, ICS system:

153.91

1,104.49

Location:

Rural

Geographical region:

Hebron Hills

Topographical location:

On the southern bank of a wadi bellow the Arab village Taffuh.

Distance from nearest settlement:

Approx. 8 km. to the west of Hebron.

Distance from Roman roads:

Near the road connecting between Eleutheropolis and Hebron.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Eleutheropolis

Source of knowledge

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Invocation of Christ and prayer of Demetris on a broken stone lintel.

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Steve, A. M.	1945-1946
Riba	2016

History:

Both phases were dated to the first half of the 6th c. Riba suggested that the system of ablution and baptism in running water resembled that described by Egeria in Aenon (Itin. 15).

Bibliograpy:

Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994

Schick, R., 1995

Bagatti, B., 2002

Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012

Riba, B., 2018

Riba, B., 2021

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

A small baptismal chapel with running water, 3.15X6.65 m. in dimensions, and a tunnel on the south, ca. 11.5m long, leading to the source of water. The walls of the chapel are preserved to an elevation of 2.4-2.75 m. An arched doorway in the south leads into the tunnel that served as a corridor leading to a cave, 2.15X3 m., with an eastern apse. A pit cut into the bedrock provides water to the baptismal font. The archaeological examination of the existing installations conducted in 2016 revealed two phases that succeeded each other; both in the first half of the 6th century. The chapel with the circular font (1.8m in diameter) was preceded by a larger rectagular basin coated in hydraulic plaster and oriented to the feeding tunnel. A second circular font, 1m in diameter and 1m deep, might have served for the immersion of children. Two rectangular basins farther north might have served for pre-baptismal ablution.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Situation actuelle de la chapelle (à gauche du château d’eau). Riba, Syria 98_2021

General aerial view fron NE. Riba, Syria 98-2021, Fig. 4

The pond in the chapel. Riba, Syria 98-2021, Fig. 6

Figures

Façade and entries:

Entrance from the north.

Lateral walls:

0.9 m. wide.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

An interior apse had a window on the east. Four stairs led from the east into the circular baptismal font in front of the apse.‎

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Inscription - see under epigraphy	A decorated lintel, 0.6X1X3 m., contains a three line Greek inscription.

Small finds illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Comments, discussion and summary:

Ca. 200 M. from the baptismal Chapel, at Kh. ed-Deir, is a square building which is also part of the same monastic complex. It was suggested that the building served as a fort to guard the monastery.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

East end:

Internal apse

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Baptism

Baptism photos and plans:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Loci:

A circular font, 1.8m in diameter, is located in front of the apse. Four stairs led in from the east. A second circular font, 1m in diameter, might had served for the baptism of children. Two other rectangular basin, on the north, might have served for pre-baptismal ablution. The larger earlier basin, that predates the chapel with its circular font, might have functioned

Font structure:

Masonry built

External shape:

circular

Internal shape:

circular

Ben-Pechat type:

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Abandonment

Dating material:

The pottery embedded in the plaste of the early basin dates no later than the early 6th c.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Early

General outline:

The chapel and the circular font were installed in this phase over the primitive early rectangular basin.

Dating material:

C14 probes of the mortar embedded in the apse provided dates ranging between 406 andt 542. But stratigraphically the chapel was constructed over the early basin of phase 1.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

First half

Dating material:

Dated according to the pottery found in the fort in Kh. ed-Deir.

Phase date

Century:

7th-8th c.

Post Arab conquest history:

Modified

Post conquest history comments:

The tunnel leading to the cave might have been covered over in that time.