Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - St. Mary on Mt. of Olives

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Jerusalem (Mount of Olives)

Identification:

Located on the property of Al Makasid Al Khairiyah Hospital. Identified with St. Mary church restored by Justinian (Procopius, de Aed. V . 9. 8) and a church by the same name mentioned in the Commemoratorium de Casis Dei (see under Literary Sources).

Church name:

St. Mary on Mt. of Olives

Dedication:

St. Mary

Functional Type:

Monastic?

Church type:

Unknown

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

223.40

631.99

Coordinates, ICS system:

173.40

1,131.99

Location:

Para-urban

Geographical region:

Jerusalem Mount of Olives

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

HideLiterary sources

Text number	Summary
1	Mention of the monastery of St Mary on Mount Olivet among the buildings restored by Justinian, from a panegyric of AD 550s.
2	Inventory of monks and clerics employed in the psalmody at the church of St Mary on Mount Olivet, from an official report ordered in AD 808.

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Epitaph of Joseph, priest of the new foundation of the “Appeared Angel”, incised on a roughly dressed stone.

Archaeological remains

Surveyors:

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Jennings, J. E.	1965

Bibliograpy:

Jennings, J. E., 1969
Bieberstein, K. and Bloedhorn, H., 1994	3: 312-318
Schick, R., 1995	355
Kloner, A., 2001	140*, no. 440.
Pringle, D. and Leach, P. E., 2007	316-319, no. 341
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012	JSP 14, no. 46, p.187

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Mosaics dated to the Byzantine period were incorporated into a medieval church. The extant fragment is located in the centeral apse of the later church. its estimated width is 7 m.; its length- 12m. Additinol mosaic fragments found in the area led the excavators to believe that the site was a monastery.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

Fragments of a mosaic floor attributed to the Byzantine period were uncovered in the apse of the mediaeval church.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Inscription - see under epigraphy	A Greek tomb stone bearing an inscription from the Early Arab period is attributed to the site (Pringle 2007), though the find spot is not certain (see under the inscription card).
Pottery	6th-8th century pottery sherds were found in the lowest strata of the church. In the upper strata - Late Arabic and Crusader sherds.
Glass
Coins	13 coins wrer found, most of them dating from from the arabic conquest to the latin kingdom. Several were late roman, several were fifth century module.

Detailed description

Structure

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Level 4 of the site, Phase 1 of the church

Dating material:

The mosaic is dated by style.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

General outline:

Traces of burning can be seen in one of the mosaics.

Dating material:

A new church was built in the 11th-12th century. The excavators believe that the church might have bben destroyed in 614, mostly baed on historical sources. Schick believes that it contiued in use into the early Islamic period, based on pottery found outside of the church, indicating to a domastic use. But being mentioned in the Commemoratorium indicates that it was still standing in the early 9th c.

Phase date

Century:

9th c.

Post conquest history comments:

The excavators believe the church was destroyed in 614, though there is not archaeoloigical evidence to support that. Being mentioned in the Commemoratorium indicates that it was still standing in the early 9th c., being restored on a new plan, in Mediaeval times - 11th-12th c.