Jerusalem (Old city) - Probatica; St. Mary

Vertical tabs

Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Jerusalem (Old city)

Identification:

The church was built in memory of the healing of the paralytic (John 5.2- 9), on the site where a pagan temple to Aescalepius once stood. His coach was shown in the church. The Byzantine church was also dedicated to Mary. There she was born to her parents Anna and Joachim, and raised. The church is mentioned in the Plerophories XVIII, in an episode that took place early in the episcopate of Juvenal, in the Life of Peter the Iberian, by Theodosius (518), and the Placentia pilgrim. It is also depicted on the Madaba mosaic map. 2107 victims found their death there during the Persian conquest of the city in 614.

Church name:

Probatica; St. Mary

Functional Type:

Memorial

Church type:

Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

222.45

632.07

Coordinates, ICS system:

172.44

1,132.10

Location:

Urban

Geographical region:

Jerusalem (Old City)

Topographical location:

Inside the Old City, just north-west of the Lions Gate, near the monastery of St. Anna. The atrium was built above the Sheep / Bethesda / Probatica pool, the basilica was built on firm ground, immediately to the east.

Distance from nearest settlement:

Inside the Old City of Jerusalem.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

HideLiterary sources

Text number	Summary
1	Apparition of Christ in the church of the Probatica, from a collection of anti-Chalcedonian stories written AD 512-518.
2	Mention of the Sheep-Pool and of the church of Mary beside it, from an itinerary of ca. AD 518-530.
3	Description of the basilica of Saint Mary near the pools, from an itinerary of ca. AD 570.
4	Mention of the Sheep-Pool between the Holy Sepulchre and the Temple Mount, from an 8th cent. guidebook for pilgrims.
5	Inventory of clerics and nuns in St Mary Probatica, from an official report ordered in AD 808.
6	Mention of the Sheep-Pool and of the church of Anne mother of Mary, from a guidebook compiled AD 1137.

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy:

Mauss, C., 1888
Vincent, L. H. and Abel, F. M., 1926
Van der Vliet, N., 1938‎
Rousée, J. M. and de Vaux, R., 1957
Rousée, J. M., 1962
Rousée, J. M., 1965
Bagatti, B., 1968
Benoit, P., 1968
Avi-Yonah, M., 1970
Avi-Yonah, M., 1975‎
Ovadiah, A. and De Silva, C. G., 1981
Pierre, M. J. and Rousée J.-M., 1981	27-28
Alliata, E., 1992
Pringle, D. and Leach, P. E., 2007	389-97
Dauphin, C., 2005
Dauphin, C., 2011
Gibson, S., 2011
Michel, A., 2019	169

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The church was built over and to the east of the double pool of Probatica or Bethesda. The basilica, 18x22m in dimensions, was built on firm ground, to the east of the pools. Together with the atrium, built over the pools, the complex was 45 m. long - The fifth in length among the churches of Jerusalem. To its east ran a NS street with a draining channel underneath. The narthex was mosaic paved; the basilica - with marble plates. According to Gibson (2011), it was first mono-apsidal flanked by two pastophoria. In some later time, perhapse under Justinian, it was converted to tri-apsidal. The function of the southern annex, stone paved is unknown. It was perhaps a southern narthex (Gibson 2011). The northern one - a chapel, with a mosaic-paved sanctuary, was variousely interpreted as martyrion, diakonikon, or baptistery (Dauphin 2011, 87-99).

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Atrium:

17.50x19m in dimensions. The north portico of the atrium was built over earlier Roman structures. The southern rests over 11m deep piers piers carrying arches, set in the depth of the southern pool (a different plan is reproduced in Ovadiah and De Silva). Access was from the west, along the barrier dam separating between the two Bethesda pools. Under the northern portico there there is a water cistern (4.5x17.3 m.).

Narthex:

Mosaic paved. The southern annex might have also served as a narthex; a prayer place for the Catechumenoi.

Façade and entries:

Not preserved.

Lateral walls:

Not preserved.

Nave:

The nave and both aisle are located on firm ground to the east of the two pools. 7m wide, it was paved in marble plates.

Aisles:

3 m wide; paved in marble plates.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The church was first mono-apsidal, and then triapsidal (Gibson 2011). The central apse, partially preserved in its foundations, was 4m wide and 3.25m deep. The bema disapeared. Ambo pieces decorated with crosses were found in 1867. They are on exhibition in St. Anna Church together with marble chancel screen pieces..

Lateral spaces:

Only the northern pastophorium (3.7x2.7m) and the later apse that replaced it are recognized, rock-cut. The apse was 3.7m wide and 2.2m deep. The southern ones did not survive.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Coins	Coins of Constantius II and Theodosius I were found under the floor of the basilica.
Stamps	A fragment of an Eucharistic bread stamp.

Small finds illustrative material:

Literary sources

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Atrium:

Yes

Water cistern:

Yes

Narthex:

Yes

Aisles:

Colonnades / Arcades:

Colonnade

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total
4

East end:

Internal apse

Church Head/Chevet:

tri-apsidal

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Ambo:

Yes

Ambo remains:

side plates

Ambo description:

Uncovered in 1867. Decorated by crosses. For a drawing see Mauss 1888, 20.

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci:

N & S

Description and function of northern:

Flanking the apse on Phase 1. Only the northern (2.7x3.7m in dimensions) is recognizable in its rock-cut foundations.

Lateral Apses Function

Location:

N & S

Northern apse description and function:

Recognized by rock-cut foundations. 3.7m wide and 2.3m deep.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:

Quadrangular chapel

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:

A hall (6x11.5m) with stone pavers and a mosaic paved sanctuary (M in the detailed plan; 3.6x4.7m in dimensions), with remains of a chancel screen and an altar, located to the north of the basilica. A door let access to its northern aisle. It could not be determined if the eastern end was apsidal or quadrangular. An earlier Roman wall equipped with quadrangular niches for cupboards (library?) served as the northern wall. In some publication it is addressed as Martyr's Chapel / martyrion; in other - as diakonikon; Gibson suggested that originally it served as a baptistery, due to a water cistern located to its east, but there is nothing more to assert this proposal. See discussion in Dauphin 2011, 87-99. At the absence of any reliquary, and the presence of cupboards, the most plausible interpretation seems to be diakonikon / prothesis chapel. Two later mosaic floors were uncovered above; the upper one being dated to post 614 CE (Dauphin 2011, 135-180).

Martyrs chapel:

Other

Martyrs chapel description:

See above, under prothesis chapel / diakonikon.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Abandonment

General outline:

Monoapsidal church. The date of the northern annexed chapel (diakonikon) might have been contemporary.

Dating material:

Coins of Constantius II and Theodosius I found under the floor of the basilica suggest an early 5th c. date.

Phase date

Century:

5th c.

Within century:

Early

General outline:

The church head was converted to tri-apsidal. Mosaic B of the diakonikon might have been laid out at the same phase - in Justinianic times (Dauphin 2011).

Dating material:

Historical considerations.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Mid

General outline:

Burnt by the Persians in 614; renovated by Modestus shortly afterwards (Alliata; Dauphin). The renovated church continued to exist until the early 11th c. (1008-1020), being destroyed by the Fatimid caliph of Egypt al-Hakim (Alliata, p. 33; Dauphin 2011, 135-180). But according to Gibson (2011), the basilical church had ceased to function and was deserted following the Sassanid sack. Instead, a modest chapel (5.2x15m in dimensions) was installed in the northern portico of the atrium, above a water cistern, later rebuilt by the Franks (Pringle, Vol. III, 389-397, no. 366: Chapel of the Sheep Pool).

Dating material:

According to its style, mosaic C in the diakonikon / martyrion is attributed by Dauphid to post 614 times, .

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Within century:

Early

General outline:

The renovated church continued to exist until the early 11th c. (1008-1020), being destroyed by the Fatimid caliph of Egypt al-Hakim (Alliata, p. 33; Dauphin 2011, 135-180).

Effects of the Persian Invasion:

Damaged and restored

Post Arab conquest history:

Ceased to function

Post conquest history comments:

The Crusaders built a new monastic church (Moustier) on the site of the northern portico of the atrium, and St. Anne church to the SE of the Early Christian / Byzantine basilica. Most of the stones of the Byzantine church were reused to build them.