St George and the Dragon in Madaba

It was amazing to see St George and the Dragon - such a familiarly British emblem - at St George's church in Madaba.  The church here is Greek Orthodox.  St George was originally Turkish - born in Cappadonia into a "noble Christian family" - and joined the Roman army aged 17.  He worked his way through the ranks and rose to be a member of the Praetorian Guard for Emperor Diocletion.

However, he refused to disavow his Christian faith, and protested against the murder of Christians by the Romans, and as a result was tortured and done to death in Palestine in 303 AD.  He is associated with the British ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry.  St George's Day is celebrated on 23rd April.

 

This map was entirely made from tiny pieces of mosaic (and indeed, mosaic making is still very much a part of Jordanian life, as we found when we visited a mosaic making factory.) This was discovered in 1884 and is the largest mosaic map in the world, having been made around 560 AD. It was originally built into a Byzantine church. This representation was in the visitor centre.

It looks like a painted fresco is being repaired.

Above and below, sections of the ancient mosaic.

Below: another Fresco.

We visited the mosaic factory.  Some of the works were very complicated patterns.

A table with one of the decorated plates that were for sale.

Some of the amazing mosaic pictures on offer.  I was interested in the Tree of Life ones on the bottom - I think those were 150 Jordanian Dinars.  She showed me a square one (500 JD)!  Then she would NOT leave us alone but followed us around the shop, trying to get a sale.  Hate that.

This one was based on the Mosaic floor at Mount Nebo.

Another Tree of Life with Peacocks.

More beautiful decorated plates.

There's posh!!  A wee bit OTT for me but beautifully done; same comment for below too.

Lord knows how much these chairs were.  Someone was looking at a carpet, and was quoted a price of 22,000 JD!!

I couldn't resist taking photos of these antique weapons - Keith used to have similar ones on his side of things at Fairs.

Sundry items . . .

Today I have been tidying up in the garden, planted some Monarda seeds (Bee Balm), cleared a bit more moss from the stone chippings in the yard, and a little area of the cobbles, and I started edging the little square lawn.  APITA though as the edger doesn't really cut through the moss.  I will retrieve my sharp spade from Tam tomorrow. I pruned half a dozen roses, and did some weeding.  Slow progress.

Then I was tired and slept for 2 hours on the sofa, covered in cats.  My neighbour came round for a natter, which made a nice change.   

Now I'm listening to the evening chorus as the light fades.  It's good to have the lighter evenings stretching out, and we saw Swifts and Swallows on the wing when we were at Jerash - so heart-lifting to know they are on their way.