Mosaic Floor of the Church of St. Stephen, Umm ar-Rasas, Jordan.


Photo by Admiralthrawn
The mosaic floor of the Church of St. Stephen is dated by an inscription to 785 AD, well into the Islamic period. It overlays another, damaged, mosaic floor of the earlier (587 AD) "Church of Bishop Sergius." The floor is enclosed within a modern building for protection.
Most of the images of people have been defaced by Christians, during one of the Byzantine Church's episodic campaigns against the use of images in Church iconography. Only this figure, who is holding a cornucopia from which her grape-vine roundel originates, has survived to give an idea of the original 6th century decoration.

Umm ar-Rasas, known as Kastron Mefaa in classical times, is located about 45km south of Amman.


See also A reconstruction of the Umayyad, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi floor - Plate B “Deux fresques omeyyades,” Syria 25, 1946-48 by D. Schlumberger
Umayyad Soldiers on a Coin of Yazīd ibn al Muhallab, early 8th century AD, Gurgān: Coll. of the American Numismatic Society.
Other Illustrations of Arabian Costume & Soldiers