ARAM, 18-19 (2006-2007) 541-557. doi:R. AVNER 10.2143/ARAM.19.0.2020745 541

THE KATHISMA: A CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM SITE

Dr. RINA AVNER (Israel Antiquities Authority)

Recent archaeological excavations and studies reveal with a much stronger emphasis that the early Byzantine history of the road leading south from Jeru- salem to Bethlehem loomed large as a holy itinerary, virtually a Christian Via Sacra, connecting the two most holy cities in the .1 Indeed, a visiting the Holy Places would not, for sure, miss travelling either on foot or on a beast along a route rich in significant historical memories in a topography imbued with religious biblical references. By this road the patriarch Jacob bur- ied his beloved wife Rachel who died giving birth to Benjamin, as told in the Book of Genesis, ch. 35:vss 15-19. On the same road the Prophet Samuel went in search of a king among the sons of Jesse and picked David, as related in the Book of Samuel I, ch. 17:vss 1-3. Beyond the , other events are recorded in the Gospels and in the apocryphal literature. Dated in the 2nd cen- tury A.D, the Protevangelium of St. James ch. 17:vss 2-3 focuses on local leg- ends connected with the circumstances of Christ‘s birth. One account relates that at the third mile from , midway to Bethlehem, the pregnant Vir- gin Mary riding an ass and accompanied by Joseph, had a prophetic vision of two groups of people, one happy and rejoicing and the other wailing. A short while later she felt the child in her pressing to be born, so she asked Joseph to help her down and sat to rest, presumably on a rock by the roadside.2 Surely, the compacting of the stops along a short distance of a few miles provided a psychological prelude enhancing the religious experience as the pilgrim visited one station after the other before reaching the holy places in Bethlehem itself. Thus, Christian felt in physical contact with past figures and events known to them from the stories of the holy Scriptures, and learning Christian doctrinal interpretations and interpolations which, through the topographical context, viewed the New Testament as a fulfillment of the stories of the Old Testament in a prophetic sense.3

1 See G. Barkai 1984, “Excavations on the Slope of the Hinnom Valley, Jerusalem”, Qadmoniot, 68 (1984), p. 97 (Hebrew); R. Avner, The of the Kathisma – Its Identifica- tion and Role in the History of Architecture and Mosaic - Ph.D. Dissertation, Haifa University 2004 (Hebrew), pp. 152-154 (= Avner, Kathisma). 2 ed. C. Tischendorf (ed.), Evangelica Apocrypha, (Leipzig 1876), p. 32-33 (= Tischendorf, Apocrypha); E. Hennecke W. Schneemelcher (eds.) and M. Wilson (Eng. tr.), New Testament Apocrypha, (London 1963), p. 383 (= Hennecke and Schneemelcher, Apocrypha). 3 O. Limor, Holy Land Travels. Christian Pilgrims in Late Antiquity, (Jerusalem 1998) (He- brew), pp. 4-6, 11 (= Limor, Travels); E.D. Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman

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This paper will concentrate on the early local legend of Mary‘s rest by the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem prior to Christ‘s birth, coupled by the hal- lowing of a specific rock on which she allegedly sat, giving rise to the holy place called The Kathisma – in Greek the seat.4 It is obvious that both legend and the holy place developed in association and as a parallel to the Old Testa- ment story of the pregnant figure of Rachel dying at childbirth and her memo- rial tomb located further along this road closer to Bethlehem.5 With respect to nomenclature, the name given to a specific rock as the Virgin‘s seat, was car- ried on in later centuries, and by the Arabs corrupted into “Kadismou”6 at- tached to an ancient well and an early Byzantine reservoir,7 remains of which have survived to this date. The earliest historic mention of the Kathisma is in the ancient Armenian ,8 a document dated by Renoux between 417-438 A.D.9 However, in accordance with the 6th-century historian Cyril of Scythopolis,10 the church Empire, A.D. 312-460, (Oxford 1982), pp. 4-5, 94-95 (= Hunt, Pilgrimage); P. Maraval, Lieux saints et pèlerinage d'orient, Histoire et géographie des origines à la conquête arabe, (Paris 1985), p. 33 (= Maraval, Lieux saints); Avner, Kathisma, 144-145, 147-148; for a slightly differ- ent opinion see C. Mango, “The Pilgrim's Motivation”, Akten des XII internationalen Kon- gresses für christliche Archäologie, Bonn 22-28 September 1991, JACS, 20/1 (1995), pp. 1-9. 4 Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani Judaea-Palaestina, (Jerusalem 1994), p. 101. 5 J. Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of and the Beginning of the Early Church, (Princeton 1968), pp. 24-25; M. Avi-Yonah, The Madaba Mosaic Map, (Jeru- salem 1954), p. 65; J. Jeremias, Das Heiligengräber in Jesu Umwelt (Mt. 23, 29; Lk. 11, 47). Eine Untersuchung zur Volksreligion der Zeit Jesus, (Göttingen 1958), pp. 75-77 bibliography in p. 75 note 2. See the identification of Rachel's tomb close to Mar-Elias and the site of the Kathisma in B. Bagatti, Antichi villaggi cristiani di Giudea e Negev, (Studium Franciscanum Collecio Minor, 24), (Jerusalem 1983), pp. 27-28; and the identification north of Jerusalem in G. Lombardi, H. Farah – W. Farah presso Anatot e la questione della Tomba di Rahel, (Studium Franciscanum Collectio Minor, 11), (Jerusalem 1971). 6 C.R. Conder and R.E. Kitchiner, The Survey of Western Palestine, vol. III Judaea, (London 1881-1883), sheet XVII; E.H. Palmer, The Survey of Western Palestine and English Name List, (London 1881), p. 281. 7 (No initial of author) von Riess, “Kathisma Palaion und der sogenannte Brunnen der Weisen bei Mar Elias”, ZDPV, 12 (1889), pp. 19-23; S. Vailhé, “Répertoire alphabétique des monastères de Palestine”, ROC, 4 (1899), pp. 523-524; H. Güthe, Bibelatlas, (Leipzig 1926), plan 14, II. 8 A. Renoux, Le codex arménien Jérusalem 121, PO, 35/1 (1969), PO, 36/2 (1971), p. 335 (= Renoux, AL); idem. “Un manuscrit du lectionnaire arménien de Jérusalem (Cod. Jer. Arm. 121), Le Muséon, 74 (1961), pp. 361-385, the feast of the held in the Kathisma on the 15th of August is mentioned in p. 383; Le Muséon 75 (1962), p.383-398; G. Garitte, Le calendrier Palestino-Géorgien du sinaiticus 34 (Xe siècle), (Bruxelles 1958), p. 301 (= Gritte, GL.); for the feast in August see B. Capelle,” La fête de la Vierge à Jérusalem au Ve siècle“, Le Muséon, 56 (1943), p. 19 (= Capelle, La fête); A. Raes, “Au origines de la fête del'Assomption en orient”, Orientalia christiana periodica, 12 (1946), pp. 262-274. 9 Renoux, AL, (1969), p. 181; other dates see Capelle, La fête, pp. 19-20 (mid. 5th century, before 474 A.D.); J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusaders, (Jerusalem 1977), p. 213 (not later than 450 A.D.) (= Wilkinson, Pilgrims) 10 Theodorus Petraeus, Vita sancti Theodosii, 12, 4-14 in A.J. Festugière (ed. Fr. tr.), Les moines d'Orient. Les moines de Palestine vol. III/3, (Paris 1963), pp. 108-109 (= Festugière, Les moines); H. Usener (ed.), Der heilige Theodosius, (Leipzig 1890), pp. 13-14; Cyril of

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of the Kathisma was completed around 456 A.D,11 built by a Roman widow named Ikelia near a monastery which she had erected at the site. Fortunately, the story of Mary‘s journey to Bethlehem, specifically in con- nection with the site of the Kathisma, left an imprint in pilgrimage art in a con- solidated iconographical form. It is repeated in a number of surviving works of art which represent the episode of the Journey to Bethlehem in illustration of the Protevangelium of St. James, ch. 17, vss. 2-3.12 Although the theme does not occur in Western art until much later in the 11th century in monumental mosaics and in the context of lengthy narrative illustrations of the Gospel sto- ries, particularly in book illumination,13 by contrast the theme recurs in works of art of the Early Christian period in the Byzantine east. In particular, it is re- peated in a group of ivories carved between the 5th up to the 8th century, not in a simple chronological narrative image sequence but isolated among a group of self-contained independent iconographic units. Each represents a scene symbolically refering to a particular holy place in the Holy Land. The inner logic connecting the separate images as a group lies in the purpose and the cli- entele for whom these ivories were intended. Most of the representations of the Journey to Bethlehem in this context appear in a well-known group of 5- part diptychs which should be associated with a category of pilgrimage art ob- jects, purchased as souvenir iconic mementos of the holy places and churches visited in the Holy Land. Hence, the archaeological revelation of the remains of the Kathisma Church explains why such a minor and plain narrative scene, seemingly picked out of a chronological sequence, the Journey to Bethlehem per se was included in a group of images which symbolically represent the holiest pilgrimage sites and churches commemorating events from the Life of Christ. Evidently, the image of the Journey to Bethlehem must have been un- derstood as a symbol of the major pilgrimage site of the Kathisma where the cult of the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos was practiced. Among these ivories, all published by Volbach, is the following 5-partite diptych (Fig. 1)14 in which an angel is seen on the right leading the ass by a halter, and on the left in the rear Joseph is gesturing with the lifted hand in

Scythopolis, Vita sancti Theodosii, 236, 20-237, 2; in A.J. Festugière, Les moines, pp. 57-58; J. Binns and M. Price (ed. Eng. tr.), Cyril of Scythopolis: The Lives of the of Palestine, (CS,114), (Kalamazoo Michigan, 1991), pp. 262-263 (= Binns and Price, Lives); L. Di Segni (ed. Heb. trans.), Cyril of Scythopolis, Lives of Monks of the Judaean Desert, Jerusalem, 2005, pp. 251-252 (= Di Segni, Cyril). 11 D.J. Chitty, The Desert a City, (London 1966), p. 212; Di Segni, Cyril, p. 251 note 3. 12 W.F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters, (Mainz am Rhein, 1976 2nd edition), pp. 88-89 no. 128 Taf. 27; pp. 93-94 no. 140 Taf. 74, p. 110 no. 174 Taf. 88, p. 97 no. 145 Taf. 77 (= Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten). 13 RED., “Reise nach Bethlehem” in O. Holl et als. (ed.), Lexicon der christlichen Ikono- graphie, ed. Herder, (Rome, Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel, and Vienna, 1994), vol. 3 cols. 533- 534, including bibliographical references. 14 Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten, no. 128.

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speech toward Mary. Further to the left, behind Joseph is a palm tree separat- ing the Journey to Bethlehem from the scene of the Trial of Mary by Water at the Temple at the extreme left. The remains of the Church of the Kathisma and part of the monastery were dug during three salvage excavation seasons I conducted on behalf of the Is- rael Antiquities Authority, and a fourth enterprising dig initiated in 1999 jointly with the cooperation of the Greek Orthodox and a Univer- sity of Athens commission headed by the late George Lavas and Irene Rosidis.15 The surviving remains of the church we uncovered indicate a very large structure (Fig. 2), measuring 41m along the west-east axis, and along the north-south axis 38 m. Obviously the church was meant to contain a very large number of worshippers. Not only the size, but also the unusual pattern of the plan indicates that the building was designed as a pilgrimage church and not as a small community or monastic institution. The plan is octagonal, and the building was raised over a large chunk of bedrock we uncovered in the exact center, the best proof that the rock was the focus and the raison d‘être of the church (Fig. 3). The rock rises high in the center of an octagonal space origi- nally defined by eight free-standing piers, at a later phase by columns, sur- rounded by an octagonal ambulatory. The latter is circumscribed by yet an- other octagonal belt concentric with the central octagon and the ambulatory. The outer belt is wide and is divided into rooms. At the east we found a bema, or presbytery, leading into a large rounded apse projecting eastward beyond the contour of the outer octagonal shape of the structure. On the outside, the apse is three-sided as in the manner of Byzantine churches. The archeological finds clearly indicate that the Kathisma belonged to a group of earliest churches built in Jerusalem on sites that were regarded among the holiest places to , chief of which are the Church of the Ascen- sion of Christ on the Mount of Olives, originally built in the Early Byzantine period as a round structure;16 likewise the Rotunda of the Church of the Anastasis raised over Christ‘s sepulchre;17 as well as the octagonal unit built

15 R. Avner, “The Recovery of the Kathisma Church and its Influence on Octagonal Build- ings”, in G.C. Bottini, L. Di Segni and D. Chrupcala (eds.), One Land – Many Cultures. Ar- chaeological Studies in honor of Fr. S. Loffreda, (Studium Franciscanum Collectio Maior, 42), (Jerusalm 2003), pp. 173-186; Idem., “Jerusalem, Mar Elias”, ESI, 13 (1993), pp. 89-92; “Jeru- salem, Mar Elias – The Kathisma Church”, ESI, 20 (1998), pp. 101*-103*; R. Avner, G. Lavas and I. Rosidis, “Jerusalem, Mar Elias – The Kathisma Church”, ESI, 20 (1998), pp. 89*-92*; R. Avner, “Jerusalem, Mar Elias – The Kathisma Church”, ESI, 117 (2005), www.hadashot- esi.org.il/report_detail—eng.asp?id=106&mag_id=110 (accessed 12/9/2006). 16 V.C. Corbo, “Scavo archeologico a ridosso della basilica dell' Ascesione”, Liber Annus, 10 (1960); idem., Richerche archeologiche al Monte degli Ulivi, (Pubblicazioni dello Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, 16 ), (Jerusalem 1965), pp. 97-162 Fig. 77 in p.106; A. Ovadiah, Cor- pus of the Byzantine Churches in the Holy Land, (Bonn 1970), pp. 86-87 bibliography there (= Ovadiah, Corpus); Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 10, 193-194. 17 W. Harvey, Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Structural Survey, (Oxford 1935); Ch. Coüas- non, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, (Jerusalem and London 1974); V.C. Corbo 1981, Il

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over the cave of the Nativity in Bethlehem, located at the east end of the Constantinian basilica.18 Commensurate with these important monuments, the Kathisma was also preconceived and designed to be a pilgrimage church. This is clearly reflected in the manner in which a cluster of spatial units, surround- ing a central space, interconnected by doorways leading from one to the other, offer easy traffic for large numbers of visitors and worshippers. The building had three wide entrances into rectangular vestibules at the north, south and at the west. From each of the vestibules one could walk straight ahead into the ambulatory and into the central octagon. Also, from the northern and southern vestibules one could also turn eastward and enter a rectangular chapel through an intermediary room fitted into the corners of the octagonal shape of the outer belt of the building. At the west one could reach the two western rectangular chapels through similar corner rooms located on each side of the western ves- tibule. Vestibules, intermediary corner rooms and chapels form the external octagonal belt uniformly embracing the ambulatory on the three sides, and ad- joined to the presbytery at the east. Furthermore, regularly spaced wide door- ways led from each chapel into the ambulatory. It is obvious that this compact central plan was designed to suit great free- dom of movement in all parts of the interior, and especially offering access on all sides to the holy rock at the geometrical center of the structure. Clearly, the most important focus of the church is the holy rock, around which processions were surely held. Cyril of Scythopolis mentions a procession with candles in- troduced by Ikelia at the Kathisma on the feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple (the Hypapante or Candlemas).19 The wide doors connecting the four chapels with the ambulatory may have been used also in processions which combine entrances into and exits out of the chapels in the ceremonial itinerary. One enigma is the relatively large number of chapels. What were they used for? The fact that they were easily accessible from different parts of the inte- rior suggests that they may have served special functions, possibly secondary ceremonies conducted there for private worship without disturbing other activ- ity in other parts of the church. Vice versa, the main activity in the central area did not interfere with whatever worship went on in the subsidiary chapels. In any case, the important ceremonies were surely held in the central space Santo Sepolcro de Gerusalemme, Aspetti archeologici dalle origini al periodo crociato, 3 vols, (Jerusalem 1981-1982); J. Patrich, “The Early Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Light of Ex- cavations and Restoration”, in Y. Tsafrir (ed.), Ancient Churches Revealed, (Jerusalem 1993) bibliography there. 18 W. Harvey, Structural Survey of the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, (Oxford 1935); E. Richmond, “The Church of the Nativity. The Plan of the Constantinian Church”, QDAP, 6 (1938), pp. 63-72; Ovadiah, Corpus, pp. 34-36; Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 151-152 bibliography there. 19 Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Theodosii, 236, 5; in Binns and Price, Lives, p. 263; Di Segni Cyril, p. 252. F.L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford 1958), p. 226.

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around the holy rock and at the east facing the apse, and attended by large au- diences. Possibly, they may have served for special worship for pilgrims and/ or for privileged visitors, such as those held for Egeria and her entourage.20 The ancient Armenian Lectionary and the Georgian Calendar,21 both de- rived from early Greek editions which included an early 5th century source,22 do not mention feasts held in the Kathisma pertaining to saints. Both, however, record the “Feast of the Theotokos” celebrated in August.23 The Georgian Calendar mentions in December a feast of the inauguration of the Kathisma.24 Besides, no material evidence was found in the excavation which would indi- cate worship of cults of saintly relics, a fact which suggests that the entire church was devoted to the worship of Mary Theotokos. Hence, the chapels may have housed revered objects or various of the Theotokos.25 Returning to archeology, twenty-one probes under floor mosaic foundations were conducted in various parts of the church.26 Three layers belonging to three different periods were exposed. The earliest was dated by coins to the first half up to the middle of the 5th century, and it was identified as the earliest phase belonging to the original construction of Ikelia.27 This is supported by the account known as the “Life of Theodosius” by Theodoros of Petra (written in 531 A.D, and in a final edition between 536-547 A.D),28 as well as by the “Life of Theodosius” by Cyril of Scythopolis (dated after 555 A.D by Price29).30 One interesting item, coupled chronologically with the intermediary layer of the floors belonging to the 6th century,31 is a water pipe made of ceramic tubes uncovered during preservation work (Figs. 4, 5). The part of the exposed pipe appeared in the north-eastern part of the central octagon and led across the in- ternal area ending in a cup-like depression around the holy rock in the very

20 Limor, Travels, pp. 11 notes 36-38, pp. 48-50, 67; J. Wilkinson, Egeria's Travel to the Holy Land, (London 1971), p. 14; G. Vikan, “Pilgrims Magi's Clothing: The Impact of the Mi- mesis on Early Byzantine Pilgrimage Art”, in R. Ousterhout and B. Brubaker (eds.), The Bless- ing of Pilgrimage, (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois 1990), p. 102. 21 M. Tarchnischvili, Le grand lectionnaire de l'église de Jérusalem (V-VIII siècles), CSCO, 188-189 Script. Ib. 9-10, (Turnhout, 1960); Garitte, GL. 22 Garitte, GL, pp. 23-37 (pre-byzantine); Abel 1914, p. 454 (634-715 A.D.); Capelle, La fête, pp. 1-3 (7th-8th century A.D.); Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 214B-215A (700-750 A.D.). 23 note 8 above; Gritte, GL, p. 301. 24 Garitte GL, p. 401-402. 25 M. Lechner, “Maria, Marienbild”, in O. Holl et als. (ed.), Lexicon der christlichen Ikono- graphie, (Rome, Freiburg, Basel, and Vienna, 1994),vol. 3 cols. 155-161. 26 Avner, Kathisma, pp. 73-120. 27 Ibid., p. 113 tab. 4, pp. 129-130, 138-139. 28 For the date of the source see Wilkinson, Pilgrims, p. 214 (536-547 A.D); Festugière, Les moines, p, 86 (before 536 A.D.). 29 For the dates see Wilkinson, Pilgrims, p. 214 (c. 557 A.D.); Binns and Price, Lives, p. xi, li (before 558 A.D.). 30 Note 10, above. 31 Avner, Kathisma, pp. 48-49, 113 tab 4, pp. 129-130,

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center of the church. After measuring the level of the pipe at several points, one could notice its downward slant. We concluded that the pipe supplied wa- ter from some source at the northern side to the holy rock. Evidently, it was part of an installation supplying water to be blessed and hallowed by its con- tact with the holy “seat” of the Virgin, and meted out as “eulogia” (“bless- ings”) to pilgrims visiting the rock. Stratigraphically, the pipe was laid under the foundation of the floor mosaic of the intermediary layer, above the level of the pier belonging to the first phase of the building. Another item connected with pilgrimage is an hexagonal glass bottle (Fig. 6) uncovered in a non-sealed context of the 7th century.32 It is a type of bottle in- vestigated by Barag and identified by him as a vessel for holy fluids such as “eulogia”.33 Similar bottles were sold at the holy places both to Christian and to Jewish pilgrims. In 1999, Raby suggested that containers of this type not decorated by purely Christian symbols, were consumed also by Muslim pil- grims.34 The bottle from the Kathisma bears geometric decorations and either a palm branch or a palm tree. Such “neutral” motifs could appeal to the Muslim clientele. It should be remarked that the account of Mary‘s rest on the journey to Bethlehem in the Protevangelium of St. James does not specifically mention a rock on which she sat, although this may be deduced in the context of an open road.35 The earliest historical source stating this is a composition titled “On the Places of the Holy Land” written by one Theodosius, called Theodosius the Pilgrim.36 Contrary to his title, this man was no pilgrim and his composition was not based on personal experience. His information was gleaned from other various sources, among them accounts told orally to him by pilgrims who did visit the Holy Land.37 His account is dated to the reign of the emperor Anastasius (around 510-530 A.D).38 The following is Wilkinson's English translation of the relevant passage concerning the rock of the Kathisma: “Urbicius had the title of Superintendent of the Empire, acting as Superintendent to seven emperors. He himself crowned the heads of these emperors, removed

32 Ibid., p. 355, Fig. 97: 51. 33 D. Barag, “Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Part I”, JGS, 12 (1970), pp. 35-63; idem., “Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem Part II and III”, 13 (1971), pp. 45-63. 34 J. Raby, “In Vitro Veritas. Glass Pilgrim Vessels from 7th-Century Jerusalem”, in J. Johns (ed.), Bayt al-Maqdis. Jerusalem and Early , (Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, IX.2), pp. 113- 190. 35 Avner, Kathisma, pp. 15, 139 and note 81. 36 Theodosius, De situ terrae sanctae, 28; in P. Geyer (ed.), Itinera Hierosolymitana saeculi IIII-VIII (CSEL 39), (Vienna 1898), pp. 148-149 (= Geyer, Itinera); Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 70- 71; Limor Travels, pp. 191-192. 37 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 184-185; Limor, Travels, p. 171; Y. Tsafrir, “The Maps Used by Theodosius – On the Pilgrim Maps of the Holy Land and Jerusalem in the 6th Century C.E.”, , 11 (Hebrew), pp. 63-85. 38 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 5, 185; Limor, Travels, pp. 169-172, note 4 in p. 172; Tsafrir, Di Segni and Green, Tabula, p. 50.

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their crowns, and chastised them. Now there is a stone in a place three miles from the city of Jerusalem which my Lady Mary, the Mother of the Lord, blessed when she dismounted from the ass on her way to Bethlehem and sat down on it. This Superintendent Urbicius cut this stone out, shaped it into an altar, and was about to send it to . But when he had brought it as far as ‘s Gate he could move it no further. A yoke of oxen was dragging the stone. So when they found no way to move it any further it was sent back to the Lord‘s Tomb. There this stone was made into an altar and used for . It is be- hind my Lord's Tomb. This Superintendent Urbicius died in Constantinople in the reign of the Emperor Anastasius … the earth would not receive Urbicius, but three times his tomb cast him out.”39 This is obviously the account of an eye-witness who visited the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem where he saw the altar behind Christ‘s tomb and attended the ceremony of the Communion held on it. This story explains why the rock revealed in our excavation is not very large or prominent as com- pared with the rock of the , for example. Albeit, the anony- mous pilgrim from Piacenza, who visited the Holy Land around 570 A.D.,40 reported he saw a splendid church at the third mile, halfway from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and a holy rock:41 “On the way to Bethlehem, at the third milestone from Jerusalem, lies the body of Rachel, on the edge of the area called Ramah. There I saw standing water which came from a rock, of which you can take as much as you like up to seven pints. Every one has his fill, and the water does not become less or more. It is indescrib- ably sweet to drink, and people say that Saint Mary became thirsty on the flight into Egypt, and that when she stopped here this water immediately flowed. Nowa- days there is also a church building there.” The descriptions of the pilgrim of Piacenza are known to contain many con- fusions of the sites he reports as well as mixtures of traditions with actual his- torical sites, in particular when he speaks of sites located close to each other. On the other hand, he is known to have preserved local traditions from the Holy Land which are unknown from other sources.42 This pilgrim shows a great interest in local customs and traditions, as well as in superstitions, amu- lets and acquisition of souvenirs, or performing customs which were consid- ered to have potent blessings as “eulogia”.43 With due consideration to his pe- culiar tendencies, could it be that the water he reports to have seen emanating from the rock was connected with the water supplied by the ceramic pipe which we uncovered in our excavations? In one instance, the Piacenza pilgrim confused and mixed at least three tra- ditions of sites in the area we are dealing with here: the location of the

39 Note 35, above. 40 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 6-7; Limor, Travels, pp. 210-211. 41 The Piacenza Pilgrim, Travels, 28; in Wilkinson, Pilgrims, p. 85; in Limor, Travels, p. 236; in Geyer, Itinera, pp. 177-178. 42 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 6-7; Limor, Travels, p. 216. 43 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, pp. 6; Limor, Travels, pp. 211-212.

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Kathisma at the third mile from Jerusalem as the place of Mary's holy rock; another tradition referring to the location of Rachel's Tomb; and yet another concerning a miraculous spring of water connected with Mary's rest in the Flight into Egypt after the birth of Christ. The latter legend is preserved in the apocryphal Book of Pseudo-Matthew, ch. 2044 which states that after three days of escaping from Herod who sought to kill the infant Jesus, the holy fam- ily sat to rest beside a date tree. The fruit was extremely high and could not be reached. Mary complained of hunger, and Joseph was troubled by the lack of water. Then the infant Jesus in his mother's lap ordered the tree to bend before his mother so she could gather the fruit and appease her hunger, then he or- dered the tree to stand erect and a spring of water flowed forth from its roots. The apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew written in Latin and dated to the 6th century is known to be based on earlier sources including the Protevan- gelium of St. James.45 This phenomenon is well known also from other stories derived from traditions that are shared by Pseudo-Matthew and the Qur‘an. Furthermore, it has been noted by scholarship that such similarities do not nec- essarily prove a direct dependence of one upon the other, rather, the parallel stories in Pseudo-Matthew and the Qur‘an derive from a common source imbedded in popular religious folklore and local legends which penetrated Is- lam at an early stage of its expansion. This phenomen is particularly evident in the stories of Mary and the infant Jesus.46 One of these legends involves the date tree which saved Mary's life when she rested in the flight into Egypt. It is also preserved in the Qur‘an where it is attached to the description of Mary's birth pangs. It appears in Sura 19:vss 23-26 in the following terms:47 “And the throes [of childbirth] compelled her to betake herself to the trunk of a palm-tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten. Then [a voice] called out to her from beneath her: Grieve not, surely your Lord has made a stream to flow beneath you: And shake towards you the trunk of the palm-tree, it will drop on you ripe dates: So eat and drink and refresh the eye …”

This theme concerning a life-giving tree is connected in the Qur‘an not with the Flight into Egypt but with the throes of Mary's childbirth 44 in Tischendorf, Apocrypha, pp. 87-88; Hennecke, Schneemelcher and Wilson, Apocrypha, pp. 411-412; J. Gijsel and R. Beyers, Libri de nativitate Mariae, Pseudo-Matthaei evangelium textus et commentarius, (CS Series Apocryphorum, 9). (Brepols-Turnhout, 1997), p. 466-469 (= Gijsel and Beyers, Libri). 45 Hennecke, Schneemelcher and Wilson, Apocrypha, pp. 313, 411-412; J. Gijsel and R. Beyers, Libri, pp. 11-13, 59-67, especially p. 66. 46 EI New edition, vol. VI, pp. 630-631; vol. IV, pp. 81; F. Buhl, “Kor'an” in Th. Houtsma et. als. (eds.), EI, vol. VI, pp. 1066-1067; J. Robson, “Muhammadan Teaching about Jesus”, MW, 21 (1939), pp. 37-54; Idem, “Stories of Jesus and Mary”, MW 40 (1950), pp. 236-243; C. F. Gerock, Versuch einer Darstellung der Christologie des Korans“, (Hamburg, 1839), espe- cially pp. 32-36, 133. 47 M.A. Maulvi (ed. Eng. tr.), The Holy Qur'an, (Lahore 1936), p. 613; U. Rubin (ed. Heb. Tr.), The Qur'an. Hebrew Translation from Arabic, Annotations, appendices and Index, (Tel- Aviv 2005), p. 247.

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which by Christian tradition occurred at the site of the Kathisma, at the third mile as indicated in the Protevangelium. It is in this context that we should in- terpret the meaning of a handsome floor mosaic representing a large palm tree flanked by two small ones, all bearing fruit, uncovered in the Islamic phase of the building.48 This mosaic is located in the small room in the south eastern part of the outer octagon. The presence of a palm tree on the site, hallowed as part of the Early Byzantine tradition of this holy place, in connection with Mary's throes, is attested to by the presence of a palm tree included in the presentation of the Journey to Bethlehem, in the 6th century ivory diptych men- tioned earlier (Fig. 1). A rounded niche (seen in Fig. 7) built into the ambulatory constitutes mate- rial evidence attesting to an act of hallowing the Kathisma by the Muslims. The niche was installed on the threshold stone of the door between the south- ern vestibule and the amboulatory, obstructing the southern from the vestibule to the ambulatory. The niche is open towards the north and the inte- rior of the church. When this was done, new mosaic floors were laid approach- ing the niche, one from the north and the other from the south. In the founda- tion of the southern mosaic we found a coin dated between 697-750 A.D.49 This date enables an interpretation of the niche as a miÌrab intended for Mus- lim worship in the southern part of the church. In the first half of the 8th century and possibly even earlier in the 7th, the Muslims embraced Christian practices and traditions at the Holy Places in the Holy Land as a means to justify their claims of ownership in the strongholds of power of The Church. These attempts at penetration are known in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives,50 the church of Mary‘s Tomb in the Valley of Jehoshaphat,51 and others. Chronologically, the date of the third phase in the building of the Kathisma coincides with the period in which the Muslims adopted holy places of the Christian and the Jewish communities. During this Ummayan phase, the beau- tiful mosaic floor presenting the three palm trees was laid out (Fig. 8). A de- tailed discussion of the iconography of the theme with regard to the context was presented by me elsewhere.52

48 Avner, Kathisma, pp. 113, 127, 338-342. 49 Ibid., p. 113 tab 4 left column, coins no. 73, 82, 85. The coins were dated by A. Berman and will be published by D.T. Ariel and A. Berman, in R. Avner, The Excavations of the Kathisma Church and Monastery, (IAA Reports), (forthcoming). 50 A. Elad, Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship (Leiden 1999), pp. 73, 140, 144, 146, 149. 51 Avner, Kathisma, pp. 285-289; Elad, Jerusalem, pp. 63, 138-140. 52 Presented for the first time in a communication at the International Congress of Jewish Art, held in Jerusalem, July 1998; R. Avner, “Birth Pangs along the Bethlehem Road”, in Y. Eshel (ed.), and Samaria Research Studies, vol. 8, (Ariel 1999), pp. 155-159; Avner, Kathisma, pp. 338-342.

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A possible explanation of the presentation of the palm trees is a cryptic de- piction of the narrative of the birth of Jesus in accordance with to the version of the Qur'an (sura 19, vss. 23-26). The non-figurative manner in which the story was presented coheres with the policy to avoid depictions of human fig- ures in Early Islamic religious works of art. The Byzantine ivory from the Strognoff collection (Fig. 1) provides material evidence that the legend of the palm tree during Mary's labour originated in a Christian tradition, and an ac- tual palm tree did exist and was worshipped by Christian pilgrims during the 6th and perhaps already in the 5th century A.D.53 This tradition was closely at- tached to the story of the Journey to Bethlehem and to the holy site of Mary's rest in the midst of this journey. Although the local legend of the life-saving palm tree before Christ's birth was not incorporated in the Christian apocry- pha, it continued to circulated locally, as attested to by the ivory from the Strognoff collection. After the Muslim occupation of the Holy Land, the existence of a palm leg- end was united with the story of the birth of Jesus. It was the Muslims who reported the veneration of this specific miraculous tree at the birthplace of Je- sus. Kaplony has traced three Early Islamic variations of the tradition which identify the birthplace of Christ in three different locations. Following the Christian tradition, al-Wasiti identified the place as Bethlehem, probably in or at the Church of the Nativity.54 However, around 951 A.D., al-Is†aÌri mentions a relic of the palm tree from which Mary had eaten,55 and around 985 A.D.56 al-Muqaddasi places the palm tree under which Jesus was born in Bethle- hem.57 From Ibn al-Arabi of Seville, who visited the Holy Land shortly before the victory of the , we learn that the palm tree from which Mary ate was in a cave in Bethlehem, and that by December of 1098 A.D.58 the tree had rotted and collapsed, and that no relic of it had survived due to the pilgrims' custom to pick little pieces from it and take them as souvenirs in the belief that they bestowed blessings (eulogia).59 Another tradition is reported by Ibn al-Muragga (who wrote in the years around 1030's-1040's A.D.) locating the birthplace of Jesus in two different places: one of them in Jerusalem.60 In the 14th century, Muqatil, mentioned the

53 This had been demonstrated first in a communication of T. Avner, in the spring symposium of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine and Greek Studies held in 1996 in Birmingham; Avner, Kathisma, pp. 167-168, 338-342. 54 A. Kaplony, The Haram of Jerusalem 324-1099, Temple, Friday , Area of Spiritual Power, (Freiburger Islamstudien, 23), (Stuttgart 2002), pp. 670-672 (= Kaplony, Haram). 55 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, p. 152 referes to Istakhri, 24. 56 Ibid., p. 215. 57 Kaplony, Haram, p. 672 note 1. 58 J. Drori (ed. Heb. Trans.), Ibn El-Arabi of Seville, Journey to Eretz Israel (1092-1095), (Je- rusalem 1993), p. 150 note 128. 59 Ibid., p. 108. 60 Kaplony, Haram pp. 671 note 2.

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palm which saved Mary when she gave birth to Jesus in Jerusalem61 (not Beth- lehem!). Furthermore, in the 15th century al-Suyu†i located the palm tree and the birthplace in the Haram of Jerusalem.62 In this matter, Livne-Cafri has ar- gued that this identification and location of the birthplace in Jerusalem devel- oped out of a negative reaction to the situation whereby Muslims entered into churches and prayed there. Hence it seems that the tradition which located the birthplace in the Haram of Jerusalem probably evolved later than the other tra- ditions regarding Jesus' birthplace. In addition to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, a third location of the birthplace of Jesus is mentioned by Ibn al-Muragga in a site which he calls “Valley of Beth- lehem.”63 This could refer to the Kathisma on account of the topography. The Kathisma is located on a junction between the main highway (along the main ancient road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem) and the Wadi el-Gharabi. This valley leads from the Kathisma south-east to Bethlehem. If so, then the location given by Ibn al-Muragga may be the same location as mentioned ear- lier, in 913 A.D.64 by Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih, who precisely described the distance between Jerusalem and the birthplace of Jesus as “three miles away from the mosque [of Jerusalem]”,65 the exact distance between Jerusalem and the Kathisma given by the Christian sources.66 To conclude, the site of the Kathisma in its Umayyad period was the arena where Christianity and Islam met. Following the observations of Elad and Livne-Cafri, I would like to suggest here that the Kathisma was a spot in which local popular Christian traditions, customs, and pilgrim worship and prayer influenced those of the Muslim pilgrims.

61 Elad, Jerusalem, p. 93 note 74; see reference for the identification in the region of Jerusa- lem by Ibn al-Muragga in Kaplony, Haram, p. 670 note 6; for the same tradition mentioned in 903 A.D. by Ibn al-Faqih see A. Kaplony, “Die fatimidische Moschee der Wiege Jesu“in Jerusa- lem”, ZDPV, 113 (1997), p. 127 notes 33, 38; Busse H., “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Agony, and the Temple: A Reflection of a Christian Belief in Islamic Tradition,” JSAI, 9 (1987), pp. 289-289. 62 S. Bashear, “Qibla Musharriqa and Early Muslim Prayer in Churches”, The Muslim World, 81 (1991), p. 275 note 61. 63 Kaplony, Haram, p. 670-671 note 1 in p. 671. 64 Wilkinson, Pilgrims, p. 215. 65 Kaplony, Haram, p. 671 note 9. 66 See notes 2, 10, 36, 41. According to the Protoevangelium of St. James 17, 2-3 this is the same distance from Jerusalem to the place of Mary's vision of two people, just before her rest in the journey to Bethlehem.

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1. Detail of a five-part ivory dyptychon, 6th century A.D. Once in the Stroganoff collection, Rome (W. F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters, [Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichter Altertümer, 7], Mainz am Rhein, 1976, 2nd Edition).

2. Aerial photo of the Kathisma Church. View to the south-east, the main apse on the right unexposed.

06-8819_Aram 18-19_28_Avner 553 06-26-2007, 18:35 5th-century pre-456 A.D. 554 THE KATHISMA – A CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE SITE c. 456 A.D.

6th-century A.D.

c. 698-750 A.D.

4th phase (9th-10th-centuries A.D.)

3. The Kathisma Church. Plan.

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3A. (slide) The Kathisma Church. Plan during Umayyad phase.

4. The Kathisma Church, a water-pipe crossing the inner octagon from north-east to west.

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5. Water-pipe at the holy rock. Detail.

6. A pilgrim's glass bottle found in the Kathisma excavation.

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7. The Kathisma Church. The mihrab niche on the southern threshold between the ambulatory and the southern vestibule.

8. The palm trees mosaic in the floor of the south-eastern corner room of the church.

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