Maendeleo ya miji na ujenzi wa majengo ya kiraia na makanisa huko Palestina yalifikia kilele chake wakati wa utawala wa Justinian (527 hadi 565 BK).

Urban development and the construction of civil buildings and churches in Palestine reached a zenith in the reign of Justinian (527 to 565 AD)

(Burns na Eadie 2001; Walmsley 1996) na Ramani ya Mosaic ya Madaba ni mojawapo ya alama zenye nguvu zaidi za Palestina hii ya mijini wakati wa enzi hii ya ajabu ya Late Antiquity. Iligunduliwa mwaka 1884, wakati wa ujenzi wa kanisa jipya la Kigiriki la Orthodox huko Madaba (Jordan ya leo) mahali pa kanisa la awali la Byzantine, Kanisa la St George. Ramani hii ndiyo maarufu zaidi na miongoni mwa ushahidi wa kimaandishi wa kale kabisa uliobaki wa matumizi rasmi ya jina Palaestina katika Late Antiquity. Tangu hapo, makanisa mengine yenye sakafu za mosaic yamegunduliwa huko Madaba, yanayofanana na yale yaliyopatikana katika Holy Sepulchre huko Jerusalem. Mji huu una mkusanyiko mkubwa kuliko yote wa mosaic za kipindi cha Byzantine na Umayyad, na mosaic hizi pia ni ushuhuda wa tasnia ya ajabu ya mosaic ya Palestina, ya kale, ya zama za kati na ya kisasa (tazama sura ya saba). Ramani inaonyesha Palestina, Misri na Bahari ya Mediterania, na ina maelezo ya kina ya mji mtakatifu wa Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem) katikati yake. Kuwa mojawapo ya ugunduzi muhimu zaidi wa kiakiolojia katika utafiti wa Palestina ya Byzantine, sehemu iliyobaki ya ramani ina taswira ya kale kabisa ya kikartografia ya Byzantine Palaestina iliyobaki hadi leo.

(Burns and Eadie 2001; Walmsley 1996) and the Madaba Mosaic Map is one of the most powerful symbols of this urban Palestine during this spectacular era of Late Antiquity. Discovered in 1884, in the course of the construction of a new Greek Orthodox church in Madaba (present-day Jordan) on the site of its Byzantine predecessor, St George’s church, the map is the most famous and among the oldest surviving material evidence for the official use of the name Palaestina in Late Antiquity. Since then more churches with floor mosaics have been discovered in Madaba that are similar to those found in the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The city contains one of the greatest concentrations of mosaics from the Byzantine and Umayyad periods and these mosaics are also testimony to the spectacular Palestine mosaic industry, ancient, medieval and modern (see chapter seven). Showing Palestine, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, and featuring a detailed description of the holy city of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem) at its centre, being one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in the study of Byzantine Palestine, the remaining part of the map contains the oldest surviving original cartographical depiction of Byzantine Palaestina.

Sehemu hii pia ina maelezo ya baadhi ya miji mikuu ya Palaestina Prima, ikiwemo Aelia Capitolina, Gaza, Ascalon na Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin). Ramani hii, iliyoanzia mwaka 560‒565 BK, awali ilitengenezwa kwa kipimo kikubwa (mita 15 kwa 6) na ilikuwa sehemu ya sakafu ya mosaiki ya kanisa la mwanzo la Kibyzantini la Mtakatifu George, Madaba, kilomita 30 kusini-magharibi mwa 'Amman. Ramani hii ya sakafu ya mosaiki ilitengenezwa na wasanii Wakristo wa eneo hilo na ililenga mahujaji Wakristo, wasafiri na wanatheolojia. Wakati huo Madaba, sehemu ya mkoa wa kiutawala wa Kibyzantini wa Palaestina Prima, ilikuwa makao ya askofu Mkristo.

This part also contains details of some of the key cities of Palaestina Prima including Aelia Capitolina, Gaza, Ascalon and Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibrin). Dated 560‒565 AD, the map was created originally on a large scale (measuring 15 by 6 metres) and was part of the mosaic floor of the early Byzantine church of St George, Madaba, 30 kilometres to the south-west of ‘Amman. The mosaic floor map was created by local Christian artists and was aimed at Christian pilgrims, travellers and theologians. At the time Madaba, part of the administrative Byzantine province of Palaestina Prima, was the seat of a Christian bishop.

Ramani ya Madaba ina dondoo maarufu inayoonyesha 'οροι Αιγυπτου και Παλαιστινης' (yaani 'mpaka wa Misri na Palestina'). Kwenye ramani hii ya kihistoria ya Palestina ya kipindi cha Late Antiquity, hakuna kutajwa kwa maneno 'Kanaani' au 'nchi ya Israeli'. Ramani hii (pamoja na 'mpaka wa Misri na Palestina') ni ushahidi mwingine wenye nguvu kwamba jina Palaestina lilikuwa jina rasmi la nchi hiyo katika kipindi chote cha Ukristo wa mapema na Late Antiquity.

The Madaba Map has a famous extract showing ‘οροι Αιγυπτου και Παλαιστινης’ (the ‘border of Egypt and Palestine’). There is no mention of the terms ‘Cana’an’ or ‘land of Israel’ on this historic map of Late Antiquity Palestine. The map (with the ‘border of Egypt and Palestine’) is another powerful indication of the fact that the name Palaestina was the official name of the country throughout early Christianity and Late Antiquity.

Ramani ya Madaba inaonyesha Eleutheropolis kama mji wenye kuta na minara mitatu, barabara iliyopinda yenye safu ya nguzo katikati, na kanisa kubwa la basilika. Katika karne ya 4 BK mji huo ulikuwa na askofu wa Kikristo mwenye eneo kubwa zaidi katika Palaestina Prima. Askofu wake Maximus alihudhuria Baraza la Kwanza la Nisea, lililoitishwa mwaka 325 na Mfalme Constantine I. Mnamo Desemba 1964, Shirika la Volkswagen lilitoa fedha kwa Deutscher Verein für die Erforschung Palästinas (Jumuiya ya Kijerumani ya Uchunguzi wa Palestina) ili kufanya kazi ya kuokoa Ramani ya Madaba. Na, kama tutakavyoona katika sura ya tisa, ugunduzi huu wa kusisimua na uliotangazwa sana wa mwaka 1884, ambao wakati huo pia ulihusisha Kanisa la Othodoksi la Kigiriki la Palestina Yote la Yerusalemu, pia ungechangia kuamsha kumbukumbu za Palestina ya kihistoria miongoni mwa baadhi ya wasomi Waarabu wa Kiorthodoksi wa Palestina mwishoni mwa utawala wa Ottoman.

The Madaba Map shows Eleutheropolis as a walled city with three towers, a curving street with a colonnade in the central part and a large basilica. In the 4th century AD the city had a Christian bishop with the largest territory in Palaestina Prima. Its bishop Maximus attended the First Council of Nicaea which was convened in 325 by the Emperor Constantine I. In December 1964, the Volkswagen Foundation provided funding to the Deutscher Verein für die Erforschung Palästinas (German Society for the Exploration of Palestine) to work on saving the Madaba Map. And, we shall see in chapter nine, this sensational and widely publicised discovery of 1884, which, at the time, also involved the All Palestine Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, would also contribute to reviving memories of historic Palestine among some Palestinian Arab Orthodox intellectuals in late Ottoman Palestine.