在查士丁尼一世统治时期（公元527年至565年），巴勒斯坦的城市建设以及民用建筑和教堂的兴建达到了顶峰。

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 and Eadie 2001; Walmsley 1996)马达巴马赛克地图是晚期古代这一辉煌时期城市化巴勒斯坦最有力的象征之一。该地图发现于1884年,当时在马达巴(今约旦境内)的原拜占庭教堂圣乔治教堂遗址上修建一座新的希腊东正教堂,地图由此出土。它是晚期古代官方使用"巴勒斯坦"(Palaestina)这一名称最著名、也是现存最古老的实物证据之一。此后,马达巴又陆续发现了更多带有地面马赛克的教堂,与耶路撒冷圣墓教堂中的马赛克相似。该城保存着拜占庭和倭马亚时期最集中的马赛克之一,这些马赛克也见证了古代、中世纪和现代辉煌的巴勒斯坦马赛克工艺(见第七章)。地图展示了巴勒斯坦、埃及和地中海,中心处详细描绘了圣城埃利亚·卡皮托利纳(耶路撒冷)。作为拜占庭巴勒斯坦研究中最重要的考古发现之一,其余部分包含了拜占庭"巴勒斯坦"(Palaestina)现存最古老的原始制图描绘。

(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.

这一部分还包括巴勒斯坦第一行省(Palaestina Prima)一些主要城市的详细信息,包括埃利亚卡皮托利纳(Aelia Capitolina)、加沙(Gaza)、阿什克伦(Ascalon)和埃勒乌特罗波利斯(Eleutheropolis,即贝特吉布林,Beit Jibrin)。这幅地图制作于公元560至565年,最初为大型尺寸(长15米、宽6米),是马达巴(Madaba)圣乔治早期拜占庭教堂马赛克地面的一部分。马达巴位于安曼西南约30公里处。这幅马赛克地图由当地基督教艺术家绘制,面向基督教朝圣者、旅行者和神学家。当时,马达巴隶属拜占庭行政省巴勒斯坦第一行省,是一位基督教主教的驻地。

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.

马达巴地图中有一段著名的摘录,上面标注着"οροι Αιγυπτου και Παλαιστινης"(即"埃及与巴勒斯坦的边界")。在这幅古代晚期巴勒斯坦的历史地图上,找不到"迦南"或"以色列之地"这样的字样。这幅带有"埃及与巴勒斯坦边界"标注的地图,有力地表明,在早期基督教时期和古代晚期,"Palaestina"(巴勒斯坦)这一名称始终是该地区的官方名称。

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.

马达巴地图显示，埃勒乌赛罗波利斯是一座有城墙的城市，设有三座塔楼，中部有一条带柱廊的弯曲街道，还有一座大型巴西利卡。公元4世纪时，该城有一位基督教主教，其管辖范围在第一巴勒斯坦省中最大。其主教马克西姆斯出席了第一次尼西亚大公会议，该会议于325年由君士坦丁一世皇帝召集。1964年12月，大众汽车基金会向德国巴勒斯坦考察协会（Deutscher Verein für die Erforschung Palästinas）提供资金，用于开展马达巴地图的抢救保护工作。正如我们将在第九章看到的，这一耸人听闻、广受宣传的1884年发现，当时还涉及耶路撒冷的全巴勒斯坦希腊东正教会，也将有助于在奥斯曼晚期的巴勒斯坦，唤起一些巴勒斯坦阿拉伯东正教知识分子对历史上的巴勒斯坦的记忆。

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.