To date, archaeologists have excavated fifteen Christian churches in Jerash. Two sites, in particular, show how the Christians of Jerash reused the places of worship of other religions. They also demonstrate how the nature of that acquisition changed with time.

The two sites in question are the cathedral complex and the synagogue church. Although they show how abandoned sites and materials were recycled, they also demonstrate that Christians deliberately appropriated them.

The Cathedral Complex and the Temple of Dionysus

The cathedral complex lies next to the temple of Artemis along the main cardo of Jerash. It is so-called because it is reputedly the site of the city’s cathedral. The complex consists of the basilica of the supposed cathedral, whose name is lost, the Church of St Theodore and Fountain Court.

The cathedral complex began in the fourth century AD. It overlies what experts assume was the pagan sanctuary of Dionysus, believed to have been abandoned by this time. 

The temple’s propylaea and entrance stairway survived and were reused by the site’s Christian successors. But while they retained these features, the rest of the former pagan sanctuary was remodelled.

The new Christian churches did not utilise any of the old temple buildings. Instead, they rebuilt completely, recycling materials from older classical buildings. Onlookers climbing the stairs of the propylaea did not face the entrance to the cathedral but a shrine set into the basilica’s wall. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Archangels Gabriel and Michael, the shrine consisted of a shell niche dating to the period of Emperor Hadrian lifted from an older, classical building.

Inside the churches, recycled Corinthian columns divided the nave from the aisles. In the fifth century church of St Theodore, the door lintels consisted of the architraves from the by then abandoned temple of Artemis.

The only visible remains of the pagan temple of Dionysus remains under the west porch of the church. Here, the stylobates of the porch columns were formed from the base moulding of the previous temple’s podium.

Fountain Court and the Rites of Dionysus

At the centre of the cathedral complex was Fountain Court, a small courtyard area complete with a fountain that divided the cathedral basilica from the church of St Theodore. Despite its association with pagan rites, the courtyard is one of the few areas of the pagan sanctuary to be preserved within the Christian complex. 

Fountain Court is a prime example of the Christianisation of pagan rituals and their venues. It is known to be part of a former pagan temple from archaeological and textual evidence. The central fountain fed off the same water conduit as the great nymphaeum further up the main cardo, suggesting that both structures are contemporary, leading archaeologists to date the remains to the second century AD and Jerash’s major Roman makeover.

But why would the fountain relate to the rites of Dionysus? Various classical writers, such as Pliny, describe part of the festival of Dionysus as celebrated around fountains where water turned into wine. The writer Epiphanius specifically mentions this rite occurring in Jerash (as mentioned by Browning in his work on the city) — but no other structure in Jerash fits the bill except for the Fountain Court.

The Christians used fountain court to reenact and commemorate Jesus’ miracle of the water and wine at the wedding in Cana; a ritual that echoes the rites of Dionysus exactly, lending further credence to the theory of the fountain’s origins. But it also shows how Christians absorbed not just pagan sites but rituals too. Perhaps by preserving popular pagan festivities within their own religion, they won further converts.

Christianity and Judaism in Jerash — The Synagogue Church

The Christians may not have forcibly converted the sanctuary of Dionysus into a Christian site, but the same cannot be said for Synagogue Church.

The church, which dates to the sixth century AD, is a converted third or fourth-century Jewish synagogue forcibly acquired, probably during the persecutions against Judaism instigated by Emperor Justinian.

The conversion from synagogue to church occurred between 530-531AD. The Christian redesign shifted the orientation of the building from east to west to reflect the change in religion. The western colonnade of the synagogue was demolished to create an apse and the chancel constructed over the earlier synagogue vestibule. Finally, the Christian porch overlaid the former house for the synagogue’s Ark of the Covenant. Even the synagogue floor was changed, with a geometric patterned floor covering the Jewish mosaics depicting Noah’s flood. Archaeologists have recovered fragments of this earlier flooring, with one rediscovered piece providing the name of the synagogues’ benefactor.

The cathedral complex demonstrates how the newly legitimate Christian religion in Jerash established itself where it could. Just over a century later, Christianity was not only socially acceptable but sufficiently powerful to appropriate the buildings of other religions forcibly.

Resources

Browning, I, 1982. Jerash and the Decapolis. Chatto & Windus: London

Wharton, A, J, 1995. Refiguring the Post Classical City-Duras Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. Cambridge University Press.