Jericho: City of the Moon, Fragrances, and a Frolicking Camel

Just a few weeks ago I spent a day in the city of Jericho, which spends its free time wrestling with a couple other Middle Eastern and Western Asian cities for the title "oldest continuously inhabited city in the world." (Apparently it's still pretty spry for an area that was playing host to groups of camping hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists 12,000 years ago.)

It's a beautiful valley of a city, within sight of the murky yet lively Jordan River and the murkier and less lively Dead Sea. Also of great significance to Palestinian, Islamic, Arab, and Biblical history. Here's some pictures with somewhat descriptive captions, and then I'll move on to the important part.

(Full disclosure, this picture essay is actually sewn together from two different days I spent in Jericho.

So I'm lying to you.)

Husham's Palace! An old Muslim palace from the Umayyad Dynasty, the first Islamic kingdom, begun shortly after the death of Mohammed. (Thus early 700s-ish A.D.?)

 D'aw the little camel out playing in the grass... We're in the middle of the local equivalent of spring here, so even the desert has a little layer of green, but also I think Jericho is generally greener than its surroundings.

 While clearly a Muslim palace, there were crosses and other Christian symbols, statues with faces, and even a wine press. (Depictions of people(i.e. faces) and alcohol are usually forbidden in Islam.)

 Reason 1) The Sassanian empire, the last pre-Islamic empire in the region, had destroyed a lot of stuff, including a lot of Byzantine churches, so the Umayyads were just using whatever building materials they found. Reason 2) The Islamic rulers clearly found nothing heretical in the fact that they had Christian symbols in their house and that they drank wine. Surprise: Religious people sometimes do things that are nominally forbidden in their religion. Bigger surprise: Rulers and elites of all shapes and sizes and eras sometimes operate by their own entirely separate set of rules.

Largest continuous and intact mosaic floor in the world. Incredibly beautiful and amazing, but unfortunately it's under a tarp and a thick layer of dirt because they're just trying to preserve it at the moment. Powerful piece of Palestinian history and Islamic heritage, currently buried because people can't agree how they want to set it up.

Baptismal site at the River Jordan! I'm on the Israeli side, and that structure on the other side is in Jordan. Ostensibly Israeli soldiers will restrain you or someone somewhere will shoot you if you cross that yellow line. People in the foreground are Ethiopian pilgrims.

Jericho.

 

At a cafe outside of a monastery after a cable car ride on the Mount of Temptation (Where Jesus was tempted.)

Looking down from said mountain.

Somewhere up there in those rocks Jesus the 1st century Jew suddenly encountered a somewhat anachronistically Hellenistic depiction of the devil and had a very trying experience.

Monastery built into aforementioned and seen mountain!

At the bottom, looking up at the mountain -- cable car station and cafe in the middle, and monastery up a little and to the left.

And here's a video of some YAGMs attempting to sing at/in front of the Sycamore tree where Zacchaeus the short tax-collector is said to have climbed the tree to get a look at Jesus. 

Attempting more manageable and careful approach at blogging. Thus: Go on to upcoming next post to get to the important part! Although Jericho and its history is important too, duh. Palestinian heritage is sort of institutionally neglected in Israel, to the touristic advantage of the Biblical history.

They pick and choose which centuries of history they want to make legitimate, and then they sink billions of dollars of money into developing tourist infrastructure to emphasize that part of history and the narrative that goes with it.

The West Bank city of Jericho gives Palestinians a chance to finally give a little bit of a public voice to their usually downplayed and marginalized part of the immense history of this land, but unfortunately they don't have the money or the support or the infrastructure to develop and explore and present that. Thus: an expansive, old, and beautiful mosaic floor under a thick layer of dirt and tarp.