Al-Maghtas or Bethany Beyond the Jordan

  August 03, 2021   Read time 1 min
Al-Maghtas or Bethany Beyond the Jordan
Also known as Al-Maghtas, Bethany Beyond the Jordan is the site on the eastern bank of the River Jordan where Jesus was to have been baptized by John the Baptist around 29 AD.

The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, the act that launched Jesus’ public ministry, most likely took place on the Jordanian side of the Jordan River, in a perennial riverbed called the Wadi Al-Kharrar.

Here the remains of more than 20 Christian sites have been discovered, including several churches, a prayer hall, baptismal pools and a sophisticated water reticulation system. These date back to the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Excavations at Bethany Beyond the Jordan began only in 1996. Before then the area had been a minefield on the front line between Jordan and Israel, whose border is the Jordan River.


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