The 20 ancient sites identified from the Jordan River to Wadi Kharar and eastwards to Wadi Gharabah formed stations along the pilgrims' route from Jerusalem to the Jordan River and finally to Mount Nebo where Moses died and was buried after viewing the promised land. The anonymous Pilgrim of Bordeaux in 333 AD gives the location of the site of Jesus' baptism as Roman miles (7400 m) north of the Dead Sea, which is the area near where Wadi Kharrar enters the Jordan River.
Church writers and pilgrims in the fifth to seventh centuries AD mentioned churches in the lower Jordan River / Bethany region that commemorated the baptism of Christ.
The remains of a large Byzantine church have been discovered and are being excavated on the east bank of the river; they include fine coloured stone pavements and mosaics, and Corinthian capitals, column bases and drums. John Moscus, writing in his seventh century book The Spiritual Meadow, mentions a monastic complex (or`Laura') in this area with many cells inhabited by hermits, built near a cave after a vision of John the Baptist by a monk from Jerusalem who was on a pilgrimage to Sinai. The monk Epiphanius, writing in the late eight or mid-ninth century, mentions a cave located by a spring nearly three miles east of the river, where John the baptist lived and baptised. The early 12th century traveller Abbot Daniel mentions a grotto of St John the Baptist, and in 1187 Jean Phocas wrote about a shrine and cave of John the Baptist located east of the river.
Fragmentary remains of several other small structures with tiles, pottery and cut stones-possibly churches or monks' residences-have been identified between the river and Bethany.
Other Holy sites of significant interest are Madaba, which is repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament accounts such as Moses and the Exodus, David's war against the Moabites, and Isaiah's oracle against Moab; and Mount Nebo, where the prophet Moses died and was buried after viewing the promised Land.
In addition to Bethany beyond the Jordan and Mount Nebo, there are three other holy sites that were designated by the Vatican as a Millennium 2000 pilgrimage sites:
Anjara: Pilgrimage to our Lady of the Mountain Church (a rebuilt cave that is venerated as a place where Jesus and his mother Mary passed during their journeys between Galilee, Decapolis, Bethany beyond the Jordan and Jerusalem.
Kherbet el Wahadneh: pilgrimage to the birthplace of St Elijah.
Beheading of St John the Baptist: pilgrimage to Machaerus.
The Dead Sea, Umm Al Rassas, Amman, Umm Qais, the Zerqa River, the King's Highway, spring of Moses, Kerak, Wadi Arabah and Lot's Santuary are just a few of the many biblical sites that are worth visiting in the serene and spiritual land.
