THE PORTRAIT ART DURING THE BYZANTINE PERIOD, JORDAN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

The Madaba city has two main locations are included art of portraits in mosaic pavements from Byzantine period. The first one is in Church of the Virgin Mary and the second from in the Hippolytus hall both located in the central of the Madaba City. The study examines a selection of visual arts, such as human portraits and human portraits represent of the Goddess in order to detect certain important aspects of ancient society in Jordan from the Byzantine era. The study found that the respective artist was able to implement his drawings on those floors in accordance with the principles and rules relating to the technical work. This led to a highlighting of the aesthetic side of these works, although there are some portraits was destroyed of the churches in the region. Additionally, the artist was able through these portraits to give an idea of some show beliefs that existed before the advent of Christianity in the region. These drawing of the portraits are an important historical document of members of Byzantine society, especially given the scarcity of records documenting daily life during this period.