Date Palms and Opobalsam in the Madaba Mosaic Map

Abstract

The Madaba mosaic map shows two main vegetal motifs: the date palm and a mysterious bush. The inclusion of the date palm testifies to its economic importance in the region, and it would follow that the bush should also have a similar importance. This bush is best identified as the Judaean balsam or opobalsam, which we know from literary sources to have been grown in the lower Jordan Valley, and elsewhere, in the Roman period. This was a lucrative product. In the Madaba mosaic map, the bush is situated on both sides of the Jordan, which gives us an indication of the extent of its cultivation in the sixth century C.E.