La Chiesa del vescovo Giovanni a Zizia

The Church that was brought to light corresponds with the description made by Tristram in 1872 and with the topographical details saved by Fathers Jaussen and Savignac in 1909. The two Dominican Fathers write that the bilingual description published by them was re-found among the ruins of an ancient edifice identified by the inhabitants of the area as a Church 250 meters to the east of the police station with columns similar to milestones plastered in white. The Church was built re-using architectonic elements of a previous building from the classic era. The bilingual inscriptions of these elements suggest that they probably came from the Temple of Zeus Beelfegor, which Demas, son of Hillel of Filadelfia—Amman had built. The pre-existence of the temple in the same area could explain the anomalous orientation of the Church, which up to now is the only one of its kind in all the vast documentation regarding the Province of Arabia.