It was thanks to the initiative of well-to-do donors that representative public buildings could be erected, decorated and renovated also during Graeco-Roman times. Who were these donors? What interests motivated them? A precise study of the furnishings of the monuments financed by them can provide answers to these questions. The basis of this work is the unusually large number of mosaic floors which were unearthed on both sides of the river Jordan. They decorated churches, synagogues and private houses and can be dated back to the time of the 6th to the 8th century AD. The figured representations and the abundantly available inscriptions bear witness to the undiminished meaning of the donor system in this region on the border of the Eastern Roman Empire. A systematic synopsis of these testimonies makes it possible to be able to determine basic aspects of the ”view of the world” of these local elite persons.
The mosaic programmes of the churches in khirbet umm er-rasas in Jordan unearthed during the past years are exemplarily described and analysed. The focus of interest is the question as to how far traditional forms of pictures and types of figures are adapted and/or which innovative characteristics they possess. After all, they served the purpose of displaying the high status of the donor in a distinguished manner. The knowledge gained represents the basis for a typological catalogue of the mosaic representations of donors who were well-known in the Holy Land. The formula-like expressions used in the church inscriptions of the donors supplement findings whilst the analysis of the material from synagogue buildings reveal their own accents in the contemporary Jewish environment. The volume includes extensive systematic lists on the wording of the inscriptions, general maps and indexes.