Jordan: Jerash

In my opinion, the ruins of Jerash were the best things I saw in Jordan. Jerash is one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the world and there is evidence that it has been inhabited since the Neolithic period (7500-5500 BCE), though the Roman occupation started in 63 BCE and the ruins that we saw are from the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.

After an earthquake in 749CE the city shrank to a quarter of its size and began to lose its importance. It became buried in sand and excavations started in 1925 and still continue to this day - there are still many buried ruins to be discovered and a lot of rubble to be put back together to recreate the original buildings and columns.

You enter the site through Hadrian's Arch, which was built in commemoration of Emperor Hadrian's visit in 129CE.



After passing through the Arch, you can wander through the 250-meter-long Hippodrome where there used to be chariot races. The first picture below shows where the gates used to be that the horses entered through.  There was seating here for 15,000 people.





After passing through the south gate into the city, you come upon the forum, which is oval-shaped and lined with columns.





As I'm sure you can tell, we started out our day in the rain and ended in the sun so pictures from later in the day are nice and sunny. Below are some forum columns, in the sun this time.



Looking down on the forum from the top of the south amphitheater (the best way to get a picture of it). Look at the main road extending away from the forum, also lined with columns!





After walking through the forum, you wander past the Temple of Zeus.  This temple, when it stood complete, was actually enormous with an enclosed sanctuary and a huge staircase leading up to the temple itself:








Here is a model of what it should look like.  The stones are all still there - some off to the side in a huge pile and many still buried - so some day, hopefully, archeologists will be able to piece it all back together again.

The south amphitheater is located near the temple of Zeus, and it had a special spot you could stand on in the middle of the floor where you sounded like you were speaking through a microphone and your voice was proejcted so that the entire audience could hear you. Those Romans were so smart.





We had the entire site of Jerash to ourselves until sometime after 10am. The lack of tourists was very noticeable.  Here I am at the south amphitheater, all by myself:



Watch your step:



Next we wandered over to a church.  There were many churches in Jerash, but this one still has its mosaic floor mostly intact.  This is because it was buried under sand until sometime in the 1960's when archaeologists found the floor.  Note there are swastikas in the mosaics - they were a symbol of prosperity back then!





Next we approached the Temple of Artemis, which dominated the entire city.  Even the ruins dominate the city.  Artemis was the patron goddess of Jerash, which is why she got the biggest temple.  Note those pillars have been standing since the second century!! They actually sway in the wind, you can feel it if you touch them.







Below is the north amphitheater, this one likely used only for musical performances. It was significantly steeper than the south theater located by the temple of Zeus. This theater was steep enough that people had to walk up to find their seat and then continue walking upwards to exit so that they never had to walk down the stairs and risk falling. At the top of the theater were circular staircases built inside the walls for people to exit through.

The main north-south road that went through the forum.  The stones were laid diagonally to jostle the carriages less.



Some more pictures from around the site are below.  I really can't recommend visiting here highly enough, especially with a private guide.  I learned so much from him and could actually picture the city as it would have been back in the first and second centuries. This place was amazing.  GET YOURSELF TO JERASH.  :)





This was neat because it looks like a continuous staircase but there are actually seven landings hidden, each with 7 steps between them (7 was a lucky number).  The arch that originally covered the area between and above the central pillars is still all there, just on the ground next to where I stood when taking this picture.  They just need it to be put back up!