After my three days of working in Amman, we begin to travel in Jordan. As Jordan is a very huge country, we are not able to cover all of them in our short 1 week stay. Hence we pick some of the most interesting and significant places. To start our journey, we went north of Jordan to see the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa also known as Antioch of the Golden River in Jerash.
Why is Jerash such an important place to visit? To start of with, this ancient city was built and inhabited since Bronze Age (no kidding). I know we've seen some pots and whats not in the museum that is from the Bronze Age but this is the whole city we're talking about! This city's golden age came under the Roman Empire. In fact Jerash is regarded as the most well preserved ancient Roman City in the world!
This city is hidden under the sand for centuries and only been found, excavated and restored for the past 70 years. If you look at this picture, you will see that the new town is right behind. Apparently this ancient city is much larger than what was already found and the government is offering the people to move out so that they can continue to excavate the remaining of the ancient city. Simply mind boggling to think that they found an entire ancient city under the sand!
The ruins of Jerash is very extensive and impressive. At this moment they have managed to excavate the corinthium columns, Hadrian's Arch, a circus or hippodrome, two large temples (dedicated to Zeus and Artemis), the unique oval Forum which is surrounded by colonnade, a long colonnaded street or cardo, two theatres (the Large South Theatre and smaller North Theatre), two baths, a scattering of small temples and an almost complete circuit of city walls. OK, let's look at the monuments, shall we.
Hadrian Arch was built to commemorate the visit of the Emperor Hadrian to Gerasa in 129AD. This arch was intended to become the main southern gate to the city but the expansion plans were never completed. 
That is why, this is the actual South Gate also where the city walls began. It was built at the beginning of the 4th century, most probably by Emperor Diocletian. The South Gate dates from 130AD. The open area inside the gate was used as a marketplace.
These massive hippodrome seats 15,000 people to watch horse or chariot races. The Jerash Heritage now has daily performances to relive what happened here thousands of years ago. Guess what? The day we were there, the live show happened to be on rest day. WHAT! Can you believe it? And this is supposed to be the highlight of Jerash. Damnnnnn!
As we enter the south gate, we come to this huge oval plaza surrounded by a broad sidewalk and columns of the 1st century. This place must be like the Times Square of NY kind of place where all the people gathers.
The Cardo / Collonated Street is like the main street for this city. What is amazing is that it is still paved with the original stones! Can you believe that this very pathway which is used by the Romans and horses and chariots few thousands of years ago is still intact! No wonder they said that the Romans build something that last forever.
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| South Tetrapylon |
Nymphaeum is like an ornamental fountain. It was constructed in 191AD and dedicated to the Nymphs. Apparently such fountains were common in Roman cities. This particular one was originally embellished with marble facings on the lower level and painted plaster on the upper level, topped with a half-dome roof. Water cascaded through seven carved lion’s heads into small basins on the sidewalk … can imagine it must be very beautiful. 
This is the South Theatre. Most of the structure is still intact and the amazing thing is the Romans managed to build what you called an amphitheatre whereby no microphone or loud speaker is required and you can sit and stand in any part of the theatre and still catch a clear sound. This theatre are able to accommodate 3000 people. And they have a stage with backdrop that accommodates dressing rooms! It just looks spectacular with the clear blue sky at the back. 
Temple of Zeus was built in 162AD and apparently this ruin stand on a sacred site. From the Oval Plaza, a staircase leads up to an esplanade temple but I was kind of lazy to climb all the way up there.
Artemis, daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo, was the patron goddess of Gerasa. This other temple which they managed to excavate is named 'Temple of Artemis' which was a place of sacrifice dedicated to Artemis and built in 150AD.
Although smaller in size compared to the Temple of Zeus, this temple's columns soar high into the sky. In fact 11 of the 12 front columns are still standing. Simply majestic! |
| Artemis Steps |
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| Temple of Dionysus |
Entering this place is like travelling back in time. Being able to stand right here make the stories that you read about the grandeur of Roman Empire comes alive and real.
Location : Jerash, Jordan
Next, I float on the Dead Sea
