A Visit to Jordan: Jerash, the Citadel, a Mosque and Homeward

We have reached our final day of sightseeing. We are once again a smaller group, as most of the larger group have started the homeward flight.

We began the day in Jerash, a city in  North Jordan. Jerash is the most important and best preserved Roman city in the near east. It was inhabited as early as the Bronze Age (3200 BC- 1200 BC).

This ancient city of Gerasa dates back to 331 BC, and is attributed to Alexander the Great. This entrance, Hadrian's Arch was built to honor (you guessed it) Roman Emperor Hadrian. 

It stood more than 72 feet tall and probably had wooden doors originally. This is one of the largest arches of Roman times.

Located in a remote location, the arch was intended to be the start of an expansion that never happened.

Having been through a number of earthquakes, not to mention wars, changing of hands, and weather that takes place over centuries, some restoration to this arch has taken place.

The columns are decorated with acanthus leaves.

Engravings in Greek, once located on the side facing the city are now on the ground. 

These ruins go on for almost as far as the eye can see. The city once included 200 acres, and at its most prosperous time, 20,000 citizens.

The ancient inhabitants called this place "Gerasa", and when it was captured by Romans in 63 BC, Gerasa grew and prospered.  Trade with Petra greatly benefited Gerasa.

The city was captured by Persians 614 AD, and began its slow decline.

There were beautiful mosaic floors. I've been so surprised to see how durable these tile floors are, especially since herds (flocks?) of tourists wander over them on a regular basis. They are among the best preserved parts of the ruins we visited.

Pesky weeds grow even in ancient places.

Just through the arch is the hippodrome. This is a shot of the outside. The hippodrome is the place chariot races took place, and later gladiator fights. Built between the 1st and 3rd century, it once help 15,000 spectators, but the seating is now gone.

Someone forgot to mow the lawn this week.

They offer chariot reenactments, which would have been fun, but alas, there's only so much one can fit in a day.

This hippodrome is huge-- about the length of two and a half football fields, but one of the smallest 

Roman hippodromes. 

Jerash was nearly completely destroyed in a 749 earthquake, and has been in the process of a meticulous restoration for nearly 100 years.

One of the things I will remember most about this trip is the beautiful wildflowers.

Side view of the temple of Zeus.

South gate, built in 130 AD.

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More acanthus leaf decor, a symbol of enduring life.

An oil press, dating back to about 220 AD.

Jerash goes on for miles and miles.

The Oval Plaza, built around the 110 AD, has 160 columns.

The paving was added during the 4th century AD.

According to a nearby sign, this plaza was built to connect the main street with the Sanctuary of Zeus. It is wide to allow those two streets, which were not aligned, to gracefully come together.

The temple of Zeus sits on a hillside.

The view frin Zeus's temple was beautiful, a mix of the old and the new.

Imagine living in the newer valley across the way and having these incredible ruins as your view.

This was a place of arched doorways, no doubt a Roman influence.

This shot is a good look at the way the Oval Forum connected the two main roads.

In some places it's hard to see where the old city ends and the modern city begins.

This watch tower didn't seem to be manned.

The day was sunny and beautiful. I religiously slathered on sunscreen, but on this day I got one of the worst sunburns of my life on my shoulders and neck when I removed my sweater but didn't bother with sunscreen

While we were their, a group of young school boys arrived, virtually unsupervised.  It was hard not to go into grandma mode and demand that they stop climbing ancient treasures. They were beyond delighted to find a group of Americans and immediately follow us, beg for pictures, and practice their English.

Judy, getting the royal welcome.

These ruins were originally built by Romans, and later Byzantines took over.

We entered the theater, built in 90 AD, which seats an impressive 3000 people. 

To our surprise, we were soon joined by local musicians. 

You might suppose the instrument of choice would be some sort of Middle Eastern flute or Jordanian banjo, but nope. We found ourselves enjoying the bagpipe. From what I've learned online, bagpipes appeared in the Middle East before they arrived in Scotland.

Note, for example, this picture of a fine gentleman playing a bagpipe-ish instrument that I found here.

This is a picture from an Assyrian palace, circa 800 BC.

As if the bagpipes weren't delightful enough, soon the local men and boys began to do a dance.

Seriously, this was one of the more amazing moments of our trip.

This city must have been stunning a couple of thousand years ago.

The remains of the Church of St. Theodore, built by reusing Roman stones in 494 AD.

It was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD.

Our guide, Isam, was excellent.

Group picture with our adoring school kids.

St. Theodore from a distance.

Remains of an altar, with lamb supports.

More of those Roman arches.

We moved on to the Citadel, the fortress of the city. Set upon a hill, it allows a view of an ancient theater below, and the city across the valley.

The Citadel is one of the oldest continually inhabited places on earth.

It was last occupied around 1099 AD.

These are the pillars of the Temple of Hercules, built 161-166 AD

Yet another Byzantine church, ca 550 AD.

The Umayyad Palace, likely the home anciently of the local bigwig.

There's also an enormous cistern.

Inside the palace carefully and continually restored.

There's also an archaeological museum on the site.

This museum houses the statues of Ain Ghazel, discovered in 1985. It is the earliest statue ever found, and dates back to 5000-6000 BC.

Children who died were usually put in earthen jars and buried beneath the floor of the main room so as to remain in the family circle.

Another interest artifact is this hand of Hercules and elbow fragment, which as you see, is not very well guarded. I'm pretty sure tourists shouldn't be posing on it.

This picture from wikipedia offers a better, tourist-free view. I'm assuming these parts come from a giant Hercules statue, but these are the only parts still around.

Our next stop was a mosque. To my surprise, we were not taken to any mosques as part of our journey, but Bob talked our guide into finding one we could visit. When we got there, it was time for prayer and we waited for some time across the street.

This is the Abu Darwish Mosque, built in 1961.

I'm not sure what I expected inside, but it was quite simple.

This is the leader of this mosque. He is not an Imam. This is a Sunni group, and this leader wanted to be clear that Sunnis are deeply unhappy and offended by what Shiite groups have done in the name of Islam around the world. This man exuded goodness and sincerity, and by the time we left, I thought highly of him.

Picture from Judy Cannon

Our final stop of the day was the "real" city of Amman. Iman, our guide, wanted to take us to the tourist area, but reluctantly agree to take us here. By now, my camera was dead and these pictures are pathetically poor quality.

I believe this is tilapia, a fish that seems to be popular in this area. I prefer mine beheaded, skinned, and breaded from Costco as opposed to sitting out with the flies on a dusty public street.

This is SO much more interesting than the tourist-trap side of town.

We shared some knafeh, a cheese pastry in a sugar-syrup. Yum!

We put ourselves into one last food coma at a local restaurant,

with a woman making bread as we ate.

After staying up all night, we boarded a plane for home.

What a grand trip! We will remember this Israel, Egypt, and Jordan trip as a highlight of our lives.