In my previous post, we visited together the capital of Jordan, Amman. You can click here to check it out in case you've missed it. Today we will be traveling to a nearby city called Jerash. In fact, this city has a long history as you can literally find ruins of the ancient town of Jerash.
It's pretty close to Amman, i think it was 45-50 minutes by car north of Amman. The current town has a population of around 50000 people. now let's start with the history lesson. For starters, there is evidence that people were there since the Neolithic and then the Bronze Age.
The great history of Jerash starts in the Hellenistic era. In Greek, Jerash is called ΓΕΡΑΣΑ or Antioch, and according to some inscriptions, the city was founded by Great Alexander himself. It is also said that maybe Ptolemy the Second may have founded the city as well.
During the Roman era, they conquered the city and added it to the Decapolis, which for many years became quite rich and prosperous. The Byzantines built a church later on but ofc as time passed the Muslims came and at the end of that era around 1600 only 12 Muslim households were there. During 1838 the city was noted as ruins.
Now one thing that is quite amazing and i had no clue about it, is that the city is one of the most well-preserved cities with Greek and Roman architecture. I couldn't even imagine that i would be seeing and walking inside an actual ancient city. I thought that i would see 1-2 buildings or something like that but as you can see from yourself from the pictures that's not the case at all.
Currently, Jerash is considered the second most visited tourist attraction besides Petra. It's a must-see in my opinion if you ever visit Jordan, as you can see the sanctuaries of Artemis and Zeus, the Handrian Arch, the Hippodrome and ofc the large nymphaeum.
The hippodrome of Jerash is quite the spectacle, the arena was 245m long and 52m wide and could seat 15000 people, so you can imagine i guess what could have happened there during the ancient times. The most known "sport" that took place in that hippodrome was the chariot races.
As you can see in the picture above, everything is well preserved and i think you can take a glimpse and think of the chariot races that took place in the past. It's also quite awesome the fact that he ancient town is basically inside the "new town". You can see next to the hippodrome modern houses which enjoy the view of the ancient hippodrome for free everyday.
The Arch of Hadrian which you see in the picture above is a Roman structure that you see as soon as you enter Jerash. It's basically 11-meter high gateway for the Roman emperor Hadrian.
Last but not least you can see the Nymphaeum which was a monument dedicated to the nymphs. It was supposed to be decorated with marble and ofc had a fountain with water poured from lion heads. In general, it was considered quite a spectacle back then. It's even now quite a spectacle.
In general, i believe that you traveled with me in Jerash a bit. I think that Jerash is something that everyone should see and especially those who love ancient cultures,roman and greek history as well. Even though i am Greek i had no idea Jerash existed and i am not proudly saying it.
Jerash as such a surprise for me and i am so happy that i went and visited it. At some points while walking inside the city i was imagining how the city may have been in the ancient years.
Jerash was the first place I visited during my Jordan travels and the first time I saw these ancient ruins. It was just spectacular. Did you see a guide demonstrating how the tall columns sway?
omg i didn't know that, i just googled it and saw a video, freaking amazing!
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Hiya, @choogirl here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2041.
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