Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Access to the remains of this walled city today is through the most southerly gate, known
as Hadrian's Gate or the Arch of Triumph.
While there are certainly other surviving Roman cities that boast similar architectural
treasures, the ancient ruins at Jerash are famous for their remarkable state of preservation.
Enough structures remain intact for archaeologists and historians, and even the casual vis-
itor, to piece together ancient life under the rule of an emperor.
History
Although inhabited from Neolithic times, and settled as a town during the reign of Alex-
ander the Great (333 BC), Jerash was largely a Roman creation and well-preserved re-
mains of all the classic Roman structures - forum, cardo maximus, hippodrome,
nymphaeum - are easily distinguishable among the ruins. If you need a refresher course
on key technical terms before you reach the site, see the boxed text (
Click here
)
and you'll
soon remember your pediments from your porticos.
Following General Pompey's conquest of the region in 64 BC, Gerasa became part of
the Roman province of Syria, and then a city of the Decapolis. Over the next two centur-
ies, trade with the Nabataeans (of Petra fame) flourished, and the city grew extremely
wealthy, thanks to local agriculture and iron-ore mining. In the 1st century AD the city
was remodelled on the grid system with a colonnaded main north-south street (cardo max-
imus - one of the great highlights of the site today) intersected by two side streets running
east-west.
The city was further enhanced in AD 106, under Emperor Trajan, and the triumphal
arch at the far southern end of the city (through which the site is accessed today) was con-
structed in AD 129 to mark the important occasion of Emperor Hadrian's visit. Jerash's
fortunes peaked around the beginning of the 3rd century, when it was bestowed with the
rank of Colony and boasted a population of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants.
The city declined with a devastating earthquake in 747 and its population shrank to
about one-quarter of its former size. Thereafter, apart from a brief occupation by a Cru-
sader garrison in the 12th century, the city was completely deserted until the arrival of the
Circassians from Russia in 1878. The site's archaeological importance was quickly real-
ised, heralding over a century of excavation and restoration and the revival of a new town
on the eastern flank of the ruins.
