Jerash

Last weekend about 12 of us went up to Jerash to see the ruins. It reminded me of the Forum in Rome where the Coliseum and other ruins lay in the middle of growing, modern city. We went up in a bus owned by one of the guys at church. I’m not sure how it went down, but apparently he and a husband of a student got talking and he kindly offered to drive us up in the bus he happens to own. J


The ruins start with a grand entrance, Hadrian’s gate, followed by a colonnaded, flagstone street that leads to a central Oval, and then continues on to a smaller arch at the far end. Off to the sides are a hippodrome (horse racing), the Temples of Zeus and Artemis, two amphitheatres (my favorites), and other buildings.


One of my favorite parts were the track marks in the flagstones carved by metal wheels of ancient carts. It was really cool to see the evidence of people using these ruins back when they weren’t ruins yet.

This is the Hadrian’s gate, built around 100 AD I think, to commemorate the Emperor’s staying in Jerash for six months.

The large amphitheatre. Notice the three entrances just like the Globe theatre in Shakespeare’s day. An Arab dressed in tartan periodically played the bag pipe here. Very cool to hear the echoes and feel like I was closer to the UK and Scotland for a brief moment.

My roommates at the bottom stairs of a ruin of a large Christian church that faced the colonnaded street. 

An overview from the end of the street. In the distance is Hadrian’s Gate, the colonnaded street, and on the right the large amphitheatre and Temple of Zeus. Imagine what it must have looked like before it got “ruined.” Follow the columns up the side streets.

The small amphitheatre. The amphitheatres seemed “living” because the acoustics still work so people can still use if for its original purpose. I thought about what plays I would have seen there back when it was first built, them remembered I’m a woman and probably wouldn’t have seen any unless I was some kind of Vestal Virgin. (I think that’s accurate, Wikipedia it if you’re curious).

The very end of the colonnaded street and the far arch. Great track marks here.

The Colonnade and Oval. I walked up and down the street imagining what each stall might have sold.