Apr 14 - Jerash - City of 1000 Columns

Second posting for the day.....

After lunch at a buffet-style place, we toured Jerash Archeological City - the ancient meeting place of the east and the west. It is on Jordan's list of proposed UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Jerash is the site of the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa, also referred to as Antioch on the Golden River. The ruined city of Jerash is Jordan's largest and most interesting Roman site. Its imposing ceremonial gates, colonnaded avenues, temples and theatres all speak to the time when this was an important imperial centre.

At the extreme south of the site is the striking Hadrian’s Arch, also known as the Triumphal Arch, which was built in AD 129 in honour of the visit of Emperor Hadrian. Behind the arch is the hippodrome, which hosted chariot races in front of up to 15,000 spectators.

The South Gate, originally one of four along the city wall and built in 130, leads into the city proper. One of the most distinctive sites of Jerash, the forum is unusual because of its shape and huge size (90m long and 80m at its widest point). Fifty-six Ionic columns surround the paved limestone plaza, linking the cardo maximus with the Temple of Zeus.

The elegant remains of the Temple of Zeus, built around 162, can be reached from the forum – a worthwhile climb that we made to get the spectacular views. Next door, the South Theatre was built in the 1st century with a capacity of 5000 spectators. From the upper stalls the acoustics are still wonderful, as demonstrated by the bagpiper that we found playing there to a delighted audience.

Northeast of the forum lies the cardo maximus, the city’s main thoroughfare, also known as the colonnaded street. Stretching 800m to the North Gate, the street is still paved with its original stones, rutted by the wheels of chariots that once jostled along its length.

The colonnaded street is punctuated by the nymphaeum, the main fountain of the city, before giving rise to a superb propylaeum (monumental gateway) and a staircase. The Temple of Artemis, towering over Jerash at the top of the stairs, was dedicated to the patron goddess of the city, but alas it was dismantled to provide masonry for new churches under Theodorius in 386.

As with other sites, we found vendors everywhere selling their wares. Visitors to Jordan simply have to look past them to fully appreciate the historical sites.

On the way home to the Dead Sea, Ruby got the bus driver to stop at a roadside stand and get loquats. They are also called Chinese plums or Japanese plums. They are yellow and sweet and fleshy rather like a nectarine. The flavour is a mixture of peach, citrus and mild mango. Delicious.

We took a short detour to see the newly-constructed home of the owner of Manaseer Group, a huge Jordanian company involved in iron and steel recycling, gas stations, cement and concrete products (used extensively for homes here) and much more. His house is HUGE and is an exact copy of the White House. Unbelievable.

Saw a cute thing. Sheep are everywhere here in Jordan. We saw a herd of sheep being ushered through a pedestrian tunnel that crossed over the highway. Too funny for words. Sadly, no photo!

Our wakeup call tomorrow is for 3:00 a.m. as we have a 7:45 a.m. flight to Cairo. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.Leggi altro