The images in this photo gallery are from the Greco-Roman ancient city of Jerash (Also known as Gerash),one of the best-preserved ancient Roman provincial towns in the Mediterranean. Jerash Archaeological City is on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list.
Located 48 kilometres north of Amman, Jerash existed as a small insignificant settlement before the Greeks founded the city during the Hellenistic period after the conquest of Alexander the Great in the 3rd century. As the...
more »The images in this photo gallery are from the Greco-Roman ancient city of Jerash (Also known as Gerash),one of the best-preserved ancient Roman provincial towns in the Mediterranean. Jerash Archaeological City is on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list.
Located 48 kilometres north of Amman, Jerash existed as a small insignificant settlement before the Greeks founded the city during the Hellenistic period after the conquest of Alexander the Great in the 3rd century. As the city grew into an urban centre, it became part of the Decapolis, a federation of Greek cities founded in the Hellenistic era within the region.
After the Roman conquest of the region in 63 BC, the city was absorbed into the vast Roman Empire and grew wealthy and prosperous as more trade flowed through it. Emperor Hadrian even visited the city during 129 AD. It reached its zenith and golden age during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, when a building frenzy took place mainly due to the generous donations of the city's wealthy residents. What is seen today is mainly from that period.
Dubbed as the 'Pompeii of the East' due to its excellent state of preservation , it has a number of outstanding and ornate architectural remnants of its past, among the more spectacular remains are an striking oval forum, the Cardo with its flanking colonnaded, triumph arches, food market, hippodrome, 2 theatres magnificent temples of Zeus and Artemis.
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