Jerash

One of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities, with its colonnaded Oval Plaza, Cardo and theatres.

Visitors walk along old colonnaded streets, through an oval plaza ringed with columns and into ancient theatres. Because so much is still standing, Jerash is often nicknamed the Pompeii of the Middle East. It was one of the Decapolis, a group of ten Greek-style cities, and it is one of the most visited places in Jordan, with about 330,000 visitors in 2018.

How old is Jerash?

People lived here very early: the oldest evidence of settlement is a Neolithic site where human remains from around 7500 BC were found. The city flourished in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, and it was important in early Christian times too, with churches that show how church building developed.

In the middle of the eighth century a big earthquake destroyed large parts of the city, and later earthquakes caused more damage. After the Crusader period it was left empty for a long time, and it only appears again in records at the start of Ottoman rule in the early 16th century.

Why is it still so well preserved?

Digging began in 1925, and archaeologists have gradually uncovered the streets, columns, theatres and temples. Excavations since 2011 have also found Mamluk buildings and pottery from the Middle Islamic period, showing that people returned to live here.

The ancient city has been revealed step by step, and many of its old streets and buildings can be explored on foot. Today the Jerash Festival, one of the major cultural events in the Middle East, brings tens of thousands of visitors every year.

On the globe

The model shows the colonnaded streets, the oval plaza and the theatres; look for the long rows of columns.