The Jordan Diaries 2005: October 28 Day 2.4 In Amongst the Ruins at Jerash

At Jerash, Sufian bought the tickets, organized an English-speaking guide – a wheezing shuffling old guy named Yusef – and left us to it.

JD062 South Gate of City dated 130 AD at Jerash

Jerash was one of the cities making up The Decapolis of Rome. In the centre of the old ruined town, the Roman influence is obvious – the paved streets, the market shops  - and the old road criss-crosses, at the South Tetrapylon leading north to Damascus, south to Amman, east to Jerusalem and west to Babylon.

JD095 Cardo Maximus sth view, to Amman, 1 AD Jerash. Ruts  from chariot wheels

Some spectacularly large structures at Jerash – but mostly in ruins. Temple of Zeus (Jupiter) currently under restoration by a French team.

JD070 Temple of Zeus (Jupiter) 162 AD &  South Theatre 90  92 AD  Jerash

Temple of Diana (Artemis) also in ruins but easily able to imagine the past from what is left.

JD084 Main structure of Temple of Artemis 150-170 AD at Jerash

The South Theatre, still in fairly reasonable repair (with ongoing restoration underway), invited a look. Though sadly the same could not be said for a rather large black and nasty desiccated poo on the entrance stairs. Not exactly enchanting to have to step over on the way in – but you get that. Unfortunately all too commonplace. Waste, trash and their correct disposal, like museum labels, just isn’t a current priority it seems.

JD075 South Theatre rows of seating at Jerash

Inside the Theatre, treated to an impromptu concert by a small ensemble from Royal Jordanian Desert Regiment – 2 sets of drums and 2 bagpipes. Great entertainment!

JD073 Royal Jordanian Guard musicians South Theatre Jerash

The Theatre has an acoustic spot in front of the stage, marked by an arched stone tile in the floor, denoting the exact place where the acoustics are perfect - if you speak out loud, you can hear yourself echoing in your own ears.

JD074 Acoustic Stone centre of the South Theatre at Jerash

The nearby Oval Plaza was absolutely huge -a vast open space ringed by Ionic columns. Standing in the centre it was not at all hard to visualize Roman city life in Jerash.

JD065 Oval Plaza 1st Century Ionic colonnade at Jerash

Behind the Temple of Diana were the shells of 3 early Christian churches – St George, St John the Baptist and St Cosmos & St Damien (twin brother doctors) Still visible are the remnants of the mosaic floor dated 553 A.D.

JD055 Altar area Byzantine church 533 AD Martyrs St Cosmos & St Damien twin brother doctors, Jerash

JD082 Mosaic floor  Byzantine church  St Cosmos &  Damien    dated 553 AD Jerash


The Byzantine Cathedral, another example of early Christianity in the region, was itself a convert from its former life as the Temple of Dionysus. Saw a high niche at the top of the stairs, a sign said that there were reputedly painted inscriptions dedicated to Mary and the Archangels Michael & Gabriel. Wanted to go up there and have a look for myself, but old Yusef refused. Don’t really know why, as it didn’t seem to be a closed off area. Slightly disappointed – but sadly just had to take that one on faith.

JD092 Cathedral niche & inscriptions St Mary Archangels Gabriel & Michael  Jerash

So many ruins to see here  - Jerash is reported to be the best-preserved Roman city outside Europe.The guided tour took about an hour, though once again, would have liked to have spent longer and done it our own way using the JTB Jerash brochure and our trusty Lonely Planet book. That’s the trouble with having a guide – it’s often a bit of a trade-off. Time versus Information. 

Invariably they slow your visit and waste a lot of time waffling and waiting and wandering, so not highly desirable when there are time constraints and schedules to meet.
Whether they even give you the correct and/or better quality information is always open to debate. From experience, we find it tends to be predictably a bit hit and miss.

JD086 Columns of Temple of Artemis (Diana) at Jerash

Yusef informed us that Jerash was formerly Antioch – but that is absolutely not correct. On the other hand though, he did show us how the columns of the Temple of Diana were built to withstand earth tremors, using a ‘keystone’ construction. Poked a spoon handle in between the very large keystone pieces that make up the column and we watched in total amazement as the spoon wavered up and down indicating just how much sway there actually is in these.

The rest of Yusef’s spiel we listened to politely and wondered how much we should take with just the tiniest grain of salt and TheBoy gave Yusef a tip for his troubles. Tips are more or less expected and customary but not obligatory, though one tends to feel badly about not giving something. 60% of the tourist trade has dried up since the Iraqi conflict. Suspect it’s similar on the other border too with the ongoing struggle for the peace process. Lots of these people like Yusef – guides, vendors etc – need tips to help them survive. Yes, some may argue the case of questioning why it's necessary when they have already been paid for their guide services, but on the other hand, its helping to feed families. We prefer to consider it, in the big scheme of things, really quite a small contribution to make for the privilege of sharing such richness of history and antiquities.