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RELIGION & FAITH
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Mosaics floor in the remains
of St. Genasios Church.
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The history of Jerash is a blend of the Graeco-Roman world of the Mediterranean basin and the ancient traditions of the Arab Orient. Indeed, the name of the city itself reflects this interaction. The earliest Arabic / Semitic inhabitants named their village Garshu. The Romans later Hellenized the former Arabic name into Gerasa, and at the end of the 19th century, the Arab and Circassian inhabitants of the then small and rural settlements transformed the Roman Gerasa into the Arabic Jerash.
It was not until the days of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC that Jerash truly began to develop into a sizeable town. But it was during the period of Roman rule, especially in the 2nd Century A.D. that Jerash enjoyed its golden age.
Soon after Rome took control of Syria, Jerash was named as one of the great cities of the Decapolis League; a prosperous confederation of ten Roman cities linked by powerful commercial, political and cultural interests. This brought great economic benefits to Jerash and trade flourished with the Nabataean Empire based in Petra.
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The Roman Emperor Trajan, depicted
on a Roman coin.
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In 106AD, Emperor Trajan annexed the wealthy Nabataean Kingdom and formed the province of Arabia. This brought even greater trading riches pouring into Jerash which enjoyed a burst of construction activity. The city received yet another boost in stature with the visit of Emperor Hadrian in 129AD. To honour his visit, the citizens raised a monumental Triumphal Arch at the south of the city. Jerash’s prosperity reached a peak at the start of the 3rd century AD when it was bestowed with the rank of Roman Colony.
As the 3rd century progressed, shipping began to take over as the main route for commerce. Jerash fell into decline as its previously lucrative trade routes became less travelled and therefore less valuable.
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One of the temples at Jerash.
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By the middle of the 5th century, Christianity had become the major religion of the region and numerous churches were constructed in Jerash. Many churches were constructed of stones taken from pagan temples – and the remains of several can still be seen today.
A powerful earthquake in 749AD seriously damaged the city and hastened its decline.
The Crusaders described Jerash as uninhabited and it remained abandoned until its rediscovery in 1806, when Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, a German traveller, came across and recognized a small part of the ruins. The ancient city was buried in sand which accounts for the remarkable preservation. It has been gradually revealed through a series of excavations which commenced in 1925 and are still ongoing.
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The hippodrome has ten starting gates (carceres), as opposed to the usual twelve, which have now been re-assembled from the rubble with other missing stones quarried and rebuilt. The seating area (cavea) was four meters deep with sixteen rows of seats. The seats accommodated 15,000 spectators who, it is said, were Greek-speaking even during Roman times.
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The Jerash Heritage Company has started daily ticketed performances of the Roman Army and Chariot Experience (RACE) at the hippodrome in Jerash.
The show runs twice daily, at 11am and at 3pm (2pm during the winter months), except Fridays. It features forty-five legionaries in full armour in a display of Roman Army drill and battle tactics, ten gladiators fighting “to the death” and several Roman chariots competing in a classical seven lap race around the ancient hippodrome.
For more about RACE, visit www.romanchariots.com
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Guidebooks, maps and information are available from the Visitors Centre near the South Gate.
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Jerash is internationally acknowledged as one of the best-preserved province cities of the Roman Empire.
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Jerash boasts as unbroken chain of human occupation dating back more than 6,500 years.
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