The Ruins at Jerash
In the ruins of Jerash, you can still see much of how the city was laid out. The town square or marketplace, which is actually a circle, is still paved and surrounded by standing columns. In fact, the colonnaded street that leads from the circle is still paved with the original stones and contains the marks of chariot ruts. Arcs and walls and doorways and steps make exploring Jerash a fun experience. Some of the ruins have been rebuilt so that tourists can see them as they once stood instead of the heaps of rubble from which they were taken.
The temple of Zeus stands proudly on the hill next to a nearby
theater. Many tall columns guard the imposing entrance. A crew of workers are renovating the temple, restoring crumbled stone and rebuilding many of the walls
and columns that have fallen over. A company in France is funding it and has mapped out the temple and the piles of stones to ensure that the renovated temple looks as much like the original as possible.
The ruins of Jerash cover a large area that could take a few hours to walk around and explore.
The temples, theaters, streets, churches, and columns make it a fascinating place. So much of Jerash is still standing that it doesn't take much of an imagination to see what the city use to look like - part of the Decapolis and a center for Roman and Greek culture and thought in the midst of the eastern Semitic region.
In the ruins of Jerash, you can still see much of how the city was laid out. The town square or marketplace, which is actually a circle, is still paved and surrounded by standing columns. In fact, the colonnaded street that leads from the circle is still paved with the original stones and contains the marks of chariot ruts. Arcs and walls and doorways and steps make exploring Jerash a fun experience. Some of the ruins have been rebuilt so that tourists can see them as they once stood instead of the heaps of rubble from which they were taken.The temple of Zeus stands proudly on the hill next to a nearby
theater. Many tall columns guard the imposing entrance. A crew of workers are renovating the temple, restoring crumbled stone and rebuilding many of the walls
and columns that have fallen over. A company in France is funding it and has mapped out the temple and the piles of stones to ensure that the renovated temple looks as much like the original as possible.A large theater stands right next to the temple is still used in the Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts. A half circle of seats faces the first level of 
an ornate stage which is what remains of the original two story building. The orchestra floor was amazing because of the way it trapped the natural acoustics. If I stood in the center of the floor, I could not only hear Darren perfectly, who had climbed to the highest row of seats and was talking in a normal voice, but I also sounded as if I were talking into a microphone even though I was talking in a normal 
voice. If I moved very far in any direction, though, the acoustics were gone and everything sounded normal again. The seats run in rows around the whole half-circle of theater and can seat more that 3000 people. Some of the seats were the "reserved seating" which are still marked with chiseled Greek letters.
an ornate stage which is what remains of the original two story building. The orchestra floor was amazing because of the way it trapped the natural acoustics. If I stood in the center of the floor, I could not only hear Darren perfectly, who had climbed to the highest row of seats and was talking in a normal voice, but I also sounded as if I were talking into a microphone even though I was talking in a normal 
voice. If I moved very far in any direction, though, the acoustics were gone and everything sounded normal again. The seats run in rows around the whole half-circle of theater and can seat more that 3000 people. Some of the seats were the "reserved seating" which are still marked with chiseled Greek letters.
The ruins of Jerash cover a large area that could take a few hours to walk around and explore.
The temples, theaters, streets, churches, and columns make it a fascinating place. So much of Jerash is still standing that it doesn't take much of an imagination to see what the city use to look like - part of the Decapolis and a center for Roman and Greek culture and thought in the midst of the eastern Semitic region.
posted by In The Potter's Land | 7:40 AM
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