Jerash

Jerash is located 48 kilometers north of Amman and has been dubbed the 'Pompeii of the East' due to it being one of the worlds' largest and most well-preserved sites of Roman architecture outside of Italy.

To this day, Jerash's colonnaded streets, baths, theatres, plazas, and arches remain in exceptional condition.

Within the remaining city walls, archaeologists have found the ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age, indicating human occupation at this location for more than 6,500 years.

This is not surprising as the area is ideally suited for human habitation: Jerash is fed year-round with water, while its altitude of 500 meters gives it a temperate climate and excellent visibility over the surrounding low-lying areas.

The history of Jerash is a blend of the Hellenistic-Roman world of the Mediterranean basin and the ancient traditions of the Arab Orient and the name of the city reflects this interaction.

The earliest Arab/Semitic inhabitants, who lived in the area during the pre-classical period of the first millennium BC, named their village Garshu; the Romans later claimed this Arabic name into Gerasa, at the end of the 19th century, the Arab and Circassian inhabitants changed the Roman name Gerasa to the Arabic Jerash.