Jerash

This article is about Gerasa in Jordan. For Gerasa in Judea, see Gerasa (Judaea).
Not to be confused with Jarash, Jerusalem.

Jerash
جرش
Gerasa
City
The Greco-Roman city of Gerasa and the modern Jerash in the background.
The Greco-Roman city of Gerasa and the modern Jerash in the background.
Nicknames: 
  • Pompeii of the East
  • The city of 1000 columns
Jerash is located in Jordan
Jerash
Jerash
Coordinates: 32°16′50″N 35°53′50″E / 32.28056°N 35.89722°E / 32.28056; 35.89722
Grid position234/187
Country Jordan
GovernorateJerash Governorate
Founded7500 – 5500 BC.
Municipality established1910
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
Elevation
600 m (1,968 ft)
Population
 (2015)[1]
 • Totalcity (50,745) Municipality (237,000 est)
Time zoneGMT +2
 • Summer (DST)+3
Area code+(962)2
Websitehttp://www.jerash.gov.jo

Jerash (Arabic: جرش Ǧaraš; Greek: Γέρασα, romanized: Gérasa; Attic Greek: [gérasa], Koinē Greek: [ˈgerasa]) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city Amman.

The earliest evidence of settlement in Jerash is in a Neolithic site known as Tal Abu Sowan, where rare human remains dating to around 7500 BC were uncovered.[2] Jerash flourished during the Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods until the mid-eighth century CE, when the 749 Galilee earthquake destroyed large parts of it, while subsequent earthquakes contributed to additional destruction. However, in the year 1120, Zahir ad-Din Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus ordered a garrison of forty men to build up a fort in an unknown site of the ruins of the ancient city, likely the highest spot of the city walls in the north-eastern hills. It was captured in 1121 by Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, and utterly destroyed.[3][4] Then, the Crusaders immediately abandoned Jerash and withdrew to Sakib (Seecip); the eastern border of the settlement.[5][6]

Jerash was then deserted until it reappeared in the historical record at the beginning of Ottoman rule in the area during the early 16th century. In the census of 1596, it had a population of 12 Muslim households.[7] However, archaeologists found a small Mamluk hamlet in the Northwest Quarter[8] which indicates that Jerash was resettled before the Ottoman era. The excavations conducted since 2011 have shed light on the Middle Islamic period as recent discoveries have uncovered a large concentration of Middle Islamic/Mamluk structures and pottery.[9] The ancient city has been gradually revealed through a series of excavations which commenced in 1925, and continue to this day.[10]

Jerash today is home to one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities, which earned it the nickname "Pompeii of the Middle East".[11][12] Approximately 330,000 visitors arrived in Jerash in 2018, making it one of the most visited sites in Jordan.[13] The city hosts the Jerash Festival, one of the leading cultural events in the Middle East that attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.[14]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference city population was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Bell, Brian (1994). Jordan. APA Publications (HK) Limited. p. 184. OCLC 30858851.
  3. ^ Boulanger, Robert (1965). The Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran. Paris: Hachette. pp. 541, 542. OCLC 1601668.
  4. ^ Heath, Ian (1980). A wargamers' guide to the Crusades. p. 133. OCLC 641902238.
  5. ^ Brooker, Colin H.; Knauf, Ernst Axel (1988). "Review of Crusader Institutions". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 104: 184–188. JSTOR 27931345.
  6. ^ Schryver, James G (2010). Studies in the archaeology of the medieval Mediterranean. Leiden [Netherlands]; Boston: Brill. pp. 86. ISBN 9789004181755. OCLC 643081873.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference HA164 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Archaeologists studying a post-quake gap in Jerash history". Jordan Times. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  9. ^ Peterson, Alex (February 2017). "Medieval Pottery from Jerash: The Middle Islamic Settlement". Gerasa/Jerash: From the Urban Periphery.
  10. ^ "Touristic Sites – Jerash". www.kinghussein.gov.jo.
  11. ^ Pompeii of the Middle East: Roman Jerash, retrieved 6 September 2023
  12. ^ Meyer, Norma (16 February 2018). "Exploring Petra and other archaeological wonders of Jordan". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  13. ^ "Statistics". mota. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  14. ^ "32nd Jerash festival begins". The Jordan Times. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2019.