Jerash (By: Jacob)

Outside Amman, Jordan there is a small Roman city, called Jerash. The city was built by the Greeks, but was used mostly by the Romans. The city of Jerash is the best preserved ancient Roman city. The nickname for Jerash is Pompeii of the East and it was founded in 2000 B.C.E. The way you get into the old city of Jerash is by going under the Arch of Hadrian. The name Hadrian is because of the visit from emperor Hadrian.

The first place we went to was the old horse racing track, the racing track was called the hippodrome. We raced around the track pretending to be ancient chariot riders.

The next place we went to was the South Theatre. The South Theatre is a place where they did plays and other performances, for all the people in Jerash to see. The best part besides the views was that if you put your ear and mouth on the lower wall and someone else does the same opposite you, you can hear each other through the wall.

The next place we went to was the Oval Forum which was the center of the old city of Jerash. The Oval Forum is made up of 64 limestone beams. Then we went up to three temples.  It was very interesting how all three temples were under the same roof. My favorite was called the Artemis Temple. It was the biggest in all of the the old city of Jerash. The only problem was that, only a tiny fraction of it remains, but the archaeologist put a sign up and it showed what they thought it looked like during the Roman times.

Finally, we went to the fountain where everyone in the city got their water. Because the Romans were here thousands of years ago the fountain is ruined and there was no water.  This is my grandfather and I near the fountain.










Our last stop inside the city was going through the Cardo Maximus which is a road that connects the north part of the city to the south side of the city.