Israel and Jordan, July 11, 2013

Another full day, and we were off to the Israel-Jordanian border. Although we had our passports checked five times and had to put our luggage through a metal detector, the hassle really was not excessive. However, we had to change buses, drivers, and tour guides, so we now have a guide named Zaid, and a Jordanian bus driver. As we began to drive to our first Jordanian town named Irbid, I noticed the first Bedouin tents as well as some Gypsy enclaves by the side of the road. Jordan is currently sheltering many refugees from Syria and Iraq, and our first experience was that of a rather poor country that was hanging on by the skin of its teeth. That feeling, as we passed through different regions, began to be dispelled. Tons of garbage by the side of the road, especially plastics, did not assist in making the country seem anything but poor and helpless. Later, as we drove through the capital city of Amman, that theory was again challenged. We reached the city of Jerash by noon, having seen quite a few men in Arabic or Muslim garb and several women in black robes with head scarves along the way. We stopped at a local restaurant, the Artemis, for a buffet lunch, and I of course sampled hummus,several different salads, and watermelon. After that we left to visit the old city of Jerash, of which much needs to be said. It is located 40 km N of the capital of Amman, and is considered one of the largest and most well-preserved sites of Roman architecture in the world outside Italy. Human occupation has occurred here for more than 6500 years. It is a blend of the world of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arab Orient. Romans Hellenized the former Arabic name of Gershu into Gerasa. The Bible refers to the region as a land of the Gerascenes. In the days of Alexander the Great, Jerash began to prosper. The town was conquered by the Roman emperor Pompey in 63 B.C. During Roman rule, Jerash reached its golden age. The Romans assimilated Jerash into the province of Syria, and later named it as one of the cities of the Decapolis League, a confederation of Roman cities formed during the 1st c. B.C. and linked by powerful commercial, political, and cultural interests. Ten cities belonged to the Decapolis League. Over the next 1 1/2 centuries, trade flourished with the Nabateans, and Jerash prospered. The period saw the implementation of a typically Roman city plan featuring a colonnaded main street intersected by two side streets. Under the emperor Trajan, in 106 A.D., with trading riches pouring in, Jerash enjoyed a construction heyday. Granite was brought from Aswan, Egypt, and old temples were razed and rebuilt in the latest agricultural styles. The city received another boost with a visit by the emperor Hadrian in 129 A.D. To honor him, the citizens raised a monumental Triumphal Arch at the southern end. Jerash reached its peak at the beginning of the 3rd c., when the rank of Roman Colony was bestowed upon it. During this time, Jerash may have had 20,000 inhabitants. The city preserved today was the administrative, civic, commercial, and cultural center of the community, while the bulk of the populace lived on the E side of Jerash. As the 3rd c. progressed, Constantine converted to Christianity and proclaimed it the state religion of the Empire's Byzantine half. By the middle of the 5th c., Christianity had become the major religion, and numerous churches were constructed in Jerash. In fact, many of those were built of stones taken from pagan temples. Jerash was hit by Persian invasion in 614 A.D., and by Muslim conquest in 636. In 749, a series of earthquakes damaged the city, and the population sank to 4000. It became a small village. The Crusaders described it as an uninhabited city, and it remained abandoned until its rediscovery in 1806, when a German traveler came across it and recognized the ruins. The ancient Jerash had been buried in sand, which accounts for its amazing preservation, which commenced in 1925 and continues to this day. Our guide Zaid took us on a 2-mile, 3-hour tour of old Jerash. The ruins included an amphitheater (I got to try out the acoustics by singing); a beautiful temple to Artemis, a Hippodrome (read Ben-Hur chariot race); and the Cardo Maximus, the main thoroughfare, which included granary storage spaces and a central facade of Nymphs who at one time carried urns of water which spilled down into a fountain below (the course of the water could still be read in the spouts and lions' heads through which the water coursed). Even wagon wheel impressions in the pavement of the Cardo Maximus could still be seen. Although temperatures must have been close to 100, it was an amazing tour, even though we kept being pestered by boys and young men who wanted to sell us something or who just wanted a handout. And now we have traveled past Amman and are at a hotel right on the Dead Sea. As it is time for dinner, I will close this blog for today, with best wishes and hopes that you all are enjoying my ramblings! As ever, SV