The last touring site we went to in Jordan was the Roman city of Jaresh. Our guide told us that the city was still there because the area was not populated.
This is Hadrian's Arch. Only the emperor could walk through the middle arch.
It had rained and the arch entrance was muddy.
The Romans kept soldiers in shape by having them build cities when they weren't fighting.
The Jordanians don't have a lot of money to restore or dig up these sites.
The arch was very dramatic.
Right inside the city was a hippodrome for chariot racing.
Strong building with lots of arches from thousands of years ago.
This is the plaza looking back toward the Arch and beside the hippodrome.
Inside the hippodrome.
A big open chariot racing place.
Part of the racing field.
Looking back at Hadrian's Arch.
Roman ruin.
And more ruins.
This is headed toward the Cardio or the city center.
I am not sure whether the arches have been left standing or whether archaeologists have put them back together.
A Roman temple is at the top.
We headed out over this filed which would have had buildings and houses in Roman times.
This is the entrance to the theatre that every Roman city had.
The paving was still Romans.
This is the stage.
These are the seats where the audience would have been.
These pipers played for us.
A few of the seats were marked which would have been the pricey seats.
There was a sweet spot in the middle of the theatre where you could whisper and be heard in every seat.
The stage.
The seats were like a modern day sports stadium.
The pipers were working for tips.
I think we were told they had played at one of the Olympics.
And this is a pepper tree. The brown things really were peppercorns.
They smelled just like pepper on the table.
Looking down at the Cardio.
We walked on to visit 3 churches that were not very near the Cardio.
This was one big city.
Remains of buildings.
And we got to the remains of the three churches. We asked why three were built together. The guide told us that back in the day Mass could only be celebrated once a day in a church. So three churches would enable there to be three Masses.
There were still mosaics at the floor of the church.
The roof was gone and we could not go down to the floor.
We could look over the side at the mosaics.
There were animals and figures. Clearly a bear.
And a camel.
This was the patron.
And words explaining who the patron was.
The mosaics were intricate.
Other animals
And if you look closely you can see a swastikas cross. This was a sign of prosperity.
Looking at the churches.
More Roman columns.
And More
I walked all over Jaresh. It took a lot out of me and perhaps I would not have pushed myself if I had known how little sleep I would get on the journey home.
This was on the crest of a hill looking at the ruins.
Temple of Diana.
A pool inside the temple.
A better view of the temple.
We climbed down these giant steps.
Those Romans were good climbers because there were not little steps.
Everything was built big.
Even after 2 thousand years the decorative details were still in evidence.
And more details.
Amazing.
This tub still had mosaics in it.
This was a tub.
And here we are getting ready to go back to the bus. It was a lot of walking.
And as we left you can see the modern city on the hill in the background.
And the Roman road. I have one more post about Jordan with only a few pictures.
