Jerash

6,500 Years of Grandeur and Cultural Harmony

The ancient city of Jerash, a close second only to Petra in popular appeal, boasts an extraordinary, unbroken chain of human occupation stretching back over 6,500 years. Located just 45 km north of Amman, the site’s reliable water source ensured settlement from Neolithic times onward.

Jerash achieved its golden age under Roman rule, when it was known as Gerasa, one of the famed Decapolis cities. Today, it is globally acknowledged as one of the best-preserved Roman provincial towns in the world.

Hidden by sand for centuries and meticulously restored over the past seven decades, Jerash is a living textbook of Roman urbanism. Visitors can walk the original paved and colonnaded streets, marvel at the soaring hilltop temples, grand theatres, and expansive public plazas, all framed by city walls and towering gates.

Beyond its striking Greco-Roman façade, Jerash preserves a unique cultural synthesis. Its architecture and urban design reflect a powerful and subtle blend where the traditions of the Arab Orient seamlessly meshed with the Graeco-Roman world of the Mediterranean basin, creating a magnificent historical and archaeological treasure.