A prominent city during the time of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, Jerash flourished from trade routes to Damascus. When Pompey later conquered Jerash, he established it as one of the ten Cities of the Decapolis, and rebuilt it in this distinctive Roman style. By the 13th century, both Muslim and Christian inhabitants had vacated the site. It was forgotten until 1806 when a German traveler rediscovered the ruins.

Entering under a triple triumphal arch, we passed a huge oval (hippodrome) on the left where over 15,000 spectators once watched polo and other sporting events take place. Near the visitor center, another arch at the South Gate marks the true entrance of walled Jerash.

To the left beyond the Temple of Zeus (now a jumbled mess of fallen capitals and columns) stands a Roman Theatre 32 tiers tall. Continuing down the cobblestone street through central Jerash, along the Colonnaded Cardo, was my favorite part of the ancient city.

We could easily image people actually traversing down this splendid street decorated with ornate Ionic pillars and Corinthian columns in ancient days as we walked over grooves worn into the original limestone paving from repeated chariot use. How cool.

We explored several structures directly off this street. A pink limestone fountain in the center of the Cathedral's atrium is where a feast was held to remember Jesus' miracle of turning water into wine. Farther on, a beautiful public water fountain is housed in the two story nymphaeum, constructed of marble and painted plaster, and decorated at one time in mosaics.

Next, we came to the most important building in Jerash, the Temple of Artemis. Flanked by huge Corinthian columns, a grand staircase leads to the temple high on a terrace in the center of the city. Additional flights of stairs climb to the courtyard which was encircled by a double row of 124 columns. Much of it was destroyed when the Byzantines extracted materials to construct churches, houses, and ceramic kilns.

In the remaining part of the complex, we walked through ruins of churches, Roman baths and another theatre. Our total visit took around an hour. Keep in mind that our ‘guide' stayed behind smoking with his buddies in the adjacent Government Rest House while we explored on our own. (Thank God for guidebooks.) Had we followed a true guide, our visit likely would've taken much longer. In fact, we had expected it to last 2-3 hours. Had we known, we could've seen additional sites that day instead of ending up at our hotel at 2 pm, after a "full day tour" of Amman, Jerash and Aljun.

Minibuses and service taxis travel back and forth between Amman and Jerash. Just make sure you leave Jerash by 5 pm, because transportation terminates at that hour daily.