Jerash
The vaulted passageway under the courtyard of the Temple of Zeus is a good starting point in Jerash's ancient city. When your eyes become accustomed to the gloom, you’ll see a superb display of columns, pediments and masonry carved with grapes, pomegranates and acanthus leaves. This is the place to brush up on the three main column styles: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.
Take a look at the model of the Temple of Zeus, as it will help to recreate the ruins in your mind later.
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The area known as the Citadel sits on the highest hill in Amman, Jebel Al Qala’a (about 850m above sea level), and is the site of ancient Rabbath-Ammon…
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Beit She’an’s extraordinary Roman ruins are the best place in Israel to get a sense of what it was like to live, work and shop in the Roman Empire…
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On the hillside to the north of the downtown area, this cultural haven is dedicated to contemporary art. The main building features an excellent art…
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You really don't have to be a car enthusiast to enjoy this museum, which displays more than 70 classic cars and motorbikes from the personal collection of…
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The Jordan Museum, located next to the City Hall, is one of the best in the Middle East. Housed in a grand modern building, a series of beautifully…
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This brilliantly designed hands-on museum for kids is a complete joy. In its many zones, young visitors can play and learn about everything from the…
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This historic castle was built atop Mt ‘Auf (1250m) between 1184 and 1188 by one of Saladin’s generals, ‘Izz ad Din Usama bin Munqidh (who was also…
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Dedicated to Artemis, the goddess of hunting and fertility and the daughter of Zeus and Leto, this temple was built between AD 150 and 170, and flanked by…
Built in AD 162 over the remains of an earlier Roman temple, the Temple of Zeus was once approached by a magnificent stairway leading from the temenos …
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Near the South Theatre, this viewpoint offers a panorama of the forum and beyond – one of the first opportunities to truly take in the size of Jerash.
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Whatever the light and whatever the weather, the forum, with its organ-pipe columns arranged around an unusual oval-shaped plaza, is always breathtaking…
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Though most of it has collapsed, this temple has imposing 15m-high columns that are some of Jerash's most dramatic. The thick walls of the sanctum still…
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Two hundred metres north of the hippodrome is the imposing South Gate, which was likely constructed in AD 130 and originally served as one of four…
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As you enter the South Theatre through a wooden door between the arches, there’s little to suggest the treasure encased by the plain exterior. But then…
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Before you finish exploring ancient Jerash, visit this compact museum and visitor centre just above the forum. It houses a small but worthwhile selection…
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On the western side of the cardo maximus is the agora, where people gathered for public meetings around the central fountain.