 Jerash, or Jerassa, is known as the Pompeii of the Middle East. Let's discover why. Jerash is located in modern-day Jordan, and it's one of the standout-era Roman cities from the entire Roman world. There are few cities as well preserved as Jerash. We want to take you on a tour today so that you become familiar with its history and its impressive amount of preserved monuments, buildings, and urban planning. Now, its story starts in a Hellenistic period. It was founded along the Krasoros River, the Golden River. And it was known as Antioch on the Golden River, possibly founded by Antiochus IV, the Seleucid. By 63 BC, it became part of the conquest of Pompey the Great. And it was assigned to the Decapolis in the province of Syria. And the Decapolis was a grouping of ten autonomous cities that lost their autonomy in 106, when Arabia Patria was a province under Trajan. Now, its location was famed for its amount of agriculture, mining, and the fact that it was located along important caravan trade routes. Hadron visited it between 129 and 130, and today we can see its impressive city layout is still well preserved. The standout feature of the Oval Forum and its colonnaded streets, the massive temple of Artemis. Let's look at the city map to understand the layout of the city that was dependent upon its natural topography and its relationship to the river. To the west, you have essentially the highest elevation that slopes down towards the river, the river that runs from the north to the south for the entire length of the city. By the 2nd century AD, there is a wall circuit surrounding the entire city of about 250 acres. And when we look at this map, we should keep in mind that the eastern portion of the city, half of the city, pretty much still today lies buried across the river to the east, joined by a series of bridges. So there's so much to discover, though it's very difficult because so much of the eastern part of the city lies beneath the modern city of Jerash. The population is estimated at around 15,000, and by the 5th century, it's becoming a very affluent Christian city, and they're documented up to 20 churches in the city of Jerash. It was captured by the Sasanians in 614, then captured by the Arabs in 635, at which time you have the creation of a mosque. Finally, the devastating earthquake of 749 really leveled the city, and it pretty much ekes out a small existence as a village, a Syrian outpost, and finally a fort destroyed by the crusaders. It was only rediscovered in the 19th century, and what a discovery that was. Let's now explore and tour through this wonderful city the Pompeii of the Middle East. We start our visit outside the city walls. To the left, you have the Karchides, the starting blocks of the circus or the hippodrome, and here we have the magnificent reconstructed arch of Hadrian. Now, this arch, you can see it before the restoration, it's pretty substantially restored during excavations, it is a special gateway that honors the presence of Hadrian between 129 and 130. It's commemorated by local officials, and it's a celebratory monument that glorifies the city as much as it does the emperor himself. We can look at the rich details. You can see at the base of the columns, there's a unique Nabataean feature, canthus leaves decorate the bases, and it guides us into the city today. Beyond this gate, on the left, we have rows of shops, flanking the entire length of the hippodrome with those well-preserved karchides, the starting blocks, and this is an intimate space, it's considered to be the shortest hippodrome preserved from the ancient world. Today, you frequently see it filled with herds of goats. It is, keep in mind, hundreds of meters away from the city walls. It is majestic, and it is also a short-lived monument in the city of Cheresh. Here we have the southern gate, another triple arch, and we're now inside the city, going to the famous oval form space, the critical juncture in all of Cheresh. The oval form is quite literally among the most fantastic architectural spaces made in the Roman era. It's a focal point for the city, directing you to the main areas, and it is so authentic, in your sense, of the audacity in building and the most modern feel it gives you of this incredible city, Cheresh. So next to the oval form, we have on the hillside the Acropolis, the sanctuary of Zeus and a theater. Let's understand the layout and how it's connected to the oval forum. We're pivoting up to the Acropolis, and there is that all-important temple of Zeus. We're now looking at it from its side its dominant position over the city of Cheresh and the oval form down below. And next to it is this Demisianic theater, which is sprawling, built into the side of the hill but also partially freestanding, literally next to the temple of Zeus. We have a heavily restored Scanae fronds, the stage building in front of which the actors would perform, but most of the seating here is indeed authentic. We're down again in the oval form, so we've seen how it connects to the Acropolis with Zeus but here we also have the beginning of the Cardo, the main street that runs north to south through Cheresh, along which are many important structures, including this, the McKellum, the fish and spice market, beautifully preserved. We go down the Cardo, and we'll come to our first intersection, the South Decumanus, the east-west road, running through the city, ultimately connecting with the bridge over the river to the eastern baths. Here is that point, that juncture point, that intersection, pausing to look at the rest of the Cardo in the distance. We have so many incredible columns still lining that Cardo street. We've further progressed north, and we're looking at the remains of the magnificent Nymphaeum, this large public fountain. So we want to think of Cheresh as a city of water. This is one of the great second century AD fountains of the ancient world. And we can admire the circumstances around that Nymphaeum and the colonnades, and the incredible amount of sculpture from other monuments that have been dismantled. Along this point on the Cardo, there actually was a church. There are going to be many churches inserted into the context of Roman Cheresh. We can also take this monumental staircase just beyond the Nymphaeum to go up to the sanctuary of Artemis. With this viewpoint, we're only halfway up, making our way to the Antonine Temple of Artemis, never fully completed. What we do see at the top, there's an incredibly large series of porticoes that would have surrounded this entire piazza, finally making our way up the stairs of the Temple of Artemis, with its columns still in place, closely spaced together. This is one of the wonders of ancient Cheresh. Now looking inside the cellar space, where you have the colt statue of Artemis, and admiring the columns of the porch with a pernaus. And it's from this angle, we see just how closely spaced these magnificent columns are together. Progressing further north, there's another arch that lines the juncture between the Cardo and another deco monus, pivoting over past the herd of goats. There's the northern gate in the distance. The other standout feature in the northern part of the city visible to us today is this, the odion, the music hall with a bit of a portico visible behind it. So it's like the grand theater, but smaller, more intimate, originally roofed. This was the location for musical performances. And again, we can see that city sprawl that surrounds the northern gate of Cheresh and concludes our tour of this fascinating city, the Pompeii of the Middle East. It's a place to become familiar with. We hope you've enjoyed this little tour of this sprawling site. There's so much more to enjoy about the ancient Roman Empire. Explore more ribbon cities with us. Subscribe to our newsletter. Subscribe to Ancient Rome Live.