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Um Qais
On a plateau overlooking the north Jordan Valley and the glinting
blue waters of Lake Tiberias are the ruins of Qais, ancient Roman
Gadara. Although not as extensive as the other cities of the Roman
Leagu e
of the Decapolis (the "Ten Cities"). Already uncovered are the ruins
of three theatres, a temple, a colonnaded street and an aqueduct.
Archaeologists predict that when excavations are complete, a major
city will have been uncovered. Standing atop the largest of the
theatres, one has an excellent view of Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galille),
northern Palestine and the Golan Heights. It was in Gadara that
Jesus vanquished demonic spirits into the sea far below. Gadara
was also the home and birthplace of many Roman writers and
philosophers who were inspired by the beauty of the panoramic views
that spread out all around them. They enjoyed, as people do today,
the hot water springs that bubble up in the nearby village of
Hemmeh.
There is no better vantage point in northern Jordan than where the
crucial Decapolis city of Gadara stood. Today the site is known by
the name of the new town adjacent to it; Um Qais. Situated 518
meters (1,700 feet) above sea level, the view reveals, to the north,
lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee), the Yarmouk River canyon and the
Golan Heights.
Gadara was well known for
its buildings during the period of the Roman Empire, but is
perhaps more eminent for the orators, artists, poets and
philosophers who originated there and rose to fame. Men such as
Menippos - the liberated slave who became well-known as a
satirist-- and the philosopher, Oinomaos, were just two of the
scholars who hailed from Gadara.
Like Pella, its
sister Decapolis city, Gadara was blessed with fertile soils,
abundant waterways and, most importantly, an assortment of passing
trade routes that crisscrossed Asia and Europe. Gadara was watered
by numerous springs, amongst which were Ain Gadara, and Ain et
Trab. The latter, although some twelve kilometers (seven miles)
east of the Roman town, was connected to it by a man-made furrow.
Gadara comes from
the Semitic word for a stronghold. The town reverted to Um Qais
during the Middle Ages, the name deriving from the ancient Arabic
mkes, meaning a border station.
The Seleucid ruler
Antiochus III overran Pella and besieged Gadara in 218 BC, having
forded the Jordan River. Pompey later overwhelmed the region as he
marched south in 63 BC, emancipating Gadara, as well as Pella and
a host of other towns, from the grip of the Jewish Hasmonean ruler
Alexander Jannaeus.
Following Pompey's
annexation of the city there was a run of Prosperity, with coins
being struck for local use. Soon after , in 30 BC, the town and
its vicinity were awarded to King Herod of Judaea. This was an
unpopular move with the people of Gadara, who protested
vehemently.
When Herod died,
Gadara was absorbed into the Roman province of Syria. Jesus is
alleged to have visited the town. A story, recorded in the New
Testament, tells how he healed two men possessed with devils by
forcing the demonic spirits to enter a herd of pigs, which then
ran into the Sea of Galilee and drowned themselves: 'And when he
was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes,
there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs,
exceedingly fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.' (
Matthew Chapter 8, 28 ).
The city's
Proximity to the hot springs of al Hemma meant that the settlement
was visited by people from across the Roman Empire seeking
refreshment and the therapeutic waters. it seems plausible that
the numerous theaters and community edifices were put up, as
Strabo tells us, because visitors would like to relax in Gadara
after bathing.
The Byzantine era
saw Gadara slip into relative obscurity. Earthquakes destroyed
many buildings and, when the early Islamic era dawned, Gadara was
nothing more than a village once again. It seems extraordinary
that this was once one of the most important of Roman provincial
cities. However, recent discoveries at Um Qais have led to
speculation that the city of Gadara might have been as vast and
prosperous as Jerash, the foremost city of the Decapolis. More
excavations need to be undertaken to glean a greater understanding
of Gadara's curious Past.
Pella
In the warm, well-watered, richly fertile
lands of the north Jordan Valley lie the remains of ancient Pella -
one of Jordan's largest archaeological sites. Pella has been
continuously inhabited for more than six thousand years, and visible
ruins date from Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantium times, when the
city was a flourishing commercial center with links to all the main
trading cities in the eastern Mediterranean area. Earlier remains
include several Bronze Age tombs. Set in some of Jordan's prettiest
countryside, Pella is at its most lovely in the spring when the
valley floors are carpeted with wild flowers.
Pella, and the modern village of Tabqat
Fahl, lie nestled in some of the country's most luxuriant scenery, less than
five kilometers east of the Jordan River. Pella, Decapolis city of the Roman
Empire, is an archaeologist's paradise. The array of fragments left by past
civilizations span the chronicles of history. Pella's remnants provide examples
of man-made artifacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Calcolithic, Bronze,
Iron, Hellenistic, Roman-Byzantine and Islamic Periods.
Some scholars maintain that when
Alexander the Great marched through the site of Pella en route to Egypt, he laid
the city's foundations. But it is more likely that Pella was founded by one of
the Sleucid rulers and burgeoned shortly after Alexander's death in 332 BC.
The two Hellenistic fort, constructed
on the outskirts of Pella emphasize the city's strategic and commercial
importance during the later BC era.
A Roman Odeon to hold 400
spectators was erected during the 1st Century AD on the banks of Wadi Jirm,
which runs through the settlement of Pella. With its pink and yelblocks of
stones it later became part of the temple and forum complex. The shrine,
alongside a stream, was the largest of the temples build at Pella and on its
site a large Byzantine church was constructed. A large number of the remains
visible today come from the Byzantine period, including domestic houses,
churches, shops, barracks, baths and tombs.
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