"Jerash - "Pompeii of the East"" a Jarash Travel Page by PeteG

The Cardo Maximus runs from the Oval Plaza up to the North Gate. It is a stunning road lined with hundreds of beautifully preserved columns.

The great thing about this road is the great detail you can see with every footstep. The road itself is vaulted with the original "man hole" covers to the sewage area beneath still intact. You can see the carvings on the columns of the names of the owners of the shops that would have been situated behind them, along with the raised pavements and still paved road complete with chariot wheel grooves.

There is so much to see in Jerash but yet even more still buried under the sand still to be uncovered.

This is a stunning huge plaza surrounded by 1st Century Iconic columns. It is still used today for an annual music festival and it must be an absolutely beautiful setting for a concert.

The South Theatre is another almost entirely complete beautifully constructed building. It holds 3,000 people all with a great view and with brilliant accoustics. The general rules is that Romans built their theatres to be able to hold 10% of the population of the town, and so going by that it is estimated that Jerash was once home to 30,000 people.

One thing that may surprise you when you visit, is that the Jordanians love the traditional Scots musical instrument of the bagpipes! It is now the offical instrument of the army and is also played at weddings. The Jordanian Pipe Band play in the south theatre and it is a sight to see.