I consider myself lucky enough to have learned Latin in high school. I know that most who give the language a try find it a pain in the butt, but I always found it a walk in the park. At some point I joked I must have Roman blood in my veins, because I was so quick to translate anything.
Although my Latin classes are now far behind me, I still love anything Roman. You can imagine how happy I was in Israel when I saw Roman ruin after Roman ruin. I noticed I still knew 90% of the historical facts I'd once learned, but as I crossed the border into Jordan, I found a major gap in my knowledge: the Romans had been all over this country too and I didn't, couldn't, wouldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. Then, when I did, it was like Christmas had come early.
My Roman adventures started in Jordan's capital Amman, which was known as Philadelphia in Roman times. On a hill in the middle of the sprawling city that is home to millions today, you can find the Citadel. I've got to be honest and say that there is not a whole lot left of the Roman ruins, but the tall columns of the Temple of Hercules are iconic for Amman. Spread out over the top of the hill are other ruins from the city's Persian, Byzantine and Umayyad period, as well as bits and pieces of statues. I was constantly walking away from my tour group to check out a new piece of history. I ended up almost losing the group entirely, as they marched on diligently while I was busy taking pictures of everything and anything on the top of the hill as well as the view. The view of the city is something you don't want to miss. There's street art to be spotted, and a gorgeous theatre from the Roman days right in the middle of all the modern buildings.
Although Amman's Roman roots are a great place to start, Jerash is where the magic happens. I visited the city on my last day in Jordan, after spending time in Petra and Wadi Rum, so I was quite exhausted by the time I walked through the ancient gate. The atmosphere made me forget my exhaustion right away though. I felt like I was in high school again. Back in 2013, I visited Pompeii with my Latin class, but visiting Jerash was even better (probably because it doesn't have a history of a ton of people dying thanks to an exploding volcano).
Pompeii had the 'advantage' of getting buried underneath a big layer of ash and other debris that kept it well-preserved. That was not the case with Jerash. In fact, a lot of it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 8th century. Later on some of the buildings played a role in the crusades and then the place fades out of history to be discovered by some German guy in the 19th century. It was mostly intact then, which it still is to this day. Sure, some buildings have caved in, but its mostly the roofs of places that are gone. The gates are still as beautiful as ever, the theatres are still there, the temples look amazing and the colonnaded street is the most impressive piece of Roman architecture I've seen in ages, for the simple fact that these relatively fragile columns are still standing upright after 2000 years.
I walked through Jerash with my tour guide and the group I'd been traveling with for the past 11 days. I wasn't paying attention to what our tour guide was telling though. I needed half of my brain to focus on the huge cobblestones that made up the pavement, so I wouldn't break my ankles on them. The other half of my brain was busy daydreaming about Roman legions, gladiators and gods. I felt like I wasn't living in my own century anymore. It was almost like I could hear Latin whispers, like I could see people in long tunics and stolas scurry past me in the corner of my eyes. I felt right at home in Jerash.
If I hadn't been completely drained, I could have spent days exploring all the Roman temples and buildings. Sadly my legs felt like they couldn't carry my weight much longer when the tour guide said we could walk around on our own for a while. I stayed at one of the theatres, where the ancient stage was now used for some event celebrating the Jordanian royal family. For some reason, there was also a Jordanian man playing the bagpipe. He was playing it badly, but enthusiastically, and I couldn't help but smile. After my visit to Petra, it was difficult to impress me, but I loved Jerash. In an ideal scenario, I would have visited this place before moving on to Petra, which is hard to top. But as I'd booked an organized trip through Israel and Jordan, that decision was out of my hands. Still, Jerash was a perfect place to end my adventures in the Middle East. It was calm, quiet and impressive. My inner Latin student hadn't been this happy in years and as I left the gates of Jerash behind, I felt like I'd found a long-lost piece of myself back.
x Envy
