Jordan's history goes back to the Neolithic era and it has many striking ancient ruins to remind us of this history. It also has some very famous sites.
Uum Qays (Gadara)
Also a member of the Decapolis, Uum Quays was an important centre of learning and home to many poets and philosophers. One of the more important philosophers who lived here was Theodorus who founded an important school of rhetoric in Rome. Uum Qays has a wonderful hilltop setting overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee. It has a colonnaded terrace and the ruins of two theatres. The best thing about this site, however, is its splendid view of three countries.
Al-Himma
This town, located about 10 km north of the city, was the spa for Uum Qays. The Romans built a very large bath complex to take advantage of its therapeutic hot springs. People still use these baths today.
Irbid Decapolis
Another member of the Decapolis, modern Irbid is the second largest city in Jordan, and the home of an important university. It controls access to the northern Jordan Valley and to Syria.
Jerash (Jarash)
This very old city, located at a well watered site in the hills of Gilead, dates from Neolithic times. It reached its peak in the Roman era when it became a large and prosperous town that must have rivaled Ephesus or Antioch in size and prosperity. Jerash was an important city of the Decapolis, a commercial league of ten Greco-Roman cities in the middle east.
Highlights of this site are the amazing street of columns running a full 600 meters from the Oval Plaza. Jarash also has an imposing hippodrome . This hippodrome is home to a wonderful show put on by athletes in Roman costume and visitors will experience and understand a chariot race --easily one of the most popular of sporting extravaganzas--all over the Roman Empire. Jerash is one of the finest examples of a Roman City extant and well worth a visit.
Petra
The most famous of Jordan's ancient cities is, of course, Petra a site on most people's travel must do lists. Petra does not disappoint. Petra was built by the Nabateans, an industrious Arab people who settled in the south of Jordan more than two thousand years ago. The Nabateans controlled all the trade routes of Ancient Arabia levying tolls and protecting caravans laden with all the treasures of the east--silks from China, spices from India, and ivory from Africa. The kingdom of the Nabatea became very rich and its capital Petra became famous for its refined culture, its unique and massive architecture, and its ingenious system of dams and irrigation channels--for both agriculture and habitation.
The kingdom came to an end when Trajan annexed it and took control of those trade routes for Rome. By the sixteenth century, the city had faded from the consciousness of the west, and, for 300 years it was lost. In 1812, however, a Swiss traveler named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt discovered the fascinating canyon that protected the city and Petra reemerged as one of the great cities of the ancient world.
Today, access to Petra is carefully controlled, which lets visitors marvel at the beauty and ingenuity of the city which has often been described as soul-stirring. On our tours, we make sure people have an opportunity to visit Petra more than once. To return to Petra later for leisure and to further explore it adds to the magic of the travel experience.
