
We were up fairly early this morning and off for a visit to the extensive and impressive ruins of Jerash, which was known anciently as Gerasa (or Γέρασα). Although the site seems to have been inhabited from prehistoric times, the city as we know it was founded by Alexander the Great, apparently as a kind of retirement community for his aging Macedonian soldiers. (The word γῆρας or gēras means “old age” in ancient Greek.) Think of St. George, or Del Webb’s Sun City, or “The Villages (America’s Friendliest Hometown).”
Jerash/Gerasa became an important regional metropolis under the Romans, as shown (for example) in its Nymphaeum, its triumphal arch dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian, and its various temples.

After lunch, we headed out on a long journey southwards, stopping first at the twelfth-century Crusader castle of al-Shawbak in the ancient land of Edom .

Finally, we dropped in for a visit to the area known “Little Petra,” a Nabatean Arab site that, like its famous nearby namesake, probably reached its highpoint in the first century AD:

I’m tired. Jet-lag is a beast. And it’s been a long day, and tomorrow will be longer still.
Posted from Petra, Jordan