Umm Qais

About this place

The Roman city of Gadara in Jordan's far north-west, standing on the lip of a plateau that overlooks three countries in a single view. That view is the reason to come, before the ruins themselves: from the edge you see the whole Sea of Galilee below, the Golan Heights opposite, Mount Hermon with its snow on the horizon when the air is clear, and the Yarmouk valley separating you from Syria. Nowhere else in Jordan gathers all of this. Gadara was a city of the Decapolis like Jerash, known for its poets and philosophers — Meleager the poet, Menippus the satirist — enough to be called the Athens of the East in its day. What survives: two theatres built of black basalt rather than limestone, which is what visually distinguishes Umm Qais from Jerash entirely — the stone here is dark volcanic rock. Also a colonnaded street, the remains of a Byzantine church, and cut tombs. Above the ruins stands an abandoned Ottoman village with its houses still standing, lived in by farmers into the twentieth century and then cleared, with an old school, a guesthouse and a restaurant looking out over the view. The site is far quieter than Jerash and much less visited, which counts in its favour. It is usually combined with Jerash and Ajloun on a northern route, or with Umm al-Jimal; it lies about two hours from Amman.