Archeological Tour of Umm Qais

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Weekend Notes | October 30, 2022

https://www.weekendnotes.com/umm-qais-northwestern-jordan/

Gadara, Jordan, an ancient city of poets, writers, and philosophers, was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 A.D. Founded in the early 3rd century B.C. by the Hellenistic Dynasty of the Ptolemies and the Wadi al-Arab, this city 350 meters above sea level on a plateau overlooking the Jordan and Yarmouk Valleys provides both education and entertainment. The best way to learn about both is to hire a local guide.

Like many cities in Jordan, Gadara was captured by the Hasmonean King Alexander Janneus at the beginning of the 1st century BC. It belonged to the Roman province of Syria and, positioned on a major trade route, flourished through both the Roman and Byzantine Empires before the Umayyad period began (661-750 AD).

In 1806, Ancient Gadara was rediscovered. In the late 1800s, the former Acropolis was resettled, using the existing basalt and limestone blocks to form their new homes. The Jordanian Department of Antiquities has been excavating and reconstructing since the 1930s. Excavations continued with the aid of the German Protestant Institute of Archeology in 1965 and unearthed so much of the city that the Department of Antiquities took over in 1974.

Just two hours north of Amman, if you’re staying in Jordan for more than five days, the Decapolis City of Gadara – Umm Qais, one of ten cities critical to the caravans that crossed this arid region is worth a visit. The remaining archeological site is an excellent introduction to the country for first-time visitors. If your stay is shorter than five days, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to visit it as you’re likely to focus on the top four Jordanian tourist sites: Petra, Jerash, Mount Nebo, and the Dead Sea. You’ll be well served to plan to stay at least a week in Jordan, even better if you can stay two.

In addition to bragging rights for walking part of the Jordan Trail, visiting Gadara provides your first view of the Promised Land, including Israel, the Golan Heights, and Syria. It’s an unexpected and moving experience to see countries still ravaged by war that appear so peaceful from the distance. It’s also an introduction to how Jordan peacefully co-exists with the actors around them. But first, Umm Qais.

As Wadi Musa is better known by its archeological site, Petra, Umm Qais is better known by its archeological site, Gadara.

Have you ever been to a place and wondered if there were words adequate to explain it? That’s how I feel about the Decapolis City of Gadara. Even with a few weeks to review, digest, and consider the event, the people we met, those available to you as well, make it a premiere event.

How to describe Gadara- Umm Qais? It’s a community, a way of thinking, both about history and the future. From the northern border, you’re able to see Syria, Golan Heights, and the Sea of Galilee, all things I would never have expected to witness with the political climate in Syria. It was profoundly moving. We were sad we couldn’t dip our feet in the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus called his fishers of men, the lowest fresh-water body of water on earth at about 200 meters below sea level. Here, it’s called Lake Tiberius.

Walking through the Acropolis in Gadara, we’re filled with awe at the heights of the walls and the arches, the columns, and the acoustical power in the Roman Theater, whose back wall is now missing so you can see the exceptional view of the west. In addition to the city of Gadara, travelers have excellent opportunities to meet with locals and participate in season-dependent experiences, from olive picking to beekeeping to stonemasonry to lunch with a woman’s collective that helps ease the lives of others. But first, let’s meet our guide.

Our guide, Ahmad Alomari, 962 772 42 67 68, has built an AirBnB type apartment on his olive farm. He’ll build more to allow visitors to experience olive picking and living local, promoting sustainable tourism to improve the quality of life of local people using the principles and tools of sustainable development as defined in the global agenda for sustainability.

Ahmad has an intimate understanding of the region. He grew up right here, played futbol and attended school on the sites that he now shows travelers. His ancestors were farmers, growing okra, chickpeas, lentils, and watermelon. They’d eat these items, with chicken products and cow’s milk as their daily diet, no supermarket needed. With so many farmers losing their lands, the rare one that keeps it needs to find new ways to be profitable as a 200,000 JD farm may produce only 1,000 JD revenue annually. For perspective, a subsistence-level lifestyle here requires a minimum 1500 JD monthly (3300 AUS). Ahmad, who just inherited the remainder of the family farm when his father died 2 years ago, builds his own eco-tourism program.

Ahmad can arrange your lunch with Qalsoum Al Sayyah and other artisans he builds relationships with. He remains an exceptional resource for those who wish to know and understand this community. He can also arrange for you to hike and camp on the Jordan Trail.

Ahmad explains our itinerary on the way up the hill and around the corner from the entrance, happy to hear what we know and what we wanted to know. The idea behind the Decapolis Cities was to enable trade exchange. The Decapolis, established as an alliance, a trade union, by Roman General Pompey in 64 BC, included the ten most important cities of the Levant Region within modern-day Jordan, Syria, and Palestine.

He told us we’d start at the temple, then to the church, and over by the water tunnels. You’ll stop at the fountains, the baths, the Roman Theater, and then the Cardo to reach the beginning of the Jordan Trail, which you’ll walk just a little on the area considered flatter than most to take photos of Gadara from a distance before you return to your coach.

You’ll learn about the importance of the structure of the house on economic system. The landowners dealt with land management, farming, food distribution and wage earnings. This made the house a consumable unit, where the Gadarans found the roles of production and consumption truly began at home.

Here, it’s called Malkawi. With wide terraced houses, paved in stone, outhouses included barns for animals, stables for horses, Tabun for baking bread, and Khom for keeping chickens.