Gerasa was an ancient city about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the present-day city of Amman in the Arab kingdom of Jordan in the Middle East. The remains of Gerasa are part of the present-day city of Jarash (also spelled Jerash), Jordan.
Various legends tell that the Macedonian king Alexander the Great established Gerasa in the 300’s B.C. But a Roman inscription at the site suggests that Alexander’s general Perdiccas was the founder. Another inscription identifies Macedonians among Gerasa’s early inhabitants.
The city was named Antioch-on-the-Chrysorhoas under the Seleucid King Antiochus III (ruled 223-187 B.C.) or Antiochus IV (ruled 175-164 B.C.). Chrysorhoas was the name of the river running through the city. The Seleucids were Macedonian kings who ruled in southwest Asia. During the Seleucid period, Gerasa and several nearby cities grew into centers of Greek culture. The Romans later called this group of cities the Decapolis, meaning ten cities. The Jewish Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus (ruled 103-76 B.C.) took control of Gerasa near the end of his reign.
Gerasa came under Roman control after 64 B.C., when the Roman general Pompey established the Roman province of Syria to the north. However, the city remained largely self-governing. It eventually was absorbed into the Roman province of Arabia, formed in A.D. 106. Gerasa flourished under Roman rule. In the first 100 years A.D., the Temple of Zeus was renovated and a rectangular street plan was established. A large oval forum (plaza) and a theater also were built. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a synagogue from the 300’s or 400’s, indicating that Gerasa had a Jewish population during the Roman period.
In the A.D. 100’s, Gerasa prospered because of its location along a Roman highway that extended from Aqaba, Jordan, to Damascus , Syria . During this period, additions to the city included a Temple of Artemis , a hippodrome (sporting arena), another theater, eastern and western baths, a triumphal arch, colonnades (rows of columns), and a nymphaeum (sacred monument to nature goddesses) in the form of a fountain.
Gerasa suffered during an economic crisis of the Roman Empire in the 200’s, and fewer new projects were constructed. During the 400’s and 500’s, many Christian churches were built in the city. Persians occupied Gerasa in 614, and Muslim Arabs conquered the city in 635. Several earthquakes in the 700’s contributed to Gerasa’s decline. According to the historian William of Tyre (1130?-1186?), the site was uninhabited by 1122. Today, the well-preserved ruins of Gerasa are a major tourist destination.
