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umm qais
jordan tours - route map
Umm Qais, situated 110 km north of Amman on a broad promontory 378 meters above
sea level with a magnificent view over the Yarmouk River, the Golan Heights, and
Lake Tiberias, this town was known as Gadara, one of the most brilliant ancient
Greco-Roman cities of the Decapolis; and according to the Bible, the spot where
Jesus (pbuh) cast out the Devil from two demoniacs (mad men) into a herd of pigs
(Mathew 8:28-34). In ancient times, Gadara was strategically situated, laced by
a number of key trading routes connecting Syria and Palestine. It was blessed
with fertile soil and abundant rainwater. This town also flourished
intellectually in the reign of Augustus and became distinguished for its
cosmopolitan atmosphere, university scholars, attracting writers, artists,
philosophers and poets, the likes of satirist Menippos (2nd half of the 3rd
century BC), the epigrammist Meleagros, and the rhetorician Theodoros (14-37
AD). Gadara was also the resort of choice for Romans vacationing in the nearby
Himmet Gader Springs.Archaeological surveys indicate that Gadara was occupied as
early as the 7th century BC. The Greek historian, Polybius, described the region
as being under Ptolemaic control at the time. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus III
conquered it in 218 BC, naming the city Antiochia and Seleucia. In 63 BC, Pompey
liberated Gadara and joined it to the Roman league of ten cities, the Decapolis.
Soon after, the fortunes of Gadara improved rapidly and building was undertaken
on a large scale, carried out for the love of Pompey's freed man Demetrius, who
had been born there.
During these early years of Roman rule, the Nabataeans (with their capital in Petra), controlled the trade routes as far north as Damascus. Unhappy with the competition, Mark Anthony dispatched King Herod the Great to weaken the Nabataeans, who finally gave up their northern interest in 31 BC. In appreciation for his efforts, Rome rewarded Herod with Gadara. The city reached its peak of prosperity in the 2nd century AD. New colonnaded streets, temples, theaters and baths sprouted. Meleagros compared Gadara with Athens, which testifies to the city's status as a creative center of Hellenism in the ancient Near East.