Editing Jerash (section)

{{Short description | City in Jerash Governorate, Jordan }}
{{redirect|Gerasa|the ancient city in Judaea|Gerasa (Judaea)}}
{{Distinguish|Jarash, Jerusalem}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name       = Jerash
|native_name         = {{lang|ar|جرش}}
|other_name          = Gerasa
|settlement_type     = City
|image_skyline       = Oval Plaza (Forum Romanum, Gerasa - Jerash, Jordan) - ساحة الندوة, جرش.jpg
|imagesize           = 300px
|image_caption       = The [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]] city of Gerasa and the modern Jerash in the background.
|image_flag =
|flag_size =
|image_seal =
|seal_size =
|nickname            = {{unbulleted list|Pompeii of the East|The city of 1000 columns}}
|pushpin_map         = Jordan
|pushpin_label_position =
|coordinates         = {{coord|32|16|50|N|35|53|50|E|region:JO|display=title,inline}}
|grid_position       =  234/187
|subdivision_type    = Country
|subdivision_name    = {{flag|Jordan}}
|subdivision_type1   = [[Governorates of Jordan|Governorate]]
|subdivision_name1   = [[Jerash Governorate]]
|established_title   = Founded <!-- Settled -->
|established_date    = 7500 – 5500&nbsp;BC
|established_title1  = Municipality established <!-- Settled -->
|established_date1   = 1910
|government_footnotes =
|government_type     = Municipality
|leader_title        = Mayor
|leader_name = 
|leader_title1       =  <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager -->
|leader_name1 =
|area_metro_km2 =
|area_metro_sq_mi =
|elevation_m         = 600
|elevation_ft        = 1968
|population_total    = city (50745), Municipality (237,000 est)
|population_as_of    = 2015
|population_footnotes =<ref name="city population" />
|population_metro =
|area_code           = +(962)2
|website             = {{website|http://www.jerash.gov.jo}}
|<!-- Politics -look who it is gonna have s gresatdkfidhfdjhfdfhdifhdskfnlfflskd---------------->
|timezone            = [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]] +2
|utc_offset =
|timezone_DST        = +3
}}

'''Jerash''' ({{langx|ar|جرش|Ǧaraš}}; {{langx|grc|Γέρασα|label=[[Greek language|Greek]]|Gérasa}}, {{IPA|grc-x-attic|ɡérasa|link=yes}}, {{IPA|grc-x-koine|ˈɡerasa|link=yes}}) is a city in northern [[Jordan]]. The city is the administrative center of the [[Jerash Governorate]], and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles north of the capital city [[Amman]].

The earliest evidence of settlement in Jerash is in a Neolithic site known as Tal Abu Sowan, where rare human remains dating to around 7500 BC were uncovered.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Jordan|last=Bell|first=Brian|publisher=APA Publications (HK) Limited|year=1994|pages=184|oclc = 30858851}}</ref> Jerash flourished during the Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, when it was known as Gerasa. It was one of the cities of the Hellenistic cities of the [[Decapolis]].<ref name="CA">''The New Century Classical Handbook''; Catherine Avery, editor; Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1962, p.  495: "'''Gerasa'''... (Modern name: '''Jerash'''.) In ancient geography, a city of the Decapolis, in Palestine, about 56 miles NE of Jerusalem... The forum, which is oval and 300 feet long, is surrounded by a range of Ionic columns... A theater has 28 tiers of seats still remaining above ground... A smaller theater on the same site is equally perfect and interesting. Gerasa was important in the early Christian period, and the early churches, incorporated in pagan temples and other structures, are important for understanding the development of church architecture and the history of the early church."</ref> It was an important city in early Christian times and its early churches, some of which were formerly temples, include notable examples of the evolution of church architecture.<ref name="CA"/> In the mid-eighth century the [[749 Galilee earthquake]] destroyed large parts of it, and subsequent earthquakes contributed to additional destruction.

In 1120, [[Toghtekin|Zahir ad-Din Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus]] ordered a garrison of forty men to build up a fort in an unknown site of the ruins of the ancient city, likely the highest spot of the city walls in the north-eastern hills. It was captured in 1121 by [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem|Baldwin II]], [[King of Jerusalem]], and utterly destroyed.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran|last=Boulanger|first=Robert|date=1965|publisher=Hachette|location=Paris|pages=541, 542|language=en|oclc = 1601668}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A wargamers' guide to the Crusades.|last=Heath|first=Ian|date=1980|pages=133|language=en|oclc = 641902238}}</ref> The Crusaders immediately abandoned Jerash and withdrew to [[Sakib]] (Seecip); the eastern border of the settlement.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Brooker|first1=Colin H.|last2=Knauf|first2=Ernst Axel|date=1988|title=Review of Crusader Institutions|jstor=27931345|journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins|volume=104|pages=184–188}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Studies in the archaeology of the medieval Mediterranean|last=Schryver|first=James G|date=2010|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004181755|location=Leiden [Netherlands]; Boston|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5omIAAonBF0C&q=Jerash%2FGerasa+conquered+1121+immediately+abandoned&pg=PA86 86]|language=en|oclc = 643081873}}</ref>

Jerash was then deserted and reappeared in the historical record at the beginning of Ottoman rule in the area during the early 16th century. In the census of 1596, it had a population of 12 [[Muslim]] households.<ref name=HA164/> However, archaeologists found a small [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk]] hamlet in the Northwest Quarter<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://jordantimes.com/news/local/archaeologists-studying-post-quake-gap-jerash-history|title=Archaeologists studying a post-quake gap in Jerash history|date=7 April 2016|work=Jordan Times|access-date=2017-06-07}}</ref> which indicates that Jerash was resettled before the Ottoman era. The excavations conducted since 2011 have shed light on the Middle Islamic period as recent discoveries have uncovered a large concentration of Middle Islamic/Mamluk structures and pottery.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Peterson|first=Alex|title=Medieval Pottery from Jerash: The Middle Islamic Settlement|url=https://www.academia.edu/31628412|journal=Gerasa/Jerash: From the Urban Periphery|date=February 2017 |language=en}}</ref> The ancient city has been gradually revealed through a series of excavations since 1925.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/tourism3.html#Jerash|title=Touristic Sites – Jerash|website=www.kinghussein.gov.jo}}</ref>

Jerash today is home to one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities, which earned it the nickname "[[Pompeii]] of the Middle East".<ref>{{Citation |title=Pompeii of the Middle East: Roman Jerash |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVc8s18dPUw |access-date=2023-09-06 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/exploring-petra-and-other-archaeological-wonders-of-jordan/ |title=Exploring Petra and other archaeological wonders of Jordan |work=The Seattle Times |date=16 February 2018 |last=Meyer |first=Norma |access-date=13 August 2022}}</ref><!--also mentioned in much older sources--> Approximately 330,000 visitors arrived in Jerash in 2018, making it one of the most visited sites in Jordan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mota.gov.jo/Contents/statistics_2018.aspx|title=Statistics|work=mota|access-date=5 November 2019|date=1 January 2018}}</ref> The city hosts the [[Jerash Festival]], one of the leading cultural events in the Middle East that attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jordantimes.com/news/local/32nd-jerash-festival-begins|title=32nd Jerash festival begins|work=The Jordan Times|access-date=4 November 2019|date=21 July 2017}}</ref>