Nestled south of the Yarmouk nature reserve in the northernmost part of Jordan lies the remains of the ancient city of Gadara, modern day Umm Qais. Not only is the location of the ancient site breathtaking as it overlooks the valley but the mix of dark basalt and limestone in the building materials makes the ancient city a sight you are sure to remember. Umm Qais has a long history, in the 4th century BCE it was a settlement with a Semitic name - gdr. However, as time went on the “a”’s were added to the name, changing it into Gadara, suggesting Greek presence. However, around the 9th century CE the name Gadara disappeared from written records and during the 13th century we see the Arabic Mukais, from which the modern day name Umm Qais came. In official Ottoman written records from the 15th-16th century the name Mkeis appears a number of times, which is still used occasionally for the modern place.
The Byzantine monk and historian Georgios Synkellos (8th C. CE) indicates in his work “the World Chronicles'' that the Macedonian troops invaded the area around Gadara after the battle of Issos in 333 BCE, and started a military colony on a strategically favorable outcrop. After the Macedonians made their mark on the site the Ptolemies and Seleucids ruled the area briefly (301-98 BCE). After a back and forth of who was in control of the area, the Seleucid Empire took over Gadara, which at the time was a fortress on the border of Ptolemaic and Seleucid territory. According to the earliest written source of Gadara by the 2nd century historian Polybios the inhabitants were so scared by the attack that they surrendered. It wasn’t until the Seleucids defeated the Ptolemies in the battle of Panium (200 BCE) that they could enjoy a longer lasting command over Gadara.
The strength of the Selecuid Empire weakened after the defeat in the Roman-Syrian war (192-188 BCE), and local powers strengthened; the Jewish Hasmoneans, the Syrian Ituraeans and the Arab Nabataeans. The archaeological findings tell a story about growing prosperity and increased exchange with the Greek world.
The Hasmoneans and Nabateans raged war against each other for a few decades until Hasmodeans finally seized power. However, the city was liberated by the Romans under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BCE), who recognised the autonomy of the Hellenized cities, which would go on and form a community known as Decapolis, to which Gadara belonged. Pompeius re-built Gadara, which had been destroyed by the Hasmoneans prior to the liberation. This is however something that can be quite hard to prove archeologically - but there is evidence of rebuilding and repairs.
Gadara, and the neighboring towns Adra’a and Abila, which belonged to the Decapolis as well, built a 170 km long water pipeline during several phases from 90 -210 CE. over 106 km of the pipe was through a tunnel system and it is still the longest tunnel and the most important achievements of the ancient world.
During the Byzantine period (330 - 1453 CE) Gadara became a center for pilgrimages after Jesus exorcized demons, as described by Matthew. It was during this period a number of grand buildings were built such as a complex consisting of an atrium, central building, and a three-aisled basilica on the western terrace of the city. The Byzantine Emperor Herakleios was defeated by the Muslim Arabs in the Battle of Yarmuk (636 CE), and with that defeat the muslim era started. Gadara saw a general decline during the 7th and 8th centuries CE, and the large urban community was reduced to a small rural settlement at various places in the ancient city. Written taxation documents tell us that the city was inhabited in the 16th century. However, it wasn’t until the late 19th century that new villages emerged on top of the Acropolis, which is now regarded as the nucleus of the modern town of Umm Qais.
When the theater was excavated in the 1960’s a great statue of the Roman goddess of chance, Fortuna (Greek Tyche), was found and can now be seen at the Umm Qais Antiquity Museum.
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