Who's ready for a history lesson?

If you didn't already know this about me, I love history.  I read history books in my spare time.  For fun.  Crazy right?  Whatever.  You do you, Booboo, I'mma do me.  So yesterday we had a free day, and our program director mentioned that we could take a bus ride about an hour away if we wanted to visit Jerash.  Jerash is home to one of the best preserved sites of an ancient Roman city in the world.  And I was all like, "Uh-huh-shyeah!"  So a good-sized group of us went to check it out.  I.  Loved.  It. Here's a small sampling of the day's adventures.

It's kinda hard to see but that's me front and center.  Wearing my scarf.  Like a boss.  This was part of the south gate to the ancient city.  It was a lot more impressive than the north gate.  

So check this out.  This triumphal arch was built to celebrate the visit to Jerash of the Roman emperor Hadrian around AD 130.  It used to be twice as big, but earthquakes have reduced it to its present size (it's still stinkin' huge).

 Jerash in ancient times was called Gerasa.  The first sizeable city was built in the 300s BC by Alexander the Great, who settled it with aged Macedonian soldiers.  The name Gerasa comes from the Greek word for old people (like in geriatrics).  Cool, huh?

Yes, it was crazy hot out there.  But a man and his scarf face all obstacles together.  There were two ancient amphitheaters in Jerash.  This one was the larger of the two that was used for performances.  The smaller one was primarily used for government meetings.  There's a spot right in the center of the floor where the acoustics are unbelievable.  If you face towards the seats and speak one step to the side of the absolute center, you won't notice anything special.  Take that one step over to the exact center and it sounds like you're speaking into a microphone.  It's seriously amazing.  Way to go, ancients.  You are smarter than me.






More adventures to come!