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)
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.
Umm Qais's charm still lingers today. A large portion of the western Roman Theater
has survived history's upheavals. Vaulted passageway supports its rows
of seats, built of hard basalt stones. A row of elaborately carved seats
for dignitaries stand near the orchestra, and in the center was a large
headless white marble statue of Tyche, goddess of fortune and of the city, now displayed at the local museum.
Across
from the theater is the main colonnaded street (cardo), which was in
all likelihood the town's commercial center. Also, near the black basalt
theater is the Terrace, which hosts a courtyard, a church and a
basilica. Further west of the Terrace and along the east-west colonnaded
street (decumanus), ruins of the Nymphaeum, a bath complex and a
well-preserved Roman Mausoleum can be seen. After a few hundred meters
one can barely make out remains of what was once a Hippodrome.
