Archaeological Jarash
Jarash (also Jerash, Classical Gerasa) is one of Jordan’s most famous archaeological and tourist sites, situated some 35 kms north of the capital Amman and visited by thousands of sightseers every year (click here for a map). Founded in the Hellenistic period (332-63 BCE), probably on the site of an earlier Iron Age settlement, the city was transformed in the Roman period (first to third centuries CE) by the construction of an urban grid featuring paved and colonnaded streets and major monuments. Included among these are huge temples, theatres, and open public spaces, especially the famous ‘Oval Piazza’ in front of the Zeus temple. In the Byzantine period Jarash was endowed with many churches, often decorated with brilliantly coloured mosaics. It was placed on roads northwest to Pella (Tabaqat Fahl), northeast to Adraa (Dara’â), and south to Philadelphia (Amman) (map).
At the time of the Islamic expansion into Syria-Palestine (635–640 CE), Jarash conceded to Islamic leaders without any destruction being inflicted on the city. Social and economic life continued unabated, and a large mosque was built in the centre of the city, as recently discovered by this project. The eventual abandonment of west Jarash is not understood, and this is a major research goal of the Islamic Jarash Project.
New Excavations in central Jarash
The area being investigated by the IJP is located to the southwest of the south tetrapylon plaza (Fig. 1). Two long stone-built walls and a corner tower were partially exposed in this area by the Yale/British School/American School mission in the late 1920s. The structure was interpreted as a fortress, probably because of the tower, at the time. Early in 2002 a close inspection of an aerial photograph dating to around 1928, followed by ground inspection in May, identified a sizeable rectangular courtyard building set at an angle to the Roman-period urban grid. Because of this shifted orientation, which would not make any sense if the structure was a fort, and the general plan of the building apparent in the aerial photograph, it was concluded that this could only be the main Umayyad mosque of Jarash. This building has been the focus of our investigations since the summer of 2002, supported by The Faculty of Humanities of the University of Copenhagen, The David Collection and Foundation of Copenhagen, the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and especially Dr Fawwaz al-Khraysheh, and with the logistic backing of the British Institute in Amman (CBRL).
Figure 1: view southwards towards the mosque, southwest of the south tetrapylon (© University of Copenhagen).
Major excavations in the summer of 2002 and 2004, with a smaller season in autumn 2003, have confirmed the presence of a sizable mosque datable to the early Islamic period at Jarash (Fig. 2). The mosque was probably built in the reign of the active Umayyad caliph Hisham b. Abd al-Malik (r. 724–43 CE), under whose reign other towns in the region were renovated, notably Baysan. In plan, the mosque fits comfortably in the Arab (Courtyard) style typical of the first Islamic centuries, in which porticoes surrounded a central open court (sahn). On the side facing the Holy city of Makkah (Mecca – the qiblah) the portico was deeper, thereby creating a hypostyle (columned) hall. At Jarash, the main enclosure wall of the mosque is constructed from stone blocks, many of them reused, and measures ca. 38.9 metres E-W by 44.5 metres N-S. Its dimensions and plan match very closely other mosques attributable to Hisham, especially the congregational mosque at Rusafah, his chosen capital. The tower in the northeast corner is the base of an early type of minaret, the precise function of which is early mosques is still disputed.
For the interesting work on Umayyad Rusafah by Dorothée Sack (Technische Universität Berlin) and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Damascus, please click here.
Jarash (also Jerash, Classical Gerasa) is one of Jordan’s most famous archaeological and tourist sites, situated some 35 kms north of the capital Amman and visited by thousands of sightseers every year (click here for a map). Founded in the Hellenistic period (332-63 BCE), probably on the site of an earlier Iron Age settlement, the city was transformed in the Roman period (first to third centuries CE) by the construction of an urban grid featuring paved and colonnaded streets and major monuments. Included among these are huge temples, theatres, and open public spaces, especially the famous ‘Oval Piazza’ in front of the Zeus temple. In the Byzantine period Jarash was endowed with many churches, often decorated with brilliantly coloured mosaics. It was placed on roads northwest to Pella (Tabaqat Fahl), northeast to Adraa (Dara’â), and south to Philadelphia (Amman) (map).
At the time of the Islamic expansion into Syria-Palestine (635–640 CE), Jarash conceded to Islamic leaders without any destruction being inflicted on the city. Social and economic life continued unabated, and a large mosque was built in the centre of the city, as recently discovered by this project. The eventual abandonment of west Jarash is not understood, and this is a major research goal of the Islamic Jarash Project.
New Excavations in central Jarash
The area being investigated by the IJP is located to the southwest of the south tetrapylon plaza (Fig. 1). Two long stone-built walls and a corner tower were partially exposed in this area by the Yale/British School/American School mission in the late 1920s. The structure was interpreted as a fortress, probably because of the tower, at the time. Early in 2002 a close inspection of an aerial photograph dating to around 1928, followed by ground inspection in May, identified a sizeable rectangular courtyard building set at an angle to the Roman-period urban grid. Because of this shifted orientation, which would not make any sense if the structure was a fort, and the general plan of the building apparent in the aerial photograph, it was concluded that this could only be the main Umayyad mosque of Jarash. This building has been the focus of our investigations since the summer of 2002, supported by The Faculty of Humanities of the University of Copenhagen, The David Collection and Foundation of Copenhagen, the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and especially Dr Fawwaz al-Khraysheh, and with the logistic backing of the British Institute in Amman (CBRL).
Figure 1: view southwards towards the mosque, southwest of the south tetrapylon (© University of Copenhagen).
Major excavations in the summer of 2002 and 2004, with a smaller season in autumn 2003, have confirmed the presence of a sizable mosque datable to the early Islamic period at Jarash (Fig. 2). The mosque was probably built in the reign of the active Umayyad caliph Hisham b. Abd al-Malik (r. 724–43 CE), under whose reign other towns in the region were renovated, notably Baysan. In plan, the mosque fits comfortably in the Arab (Courtyard) style typical of the first Islamic centuries, in which porticoes surrounded a central open court (sahn). On the side facing the Holy city of Makkah (Mecca – the qiblah) the portico was deeper, thereby creating a hypostyle (columned) hall. At Jarash, the main enclosure wall of the mosque is constructed from stone blocks, many of them reused, and measures ca. 38.9 metres E-W by 44.5 metres N-S. Its dimensions and plan match very closely other mosques attributable to Hisham, especially the congregational mosque at Rusafah, his chosen capital. The tower in the northeast corner is the base of an early type of minaret, the precise function of which is early mosques is still disputed.
For the interesting work on Umayyad Rusafah by Dorothée Sack (Technische Universität Berlin) and the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Damascus, please click here.
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