English: A colonnaded street which lead to the town wall. Jerash, Jordan

Jerash, 48 kilometers from of Amman is considered one of the largest and most well-preserved Roman sites in the world outside Italy. Archaeologists have found the ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age, indicating human occupation at this location for more than 6500 years.

It was not until the days of Alexander the Great that Jerash truly began to prosper. After falling under the rule of the Seleucid King Antioch in the second century BC, Jerash was conquered by the Roman Emperor Pompey in 63 BC. It was during the period of Roman rule that Jerash, then known as Gerasa, enjoyed its golden age.

The Crusaders described Jerash as uninhabited, and it remained abandoned until its rediscovery in 1806, when Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, a German traveler, came across and recognized a small part of the ruins. The ancient city was buried in sand, which accounts for its remarkable preservation.