Umm Qais or Qays ( ar, أم قيس , , Mother of Qais) is a town in northern
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
principally known for its proximity to the ruins of the ancient
Gadara
Gadara ( el, Γάδαρα ''Gádara''), in some texts Gedaris, was an ancient Hellenistic city, for a long time member of the Decapolis city league, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see.
Its ruins are today located at Umm Qa ...
. It is the largest city in the
Bani Kinanah Department
Bani Kinanah Department ( ar, لواء بني كنانة) is one of the nine departments that constitute the Irbid Governorate of Jordan.
It has a population of over 100,000. Its administrative center is in Sama al-Rousan.
There are five municip ...
and
Irbid Governorate
Irbid or Irbed ( ar, إربد) is a governorate in Jordan, located north of Amman, the country's capital. The capital of the governorate is the city of Irbid. The governorate has the second largest population in Jordan after Amman Governorate, an ...
in the extreme northwest of the country, near Jordan's borders with
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. Today, the site is divided into three main areas: the archaeological site (Gadara), the traditional village (Umm Qais), and the modern town of Umm Qais.
Location
Umm Qais is located 28 km north of
Irbid
Irbid ( ar, إِربِد), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in ...
and 120 km north of
Amman
Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...
. It expanded from the ruins of ancient Gadara, which are located on a ridge above sea level, overlooking the
Sea of Tiberias
The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest f ...
, the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
, and the
Yarmouk River
The Yarmuk River ( ar, نهر اليرموك, translit=Nahr al-Yarmūk, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; la, Hieromyces or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk), is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel ...
gorge. Strategically central and located close to multiple water sources, Umm Qais has historically attracted a high level of interest.
History
Antiquity
Gadara was a centre of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
culture in the region during the
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
periods.
The oldest archaeological evidence at Umm Qais, extends back to the second half of the third century BC. and the site appears to have been founded as a military colony by Alexander the Great's Macedonian Greeks. However, the site's name "Gadara" is not Greek in origin, but rather a Greek version of a local Semitic name meaning "fortifications" or "the fortified city" suggesting the military colony was founded on a pre-existing fortified site.
Located on the boundary between Seleucid and Ptolemaic territory, the city was strategically important and was repeatedly the focus of military conquests throughout the succession of
Syrian Wars
The Syrian Wars were a series of six wars between the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, successor states to Alexander the Great's empire, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC over the region then called Coele-Syria, one of th ...
between 274 - 188 BCE. The city's military importance during this period was noted by the Greek historian
Polybius
Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail.
Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...
' describing it in 218 BCE as a fortress and "the strongest of all places in the region".
The
Roman-Seleucid War (192 - 188BCE) weakened Seleucid control over the region devolving autonomy in Palestine and trans-Jordan to the
Hasmonean,
Iturean
Iturea ( grc, Ἰτουραία, ''Itouraía'') is the Greek name of a Levantine region north of Galilee during the Late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. It extended from Mount Lebanon across the plain of Marsyas to the Anti-Lebanon Mount ...
and
Nabatean
The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Lev ...
kingdoms whose rivalries continued to make Gadara a strategically important city and the focus of continued conflict.
In 98 BCE the Hasmonean King
Alexander Jannaeus
Alexander Jannaeus ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξανδρος Ἰανναῖος ; he, ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE. A son of John Hyrcanus, h ...
subjected the city to a 10 month siege, wresting control of the city and the trade routes to the ports of the Eastern Mediterranean that passed through it from the Nabateans. The Nabatean response culminated in Nabatean King Obdas 1st' decisive victory over Jannaeus at the
Battle of Gadara
Battle of Gadara was fought between the Judaean Hasmoneans and the Arab Nabataeans around 93 BC in Gadara in modern-day Jordan.
The battle came after the Nabataeans felt threatened by the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus's territorial acquisiti ...
in 93 BCE.
In 63
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
, Roman general
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
conquered the region, Gadara was rebuilt and became a member of the semi-autonomous Roman
Decapolis
The Decapolis (Greek: grc, Δεκάπολις, Dekápolis, Ten Cities, label=none) was a group of ten Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BCE and CE. They formed a group b ...
.
[.] 33 years later
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
attached it to the Jewish kingdom of his ally,
Herod. After King Herod's death in 4 BCE, Gadara became part of the Roman province of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.
To supply larger populations Gadara, and the neighbouring
Decapolis
The Decapolis (Greek: grc, Δεκάπολις, Dekápolis, Ten Cities, label=none) was a group of ten Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BCE and CE. They formed a group b ...
cities of
Adraa
Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jordan ...
(Dera'a, Syria) and
Abila (Qweilbeh, Jordan) undertook construction of a water supply system of 170 km of aqueduct tunnels connecting the cities to springs throughout southern Syria and an artificially constructed lake at Dille. Constructed between 90 - 210 CE the network of rock cut tunnels included 2,900 access shafts, and a single 106km section represents one of the most significant hydro-engineering accomplishments of the ancient world.
During the
Severan
The Severan dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235, during the Roman imperial period. The dynasty was founded by the emperor Septimius Severus (), who rose to power after the Year of the Five Empero ...
period (193 – 235CE) the city underwent a rapid expansion westwards and many of the large civic monuments still visible on the site today date to this period and attest to an increase in importance and prosperity.
After the Christianisation of the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, Gadara retained its important regional status and became for many years the seat of a Christian
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
.
Early Islamic period
The
Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, ...
in 636 CE a short distance from Gadara, brought the entire region under Arab-Muslim rule.
On 18th January 749 CE much of the city was destroyed by the
Galilee earthquake. Whilst the city was extensively damaged, archaeological evidence of limited reconstruction, including conversion of the large five aisle basilica church into a mosque indicates the continued settlement of the site at least into the 11th Century.
By the 13th Century the site is noted in historic sources under the new name of "Mukais" a local term meaning border place or customs house and from which the modern name of Umm Qais gradual derived.
Ottoman period
In 1596 it appeared in the
Ottoman tax registers named as ''Mkeis'', situated in the ''
nahiya
A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' (subdistrict) of Bani Kinana, part of the
Sanjak of Hawran
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian: окръг ('' okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province") ...
. It had 21 households and 15 bachelors; all
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, in addition to 3
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
households. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products; including wheat, barley, summer crops, fruit trees, goats and bee-hives. The total tax was 8,500
akçe
The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...
.
In 1806
Ulrich Jasper Seetzen
Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (30 January 1767September 1811) was a German explorer of Arabia and Palestine from Jever, German Frisia. An alternative spelling of his name, Ulrich Iospar Sentzen, is sometimes seen in scientific publications.
Early life
H ...
visited Umm Qais and identified it as the location of ancient Gadara, describing the Ottoman settlement and the tombs and other monuments still visible on the surface. The ancient ruins at ''Um Keis'' were recorded again by western visitors in 1816 and 1838. By 1899 Schumacher, visiting the site as part of his survey work for the
Hijaz railway records the village had expanded significantly with the construction of larger houses, noting also that many of the tombs recorded by early visitors were no longer present.
Umm Qais's most impressive building, the Ottoman governor's residence known as Beit Rousan, "Rousan House", dates to this period of expansion in the Late
Ottoman period.
Modern period
In 1920 the Madafa and
Hosh
Hosh may refer to several places:
*Hosh Bannaga, a town in Sudan
* Hosh Essa, a city in Egypt
* Hosh, Perth and Kinross, a place in Perth and Kinross, Scotland
* Hush, Lorestan, a village in Iran
It may also refer to:
*Hosh (architecture)
See a ...
(courtyard) of Hajj Mahmoud al Rousan's house in Umm Qais hosted a conference of Arab leaders from across the middle east to draw up a treaty in response to the British and French plan to divide the region following the end of the British and French Mandates.
The village's school was opened in 1922 by HRH King
Abdullah I of Jordan
AbdullahI bin Al-Hussein ( ar, عبد الله الأول بن الحسين, translit=Abd Allāh al-Awwal bin al-Husayn, 2 February 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the ruler of Jordan from 11 April 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir ...
making it the third oldest school in Jordan after those in
Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
and
Kerak
Al-Karak ( ar, الكرك), is a city in Jordan known for its medieval castle, the Kerak Castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. Al-Karak is the capital city of the Karak Governorate.
...
.
By 1961 the population of Umm Qais was 1,196 inhabitants.
During the 1967
Arab-Israeli war
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
Umm Qais' strategic location put it on the front line of conflict again. Heavy shelling from the Golan Heights and aircraft bombing damaged both the village and ancient city. The underground Roman mausoleum below the five aisled basilica in the west of the ancient was discovered by accident by the Jordanian army and the large intact underground chamber was used as a temporary field hospital during the conflict.
Preservation efforts
In 1974 the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology uncovered the ruins of a Byzantine church building in Umm Qais.
Since 2005, the Orient Department of the
German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...
under the direction of Claudia Bührig has been active at Gadara. The team has uncovered Egyptian and Greek imported pottery, stamped
amphorae
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
, and a Seleucid fortress, among other things.
In 2015, the
Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation
The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation is one of many programs run by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as part of its mission of public diplomacy through educational and cultural programming and ...
and
Yarmouk University
Yarmouk University ( ar, جامعة اليرموك), also abbreviated YU, is a comprehensive public and state supported university located near the city centre of Irbid in northern Jordan. Since its establishment in 1976, Yarmouk University (YU) ...
collaborated to better preserve the Roman Aqueduct of Gadara in Umm Qais. This project was completed in 2018, strengthening the largest remaining subterranean Roman aqueduct.
Tourism
![Museum at Beit Russan, Umm Qais, Jordan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Museum_at_Beit_Russan%2C_Umm_Qais%2C_Jordan.jpg)
Many visitors come to Umm Qais on day trips from the capital, Amman, roughly to the south, to see its extensive ruins and enjoy its panoramic views. The
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...
and
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, are visible, and just across the valley of the
Yarmouk River
The Yarmuk River ( ar, نهر اليرموك, translit=Nahr al-Yarmūk, ; Greek: Ἱερομύκης, ; la, Hieromyces or ''Heromicas''; sometimes spelled Yarmouk), is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. It runs in Jordan, Syria and Israel ...
is the southern end of the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
[For example]
UN Resolution 242
,
Text of Resolution at UN.org
(PDF), *,*,*,* under Israeli occupation since the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
in 1967.
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...
bordering
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
is visible in the distance on clear days.
At
Beit Rousan, now housing a visitor centre and museum, Greek statues and Christian mosaics discovered during archaeological excavations of ancient Gadara are exhibited.
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*Weber, Thomas, ''Umm Qais: Gadara of the Decapolis'' (1989. Amman: Economic Press Co.)
External links
GCatholic - (titular) bishopricIrbid Guide(in Arabic)
Greater Irbid Municipality(in Arabic)
Irbid news(in Arabic)
Greco-Roman & Decapolis city of Gadara Photos of Umm Qaisat the
American Center of Research
The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past and ...
{{Authority control
Populated places in Irbid Governorate
Archaeological sites in Jordan
Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Western Asia
Decapolis
New Testament cities
Gadara
Gadara ( el, Γάδαρα ''Gádara''), in some texts Gedaris, was an ancient Hellenistic city, for a long time member of the Decapolis city league, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see.
Its ruins are today located at Umm Qa ...
Hellenistic colonies