Gerasa and the Influence of Religion On Architecture

Greysen Tomlinson

Narrative:

Speeding down the stretch, chariots slid past each other, alternating who was the leader.

The horses glistened with sweat, and the riders as well, while also demanding more from their

horses. The crowd's voice raised in volume as the charioteers closed the distance to the finish

line. The entire Hippodrome was standing on their seats, shouting phrases that would make the

priests shiver, encouraging their desired rider. The charioteer with the flowing brown hair

crossed the finish line and the crowd erupted in excitement. I could see those who sat down in

shame as the rider with the short blonde hair crossed the line in second place, while those who

were still standing had grown in excitement as he dismounted his chariot. I made the decision to

leave before things ended badly with the crowd and an expected fight would break out, I did not

want to be caught in the middle of that.

Leaving the Hippodrome, I traveled North, following the road into Gerasa. The guards

tipped their heads as I passed through the arch and through the wall. As I walked past the

Southern theatre, I could hear men shouting about whatever policy issue they decided to argue

over today. Anything that would make a scene and require more fighting between supposed men

of honor. I paid no mind because honestly, politics bores me and the men who care about politics

bore me even more. I walked among my fellow Romans along the Cardo, and I stopped to look

at a jewelry stand. Various necklaces and bracelets with beads of the most vibrant colors lined

the stall and the owner was shouting prices at me.

“15 denari, 20 denari,” the merchant kept shouting prices at me as I turned.

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I didn’t care about the jewelry anymore, and I started to walk away because prices were

outrageous, but something shone past my eye and I was drawn back to a necklace with a pendant

on the end. The face looking back at me in the pendant depicted a beautiful goddess adorned by a

crown with a crescent moon. The merchant saw my gaze and followed it to the necklace I was

looking at.

“Ah, I see that something has caught your eye. I wonder how this necklace would look on

you.”

The merchant took the necklace off its peg and clasped it around my neck.

“Oh that looks wonderful! Because it fits you so well, I will give you a discount. For 11

denari, that pendant of Diana could be all yours”

I pondered his offer for a moment, then reaching into my cloak I produced a bag of coins

and handed over the denari. The owner thanked me as I left and I continued my journey through

the city.

I stood in front of the Propylaea to the temple of Diana. I don’t know what drew me to

enter, but before I knew it, I was crossing the threshold and standing in the home of Gerasa’s

patron deity. I couldn’t describe the emotions I was feeling, but I felt a connection to her and was

pulled forward by some unknown force. I walked towards the statue of Diana at the back of the

temple and pulled out my bag of coins again. I kneeled in front of the statue and looked up at

Diana's face. Placing 4 denari on the base of the statue, I turned to leave the temple. One of the

sisters of the temple turned to face me and thanked me for my offering. I crossed through the

Propylaea again, heading North again. I could feel Diana looking down at me from her throne,

wishing favor on me in my journey ahead.

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Research essay:

During the period of expansion for the Roman Empire, around 60 BCE, Roman legions

conquered the city of Jerash in Jordan, soon to be called Gerasa. Gerasa, along with 9 other

cities, formed the Decapolis, a group of 10 cities (hence the prefix deca-) who all existed in the

Eastern region of the Roman empire. As seen on Figure 1, the cities indicated in black are a part

of the decapolis. But what you also will notice about these cities, is that they have congregated

around the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan river. This can be explained by evidence of Jerash’s

early settlement history. Early human settlers would congregate themselves around water

sources, and Jerash was one of those areas. In 2015, an archaeologist team uncovered two human

skulls that dated back to 7500 BCE which displayed characteristics of social significance (Al

Emam 2015), implying that the civilization they were part of had been advanced enough to

develop social stratification. These cities acted similar to each other because of the region and

shared common languages, cultures and political standings. They acted as city states, under the

umbrella rule of Rome. Gerasa became a flourishing city, and remained under Roman rule for

another 400 years, when power was then transferred to the Byzantine empire during the

separation of the Roman Empire. While Jerash flourished under Byzantine rule, constructing 20

Christian churches by 600 AD (Bourbon & Lavagno 2009), I want to separate the periods based

on the religious systems in place, and focus on only the presence of Roman religion in Gerasa.

This gives a time period of 63 BCE to around 320 CE. Analyzing how Roman Gerasa, will give

a view into everyday Roman society as well as providing an alternative perspective on how

Eastern Roman establishments interacted in their daily lives.

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The architectural work that was completed in Gerasa is a clear indicator that the state had

an understanding of how a city should be planned and what buildings should be given priority

within the city's limits. Evidence of their work and infrastructure planning is seen with three

main roads through Gerasa, seen in Figure 2. There was a main road that runs North to South,

lined with columns. This main road was part of typical Roman construction projects, consisting

of a large walkway, with stone columns running alongside the edges. This main road was called a

Cardo (Van der Graaff 2013). There were also two roads that ran East to West, one in the North

and one in the South, which split the city into six sections. This grid system allowed for

architecture to be planned in advance, and allowed for large traffic movements to pass through

without much issue. They also planned the construction of monuments and public facilities

around this road structure. The two ends of the city were home to the temple of Zeus (Rababeh

2011), and the temple of Artemis (Parapetti 1982), also called the temple to Diana who was the

Roman equivalent to Artemis. Because of the layout of the city, these temples play a large part

within the daily life and culture of Gerasa. At both ends of the Cardo, there is the North and

South theatre, and while their construction dates are different from each other, with the North

being completed in 165 CE (Balderstone 1985) and the South theatre being completed in 90 CE

(C. H. K 1936). In Roman society, theatres were usually multifaceted buildings, constructed with

the hope of gathering people together for a large number of reasons. Theatres served as a meeting

place for activity and community, bringing together people for a common activity or goal. They

would host shows, city meetings and rituals within the theatrical space (Haddad & Akasheh

2004). The construction of the North theatre created a new place of meeting for Gerasa. Looking

at the North theatre, the original plan for the theatre was to be used as a political meeting place.

Evidence of this is seen in the inscriptions on the seats of the theatre, which designate seating
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arrangements for the 12 civic tribes of Jerash (Retzleff & Mjely 2004). It eventually became a

place of musical performance and poetry readings.

Roman religion is not discussed as much as ancient Greek practices in modern media, but

the presence that it had in the public consciousness was still as powerful as that of the Greeks.

The main difference between the two is that Roman religion was viewed as a give and take,

instead of a faith based practice. But because of the structure of the temples and the Hippodrome,

it is understandable that the Greek influence on religious practices from the Hellenistic period of

Gerasa swayed the citizens of Gerasa to continue the traditional sacrifice and oracle

consultations. I will discuss them later, but these locations have evidence of altars dedicated to

sacrifice (Borkowski 1989; Kampen 2003). Like the traditional Greek altars, the Roman altars

were used as a place to offer sacrifices to their designated gods. Because of the change in

influence on the city of Gerasa, it is understandable that the religious traditions transferred with

it. Keeping the altars that the Greeks constructed and the ritual practices, but changing the gods

to match the Roman pantheon, is a characteristic of a diverse and complex society that accepts

different religions in concept and practice. The combined Roman array of gods and god-like

admiration for previous Roman emperors was called the Pantheon. These mythical gods were the

gods of the Greeks, only with name changes and certain characteristics associated with them, but

for the majority of them they were similar enough to be venerated in the same locations, hence

the temple to Zeus and the temple to Artemis. They practiced ritual animal sacrifice and held

religious festivals for the majority of the year. A part of this practice was the construction of

temples, as a meeting place, and centralized areas of worship, in which they inscribed

information about the temple itself. In Jerash, they had three of these such temples, one to Zeus,
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one to Artemis, and one to nymphs, which were female nature deities associated with fertility

and other aspects of nature and the elements (Parada & Förlag 1997). The main focus for the city

was the temple to Artemis, who was the patron of the city.

The temple of Artemis is a very impressive structure, covering about 5000 sq. ft., and it is

clear that they wanted the temple to be a major part of the everyday life of Gerasa due to its size

and location within the city. Near the center of town, the temple to Artemis lies, behind a

Propylaea, or a major gateway to a monument. There is evidence of multiple reconstructions and

additions to this temple (Fink 1933), so it remained active places of worship until the regime

change in the 300’s. The main focus of the temple's structure was a statue of Artemis herself, as

opposed to an altar (Kampen 2003). Kampen suggests that this switch in construction relies on

the importance of Artemis herself, and her role in the city, compared to the role of her cult and

worshippers. This puts more emphasis on the religious presence within the city, and given its

multiple renovations, it was highly trafficked and used throughout the Roman period of Gerasa.

There are other altars within Gerasa itself though that give information about the city and

the people within it. Right outside of the South gate of the city is the Hippodrome, which was a

place of sport in Greek and Roman culture. Because of the city's prior history, the continual use

of the Hippodrome into the Roman period is understandable. This Hippodrome would have been

used for chariot races, which were a major part of the sporting culture within Roman society.

Another large part of sporting is the religious aspect, where games were held as part of religious

festivals and sometimes funeral ceremonies. These were public games called Ludi, that were for

the greater good and entertainment of the people. Altars were excavated at the Gerasa
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Hippodrome, and they had partial inscriptions, indicating the purpose and the people the altars

signified. Their involvement in the games provided faithful support and increased ability due to

the veneration of the gods for the athletes competing. Of the four altars found, two of them

mention “The Good Fortune” and two of them mention Zeus (Borkowski 1989). This good

fortune may be a reference to luck in the sporting event itself, and given that two of them

mention it, there is a high possibility that all four at one point mentioned The Good Fortune. The

dedications to Zeus as well show that they believed that Zeus’s favor would help them win their

games. The addition of altars in sporting events leads credence to the involvement that religion

had in every aspect of Roman society.

Roman-era Gerasa was a poster child for the Eastern Roman settlements. They

worshipped their gods, participated in political discussions, and held public games for the

common good. The inclusion of the temple to Artemis and the temple to Zeus in the city

infrastructure, shows that religion played a key role in the daily life of those who lived in Gerasa

due to the size of the structures and their locations within the city. Due to the scale of their

construction, it is clear the statement that the city planners were trying to make to the citizens

and to the surrounding areas. By having a large religious presence in the city, they send a

message of protection, associated with their devotion to said patrons. But constructing

monuments of grand scale, they ward off potential enemies, and gain favor through gifts of

fortune and wealth by sacrificing to Zeus and Artemis. The city of Gerasa has some of the best

preserved Roman architecture next to Pompeii, and because of the level of preservation of the

architecture of the buildings themselves and the cities layout, we can begin to understand the role
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that religion played in Roman society, and how monuments and temples erected in the name of a

major gods displayed their devotion.

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Figures:

Figure 1: This is a map of all of the cities that are a part of the Decapolis.

Figure 2: This is a map of Gerasa, combining evidence from archival photos and images from
Lidar imagery. The main road starts North of the Hippodrome and runs parallel to the wadi.The
current remains of Gerasa are East of the wadi, but from the imagery provided through Lidar
surveys, there is evidence of residence farther East of the city and along the Western wall.
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References:

Al Emam, Dana
2015 Two human skulls dating back to Neolithic period unearthed in Jerash. Jordan
Times.
http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/two-human-skulls-dating-back-neolithic-period-
unearthed-jerash
Balderstone, Susan
1985 Archaeology in Jordan - the North Theatre at Jerash, Historic Environment
Bourbon, Fabio and Lavagno, Enrico
The Holy Land Archaeological Guide to Israel, Sinai and Jordan (White Star, 2009)
C. H. K.
1936 Excavations at Gerasa. Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale University
7(1):7–10.
Fink, Robert O.
1933 Jerash in the First Century A.D. The Journal of Roman Studies 23:109–124.
DOI:10.2307/297239.
Haddad, Naif, and Akasheh, Talal
2004 “Assessment of the relation between ancient theatres, landscape and society”,
in Akasheh, T. (Ed.), Third International Conference on Science and Technology in
Archaeology
and Conservation 2004, Fundación El legado andalusi, Granada, pp. 263-280
Nichalp
2005 Depicted place: Decapolis. Own work.
Parada, Carlos; Förlag, Maicar
1997 "Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology: Nymphs". Astrom Editions.
Parapetti, Roberto
1982 The architectural significance of the sanctuary of Artemis at Gerasa. Studies in the
History and Archaeology of Jordan I. Amman: Department of Antiquities. pp. 255–250.
Rababeh, Prof. Shaher
2011 The Temples of Zeus and Artemis and Their Relation to the Urban Context of
Gerasa.
Van der Graaff, Ivo
2013 The city walls of Pompeii : perceptions and expressions of a monumental boundary.
Unpublished Thesis.