In Jordan: Umm Qais

Umm Qais Main Street

Sometimes I travel for a change of scenery and other times I travel to be transported in time.  The great thing is that in Jordan you can do both or as some animal cruelty perpetrators would say "kill two birds with one stone."  On my last blog I wrote about my trip to the Dead Sea, a place with no equal on the planet, certainly a change of scenery.  When I took a trip to Umm Qais, one of the ancient cities of the Roman Decapolis (Ten Cities) also known as Gadara in Jesus's days, walking through the ruins was like stepping into another time period.  The architecture, the layout, the Corinthian columns, the intricately carved stones, the grand plazas, the remains of their paved roads, and the living quarters were all so different from their present-day surroundings in Jordan.

I presume that their architecture stood out in quite a contrast back then as they do now, and it makes me wonder why the architectural elements of these microcosms of Roman life took little root in this region of the world.  For instance, did the people of Palestine have so much pride in their culture and past architectural accomplishments that they saw Roman architecture as inferior or too foreign/western? Or maybe there were building codes that prevented the occupied to emulate the architecture of the occupiers? Or perhaps the most interesting question would be, did adding Roman architectural concepts to your home make you a sellout?

It's interesting that to this day in Morocco (who also had their fair share of Roman ruins), when distinguishing between what is "originally" from the country and what is from the western world, people use the term “beldi” and “roumi(a)” respectively or sometimes gharbi(a) derived from gharb for west. For example, when deciding whether to install a western or turkish toilet, the plumber asks, “Wech bghiti toilette 3adia wlla roumia?” [Do you want a normal or western toilet?]. I didn't find out if Jordan also used roumi, but I'm guessing that it makes a clear distinction between what is Jordanian and what is western.

Personally, I enjoy visiting the ruins of old cities because it reminds me of the transient nature of societies and civilizations--how quickly power comes and goes, how cultures clashed or adapted to one another, how people organized themselves in terms of social hierarchy, and what those individuals way back when valued.  One can draw a lot from the architecture.  For example, the many theaters, the administrative centers, and the paved roads that facilitated commerce can give you a glimpse of what was important to the Romans.  Some of these values were not welcomed by the host country and hence the Romans' control of this strategic and symbolic corner of the world was short-lived.

To me, these relics of the past are a cautionary reminder of how western experiments exporting western values can go wrong.  Yet despite these glaring examples, contemporary western powers continue to pry, prod, nudge, and in some cases take complete control through force as the Romans did.  I make no judgement on whether one should let things be or work to influence others to one's frame of mind.  I think that these interventions and invasions are part of the human experience with one idea replacing another and old ideas re-emerging as novel.

Stone-carved theater seats

Time will tell if our new experiments will be embraced by the host countries.  I guess if not, someone else a thousand or so years from now will be writing another reflection about the ruins leftover from our contemporary world and will perhaps wonder if their new endeavors in this region will be successful.

See links on Umm Qais with up to date travel details and other interesting historical facts :

http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/tourism3b.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Qais

http://www.visitjordan.com/default.aspx?tabid=176

Safe travels! Thanks for reading.