Umm Qais (Gadara)

Decapolis city overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, and Syria. Basalt ruins, Roman theatre, and Ottoman village blend together. This is where the Gadarene swine ran into the sea. Views are spectacular.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Stand Where the World's First Poetry Anthology Was Written History · Free

   Where: The Acropolis hill at Umm Qais — the elevated plateau at the heart of the archaeological site, accessible from the main entrance. Stand near the edge facing west, overlooking the Sea of Galilee 210 meters below.

   What: Around 60 BC, a man named Meleager — born RIGHT HERE in Gadara — compiled the Stephanos ('Garland'): the first large anthology of Greek poetry ever assembled. He collected epigrams by 46 poets across every lyric period, introduced each poet with a metaphor comparing them to a flower, and wove it into a single volume. That anthology became the foundation of the entire Greek Anthology tradition, which shaped every Western poetry collection that followed. He grew up on this hilltop, looking at this same 180-degree horizon — Sea of Galilee to the left, the Yarmouk Gorge cutting below you, the Golan Heights across the water, and on a clear day, the Syrian plains stretching north. The geographer Strabo, writing in the 1st century BC, named Gadara's intellectual exports personally: 'Philodemus the Epicurean, and Meleager and Menippus the satirist, and Theodorus the rhetorician — of my own time.' Four world-historical thinkers from one provincial hilltop. One of them taught the Emperor Tiberius rhetoric. One invented an entire literary form (Menippean satire) that still bears his name. One's charred library is still being deciphered from the ruins of Herculaneum. This wasn't Athens. This was a city 28km from the Sea of Galilee that the ancient world called 'the Syrian Athens.'

   How: The site entrance fee is around 3 JD (covered by the Jordan Pass). Walk through the main gate and follow signs up to the Acropolis plateau — roughly 5 minutes from the entrance. No guide needed; just walk to the western edge and face the view. Read one of Meleager's surviving epigrams aloud if you have one — the acoustics of this hilltop carry.

   Backup: If crowds are heavy near the western edge, the north-facing side of the Acropolis gives a cleaner view of the Yarmouk Gorge — equally dramatic, slightly less visited.

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2. 2 Declaim from the Stage of the Black Basalt Theatre History · Free

   Where: The West Theatre — the large, well-preserved structure of jet-black basalt stone on the western slope of the Acropolis, immediately visible from the main site path. You can't miss it: while every other Roman theatre in the world is pale limestone or marble, this one is the color of a volcanic night.

   What: Built in the 2nd century AD, the West Theatre is one of only TWO basalt theatres ever constructed in the known ancient world. It seated 3,000 spectators. Historians believe it was designed by Apollodorus of Damascus — the Greco-Syrian master engineer who also designed Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Column, and Trajan's Bridge over the Danube (the longest bridge in the ancient world). If he built this, then the same mind that shaped Rome's greatest monuments also shaped this 52-metre cavea of black stone in northern Jordan. The acoustics are extraordinary — a whisper from the stage reaches the back row. Walk down to the orchestra level, stand in the center of the stage, and speak. You don't need an audience. The theatre provides one — 2,000 years of them.

   How: Follow the path from the Acropolis down the western slope — the theatre is 2 minutes' walk from the plateau. Descend the stone steps into the orchestra. Face the cavea. The view from the stage reverses everything: you look back UP toward the seating, with the sky and the ruins of the upper city behind you. Then turn 180 degrees: the stage opens southward with a clear line of sight down toward the Jordan Valley.

   Backup: There's a smaller East Theatre (less restored, only the lower cavea remains). Worth visiting for comparison — the basalt there is rougher, less polished, and gives a sense of what the West Theatre looked like before restoration.

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3. 3 Read the Roman Tool Marks in the Unfinished Tunnel Adventure · Free

   Where: The Qanat Fir'aun tunnel entrance, below the western Acropolis. Ask at the site entrance for directions to the 'aqueduct tunnel' (or 'al-qanat') — site staff can point you to the path. The entrance is a few minutes' walk downhill from the main ruins area.

   What: Between 90 and 210 AD, Roman engineers built the Qanat Fir'aun ('Pharaoh's Watercourse') — a 170km aqueduct system serving three Decapolis cities: Gadara, Abila, and Adraha (modern Dera'a in Syria). It contains the longest single tunnel of the entire classical era: 106 continuous kilometers of underground qanat. The section visible here at Umm Qais is 380 metres long — and it was NEVER FINISHED. The workers stopped mid-project. On the rock walls, you can still see the cut marks where Roman chisels stopped. The angle of attack of each tool blow. The diagonal shafts (at 45–60 degrees, with stairs carved for workers) are unlike any other Roman aqueduct construction method found anywhere in the empire. You are looking at the moment the work paused — and never resumed. No one knows exactly why. The stone hasn't changed since then.

   How: Bring a phone torch — the tunnel interior is dark. The path is walkable but uneven. Take 10 minutes to walk as far into the section as feels comfortable. Run your hand along the cut marks near the stopping point. No interpretation panel will tell you this is moving. It just is.

   Backup: If the tunnel section is temporarily closed for maintenance, the site has extensive above-ground evidence of the aqueduct route — a carved stone channel visible at several points on the western Acropolis terrace. Ask a guard to point out the 'qanat marks.'

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4. 4 Walk the Cart-Rutted Stones of the Decumanus History · Free

   Where: The Decumanus Maximus — the main colonnaded east-west street of Roman Gadara. Access from the main site path; it runs for roughly 1.5 km across the width of the ancient city. The most dramatic and oldest section is at the EASTERN END, near the Nymphaeum (the ornate public fountain).

   What: The basalt flagstones here are original Roman pavement — laid between the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD, enhanced with colonnades as Gadara grew prosperous. Look down at the stone. Do you see the grooves? Parallel channels worn 8–10cm deep into the hardest available stone — black basalt — by centuries of cart wheels carrying wine amphorae, olive oil jars, and grain sacks from the surrounding farms to the market. The basalt is so hard that it takes extraordinary wear to cut it. These ruts represent hundreds of years of daily commerce. Twenty vaulted Roman shops still line the cardo (the north-south street that branches off here) — their arched doorways intact, the interiors emptied but the bones unaltered. This is not a reconstructed street. This is the actual street.

   How: Walk the Decumanus east to west — start at the Nymphaeum end where the ruts are deepest and most visible. Crouch down and run your finger along one. Then look up: in both directions, you can trace the ghost of the colonnade — column bases at regular intervals, the rhythm of an imperial city street. End at the western terminus where the street opens toward the West Theatre and the view.

   Backup: The cardo shops on the northern side are less visited than the main street — quieter, with better light for photography in the afternoon.

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5. 5 Toast Gadara's 2,000-Year Wine Legacy on the Terrace Above the Ruins Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Umm Qais Resthouse (operated by the Romero Group), in the Ottoman school building above the West Theatre. The terrace faces west-northwest — directly over the theatre ruins and then out across the Sea of Galilee. Open daily 10am–10pm.

   What: Jordan's wine story is 11,000 years old — the Levant is one of only two places on earth where grapevines were domesticated simultaneously. Archaeological evidence at Gadara shows fermentation and storage facilities. The Decapolis exported wine, olive oil, and pottery across the empire. Today, Jordan has exactly two wineries. The one that matters here is Saint George by Zumot — an organic producer in Amman growing Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in clay-and-basalt soil. The same volcanic geology the Romans farmed. Saint George was the first Jordanian wine listed in Hachette's 1000 Wines of the World. Ask for it by name. Pair it with mezze — the terrace kitchen does Jordanian salads, cold mezze (hummus, mutabbal, fattoush), and grilled meat. As the afternoon light drops, the Sea of Galilee turns from silver to bronze below you. The Golan Heights go dark purple. The ruins of the West Theatre sit 50 metres below your table. That wine in your glass is grown in the same volcanic soil the Romans harvested here. Two thousand years haven't changed the geology.

   How: Reserve the terrace seats in advance if visiting on a weekend — the restaurant fills up. Expect 8–15 JD per person for mezze; wine by the glass 3–5 JD. If Saint George isn't available, Jordan River Wines is the alternative — equally rooted in the country's ancient viticulture story.

   Backup: If the Resthouse is crowded, Beit Al Baraka (the guesthouse in the village) also serves Jordanian food made by local women, with outdoor seating and similar views. Less wine focus but more intimate — and the galayet bandora (pan-fried tomatoes with olive oil) is the northern Jordanian dish nobody outside the region knows.

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