Umm Qais, Madaba and Dhiban

I went north last weekend to the ruins of Umm Qais, which overlook the Sea of Galilee. With its fantastic views, the site is a popular spot for Palestinians to look westward longingly. Seriously, several large families were there at the bluffs to gaze out and remember from whence they came.

But, of course, I was more interested in the Roman ruins. The site is in need of some clean up, but there were plenty very neat things for me to geek out about. The theatre and its surrounding columns were crafted from dark basalt, something I had never seen before, which gave the structures an imposing look. The stones of roads were worn and warped from years of chariots and carts going over them. Toppled columns bore markings (see the Delta-2 below) from ancient engineers detailing how to assemble them. 1800 years later, archaeologists are using these same markings to reassemble them. The columns were also used to form the walls of later homes, which must put archaeologists in a dilemma. Which age do you restore the site to? The site was also littered with bunkers, gun turrets and foxholes from the 67 war. Towers still man soldiers. With high ground and access to water, the location was as key in Roman times as it is in present day.

Later in th eday, I headed sound of Amman to the Christian city of Madaba. Besides for pork, the city is famous for mosaics, namely a map that was constructed on the floor of a church after the Islamic revolution. A Rosseta Stone of sorts, it told where ancient cities lay while revealing that powerful Christians lasted longer than expected in the Middle East.

I lastly dropped off my sister in Dhiban, the grand capital of the Moabite kingdom (ancient rivals of the Israelites). It is mostly yet to be unearthed. In fact, its basically a back water village with mountain of dirt next to it, but maybe, just maybe, in ten years, there will be a reason to come to Dhiban.