从北到南，从杰拉什到死海《约旦，2015年冬》

原创 MKLA 守望中东 收录于话题#遊記 Wanderlust18#约旦2

“我很享受在杰拉什的旅行。我在那里看到了古希腊遗迹，兜兜转转不知不觉就超过了四个小时。”——艾米丽,《Arabiyyat Al-Naas (第一册)》第30课

Jerash

2015/12/22 @ 杰拉什

只因为阿拉伯语课本上提到了一句，“在约旦北部的杰拉什有古代遗迹”，少年们决定在离开安曼、南下死海之前，先启程前往北方。

I first heard about the city Jerash from my Arabic class. "There are ancient ruins," it says.

So we decided to visit this northern city on our second and last day in Amman before traveling to the Dead Sea and further toward Petra.

欢迎来到希腊都市格拉萨，古代地中海东岸最富饶、最国际化的城市之一。

大约是公元前175-164年的塞琉古王朝安条克四世时期，在这片近一万年前就有人类定居的丰饶土地上，建立起了名为格拉萨的城市。它坐落在近东商贸和通信的十字路口，连接着大马士革和佩特拉、提尔港和雅法港。

随后，在公元前2世纪初塞琉古末期的乱世中，奋起反抗的犹太马卡比王朝在控制了这一地区，并加强了格拉萨与沿岸犹太城市的通商。

公元前63年，罗马军事家庞培来到东方，叙利亚地区成为罗马行省。与此同时，以佩特拉为首都的纳巴泰人在阿拉伯半岛的商路上愈发富有，也将他们的财产和文化带到了格萨拉。纳巴泰神庙曾与希腊神庙毗邻而建。

在公元前一世纪到公元一世纪，作为拥有着大量当地闪米特人口和希腊罗马文化的半自治城市，格拉萨与约旦河沿岸的其他几座城邦形成了“德卡波利斯”（十城邦联），留下了历史中璀璨的一页。

到了公元106年，格拉萨被重新划入阿拉比亚行省，由此进入黄金时代。罗马皇帝图拉真（98-117年在位）修建了一条从红海直通省会布斯拉（今叙利亚西南部）的大道。129年，哈德良（117-138年在位）甚至在格拉萨度过了一个冬天。据估计，到了公元二世纪末，格拉萨人口达到了1万至2.5万。

Welcome to the Greek city of Gerasa, one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities in the ancient Near East.

Settled by humans since as early as ten thousand years ago, Gerasa was founded as a Hellenistic city in the second century BCE, probably during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175 - 164 BCE) of the Selucid Empire. The city soon flourished because it was not only rich in natural resources but also conveniently situated at the nexus of trade and communication on the eastern coast of Mediterranean Sea-- between Damascus and Petra as well as between the ports of Tyre and Jaffa.

At the turn of the second century BCE, the Jewish Hasmonean Kingdom took over and controlled the region for a few decades, strengthening its trading ties with other coastal Jewish cities.

The Roman General Pompey settled in the East in 63 BCE. Notably, at the same time as Syria was annexed as a Roman province, Gerasa was also under significant influence from the Nabataeans based in Petra, who accumulated incredible wealth in their caravan trade across the Arab Peninsula. Their temples used to stand side by side with Greek temples.

In this way, Gerasa's Semitic population thrived while developing a rich Greco-Roman culture. It formed the "Decapolis" with other similar cities in the southeastern Levant during the first century BCE and CE.

Gerasa entered its “Golden Age” in 106 CE, when the city was re-incorporated into the new Roman province of Arabia. The Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE) constructed a network of new roads spanning from the Red Sea to the provincial capital Bosra. The Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE) even stayed in the city during the winter of 129 CE. By the last quarter of the second century CE, Jerash’s population is estimated to have been around 10,000-25,000.

▲ 椭圆广场位于中轴线的起点，建于公元1世纪。长短轴为80和90米，边缘立有56根壮观的廊柱。

Oval Plaza, built in the 1st century CE. Located at the beginning of the city's main axis, the wide plaza is 80 m by 90 m large and is enclosed by 56 awe-inspiring columns.

▲ 中轴线上长达800米的柱廊

Cardo maximus. The colonnaded street is over 800 m long and served as the main axis of the city.

▲ 哈德良神庙，为纪念罗马皇帝于公元129/130年间的造访而建立

Hadrian's Arch, built in 129/130 CE to commemorate the visit of the emperor

▲ 南门，推测为哈德良拱门同期或略早建造

South Gate, built in the same period as Hadrian's Arch or slightly earlier.

▲ 宙斯神庙，坐落于山丘之上，俯视着整个城市。如今的遗址建于公元162年。据说，早在公元前六或前七世纪的时候，这里就已经有一个朝拜宙斯的洞穴了。

Temple of Zeus, towering above the city from top of a hill. Before the current structure was built in 162 CE, the people had already been using a cave at the same location to worship Zeus since as early as the sixth or seventh century BCE.

▲ 远眺宙斯神庙

Photo credit: https://www.wmf.org/project/temple-zeus

▲ 献给格拉萨守护女神阿尔忒弥斯的神庙，建于公元150-170年间，原计划有32根圆柱但最终只完成了12根。在历史长河中，神庙可能也曾经被改建为拜占庭教堂、倭玛亚时期的陶工坊、12世纪十字军东征的碉堡。

Temple of Artemis, dedicated to the patron goddess of Gerasa. It was constructed between 150-170 CE but never finished and only had 12 out of 32 planned columns. Later on, the temple was possibly used as a church in the Byzantine era, by potters during Umayyad times and in the 12th century it may have been used as a fort by a group of Crusaders.

▲ 水神殿，建于约公元191年，不仅是城里主要的装饰喷泉，也承担着为附近居民日常供水的任务

Nymphaeum, built in around 191 CE as the main ornamental fountain and water source of small public fountains

▲ 可能是罗马最小的竞技场，建于公元3世纪初。长244米，宽50米，可容纳1.5万名观众。在公元6世纪拜占庭查士丁尼统治时期仍在使用。

The Hippodrome, built in the early 3rd century CE. The size was 244 m by 50 m and could host up to 15,000 spectators. Even so, it was probably one of the smallest hippodromes in Rome. It remained in use during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (r. 527-565 CE).

▲ 大教堂，建于4世纪中叶，可能是杰拉什最古老的教堂。

The Cathedral, built in the middle of the 4th century CE and likely the oldest church in Jerash

到了公元600年，格拉萨已经有15座教堂。现存最晚的教堂铭文镌刻于公元611年。公元636年，拜占庭在雅莫科河战役中落败，杰拉什则在四大哈里发和其后的倭马亚王朝的统治下继续繁荣昌盛。

公元749年，加利利大地震，古城自此一蹶不振。

漫漫黄沙渐渐将其掩埋，直到1806年被德国旅行者发现才重见天日。

交通与通信技术的发展拉近了世界的距离，但看着希腊罗马文明在杰拉什留下的痕迹，想象各地商旅在此穿梭的情景，如今所谓的中东与西方曾经也并不遥远。

Gerasa had 15 churches by 600 CE, and the last existing church inscription was dated 611 CE. The city continued to prosper under Rashidun and Umayyad rule after the muslim army defeated the Byzantines in 636 CE during the Battle of Yarmouk.

In 749 CE, the whole region was devastated during the Galilee Earthquake, and the ancient city never recovered.

The ruins were buried under the sand until rediscovered by a German traveler in 1806.

We often say that the world has become smaller with the advance of transportation and communication technologies. Yet, walking through the traces left by the Hellenistic civilization in Jerash and following the footsteps of the merchants and travellers, I couldn't help but musing on the idea-- Perhaps the people of the so-called West and Orient were not so far apart by then.

Al-Bahr al-Mayyit

2015/12/22 @ 死海

离开杰拉什，我们掉头驱车向南。安曼两端的两个目的地，在比例尺颇大的约旦地图上看起来相当遥远，实际也不过两小时。这么想来，如果是白昼更长的夏天，再去远一些的阿杰隆古堡或许也来得及。

看见死海的时候，太阳已经有一些西斜。金色的光芒照耀着雾蒙蒙的海面和盐滩，把身边的一切都浸泡在不真实的回忆滤镜中，明晃晃地让人睁不开眼睛。

孩子们在海水浴场里嬉戏，传来遥远的欢声笑语。

Leaving Jerash, we turned around and headed southward. With Amman right in the middle, the Dead Sea appeared quite far away from Jerash on the map, and yet it only took us about two hours to reach our next destination-- I doubt whether we can drive out of Shanghai or Hangzhou in two hours. That being said, we had to give up Adjloun due to the shorter daytime in winter. Maybe we could have seen more "ancient ruins" in Adjloun had we visited Jordan in summer.

The sun was dropping west when we reached the Dead Sea. The hypersaline lake and the salt deposits shimmered and glittered in the golden sunshine, as if covered by a dreamy filter of nostalgia.

There were children playing in the resort pools. We heard their distant laughters.

"湖水的那一边便是以色列。“我这么想着，但是终究没能看穿夕阳余晖的雾霭。

"I must be very close to Israel." I knew, although I could not see the other shore in this misty sunset.

○ 未完待续……

To be continued

要是那个时候拿更好的相机拍更多的照片就好了。（iPhone3GS如今也难得一见，还有Polaroid。）拖延症患者有些后悔没有在当时就好好记下见闻和感想，只能在五年之后，为了留住经历过的实感，捡起一点点记忆的碎片。

特别感谢好旅伴们，等待这个世界好起来，在新的路途上重新聚首。

<3 比心 <3

原标题：《游记 | 从北到南，从杰拉什到死海《约旦，2015年冬》

阅读原文