The Romans were brilliant engineers and builders. At Jerash (which they called Gerasa), they built wide paved roads, public baths, market squares, temples, and two large theatres. The colonnaded street — a road flanked by tall columns on both sides — stretches for more than 800 metres. Visitors today walk along the very same stone slabs that Romans walked on 2,000 years ago, and you can still see the ruts carved by ancient cart wheels.
The oval plaza at the entrance to the city is spectacular. It is shaped like a slightly squashed oval and is surrounded by 56 towering columns. Historians believe it was used as a gathering place where merchants sold goods, festivals were held, and citizens met to chat. The columns are so well preserved that they look almost as if they were built recently.
Two Roman theatres still stand at Jerash. The larger south theatre could seat about 3,000 people. Today, performances and festivals are still held there — the same seats, the same stage — two thousand years later. Roman theatres were cleverly designed so that an actor speaking in a normal voice on stage could be heard clearly even at the very back row.