Distance by Road: 120 km northwest from Amman. 30 km from Irbid
On a hilltop rising 518 meters above sea level is the ancient Greco-Roman site of Um Qais one of the cities of the Decapolis. It commands a magnificent view over the Yarmouk River, The Golan Heights and Lake Tiberias.

According to the Bible, (Matthew 8:28-34), Um Qais is the place where Jesus cast out the demon from two men and send them into a herd of pigs which then rushed down the steep slope and drowned in the lake.

The city was famous for its cosmopolitan atmosphere and was a vacationing resort for the Romans. It also attracted many writers, artists, poets and philosophers.

Gadara was founded by the Greeks during the 4th century BCE and overrun by Seleucid ruler Antiochus III in 216 BCE. When the Romans under Pompey conquered the East and formed the Decapolis, the fortunes of Gadara, taken in 63 BCE, improved rapidly and building was undertaken on a large scale. During the early part of Roman rule, the Nabateans (with their capital in Petra) controlled the trade routes as far north as Damascus. Aiming to put an end to this competition, Mark Antony sent King Herod the Great to weaken the Nabateans, who finally gave up their northern interests in 31 BCE. In appreciation for his efforts, Rome rewarded Herod with Gadara. The city remained under Herod’s rule until his death, and then reverted to semi-autonomy as part of the Roman province of Syria.

The Tour: The main attractions are the ruins of the Roman city: the considerable portion of the original Roman theatre, the colonnaded street, mausoleum and baths.

Pella
Distance by Road: 95 Kilometers from Amman, and less than 5 kilometers east of the Jordan River.

In the warm fertile land of north Jordan Valley is the ancient city of Pella, one of the Decapolis cities of the Roman Empire. Pella is believed to have been continuously inhabited since early 5000 BCE. It was during the Greco-Roman period, however, that Pella truly prospered. Strategically placed at the  crossroads of numerous trading routes linking Europe, the Near East and Asia, the city flourished from trade and was influenced by a multitude of diversecultures.

 Like many of the ancient cities of Jordan, Pella came successively under the rule of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Disaster struck in 83 BCE, however, when the Hasmonean leader of Judea, Alexander Jannaeus, largely destroyed the city when its inhabitants refused to embrace Judaism.

The Tour: Pella is an archaeologist's paradise. It offers visitors an array of fragments left by past civilizations. Remnants provide examples of man-made artifacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Calcolithic, Bronze, Iron, Hellenistic, Roman-Byzantine and Islamic Periods. The two Hellenistic forts, constructed on the outskirts of Pella emphasize the city's strategic and commercial importance during the later BC era.
The large number of remains comes from the Byzantine period, including domestic houses, churches, shops, barracks, baths and tombs.