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Jerash Jordan -- 19 Nov 2011
The modern name for the city is Jerash. Gerasa was the name of the ancient Greco-Roman city. It is not exactly lost (like Pompeii) but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 and never rebuilt (except perhaps that a couple small villages occupied and some military fortifications occupied the site at times. The center of the ancient city was apparently never completely built over (altthough parts of outlying areas were built over as the modern city of Jerash was developed in the 1900s).
Given a major earthquake and over 1000 years of neglect, it seems pretty clear that much of what is standing there today has had some degree of reconstruction. In some places (such as the ampitheater and Hadrian's Gate) the reconstrution is good. In others (such as a wall alongside the hippodrome) it seemed haphazard. I spotted (but apparently did not photograph) a retaining wall made out of stone blocks. Some blocks had shapes and portions o words engraved on them. However, there clearly had been no effort to match up stones. I saw some inscribed stones placed with letters upside down and not near any similarly enscribed stones.
Excavations started in the early 1800s and the modern city began to develop after those excavaitons started.
Later (May 2016) -- This was probably just as impressive as Petra, but is apparently not nearly as well known.
