The last place that I visited in Jordan was called Jerash. It is a huge archaeological site. We had three hours there. I was not planning on writing much about the visit, but I cannot resist mentioning a few things. One thing that Jordan has is a lot of mosaic floors. This is an example of a skinny elephant mosaic that we saw at Jerash. I think I need to create a mosaic for my patio!
The scholars that I was traveling with were amazed at the size of the site and the amount of really interesting Greco-Roman ruins there. The first picture above shows our tour guide in front of the city gate. In general we tend to think that anything east of Israel is not that important, but there is so much to find and research. 
We were also entertained by a show there with Centurions, Gladiators and Chariot Races. Even though it was just a small demonstration it was helpful to see what these things were like. The announcer (in English) said that usually a legion of soldiers was 5000 men, but there were probably 25 in the show. They showed several different formations and I thought it was interesting to see how they used their shields.
Hi Janice,
ReplyDeleteWe looked at the entry about Jerash today and were very interested in the information about the soldiers and how they were dressed. Some of us knew a little about gladiators and soldiers of this time so could addd more details to the discussion. We were interested in how the soldiers gathered to protect each other and themselves and the colorful shields and the armor. It was surprising to learn that soldiers marched in groups of 5000 - that's a lot of soldiers!
Thanks for sharing!
Whitefish Bay students