Umm Al-Jimal - Jordan

Umm el-Jimal (Arabic: ام الجمال , "Mother of Camels") is a village in Northern Jordan approximately 17 kilometers west of Mafraq. It is primarily notable for the substantial ruins of a Byzantine and early Islamic town which are clearly visible above the ground, as well as an older Roman village located to the southwest of the Byzantine ruins.

The village was first settled in the second century A.D. following the incorporation of the Nabatean empire into the Roman empire by Trajan. This settlement was destroyed in the middle of the third century A.D., probably during the revolt against the Romans led by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra (de Vries 1990).

The Byzantine village began as a military outpost in the late Roman attempt to defend the Empire's periphery. A prosperous rural community developed around this outpost, reaching its peak in the sixth century A.D. Plague and war weakened the community, and the earthquake of 748 resulted in destruction from which it was never able to recover (de Vries 1990).

The site remained unoccupied until the early 20th century when a community of Druze settled in Umm el-Jimal for a few years reusing the ancient Byzantine structures, before abandoning the site again. The current village was established around 1950 and is built around the Byzantine remains.

More Historical Information.....

The ruins here reveals a wide range of structures typical of a modest provincial town that lacked a formal urban plan unlike the monumental splendor, architectural extravaganza, and imperial scale of towns such as Gerasa, Gadara and Philadelphia. Umm Al-Jimal, means "Mother of" either "Camels" or "Beauties" in Arabic, is one of the most truly impressive monuments of ancient civilizations.

The Nabataeans established a settlement here in the 1st century BC during their northerly expansion, perhaps as a staging post on the trade route between Damascus and the south. As there are no springs or wells, the entire water supply had to be collected during the rainy season in hundreds of cisterns.

Herod the Great drove the Nabataeans out of their northern domains around 30 BC, and the Romans soon extended their rule over the entire area. Umm Al-Jimal was greatly enlarged from the 2nd century AD onwards, and became an important military base - it was enclosed within walls; a new reservoir was built, as well as a sophisticated hydraulic system outside the city to supply its cisterns and reservoirs; and a vast, but now ruinous, fort was constructed - to be replaced under the Byzantines in the early 5th century by the much smaller, and well preserved, barracks, for by now the military role of the city had diminished.

Under the Byzantines Umm Al-Jimal continued to grow - many houses were built, 14 churches and a cathedral. It also flourished under the Umayyads - still with a Christian community - but earthquakes, especially that of 747 AD, caused considerable damage; and the Abbasid removal to Baghdad ensured that the city was never rebuilt. It remained abandoned until the early 20th century, when some Druzes from the nearby Jabal Addoruze took up brief residence here.

Photos Gallery - Umm Al-Jimal