Louvre Zeus Museum in Jerash

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  Jesús Díaz

  :: 11 May 2018 20:30:38

  A vault of the Roman expansion of the temple of Zeus (dated 27/28 AD) houses a collection of remains from two monuments dated to the Hellenistic period: a square altar (end 2nd – early 1st BC) and a naos (70-60 BC). The naos was a delicately ornamented building with painted and stucco ornamentation. This naos was dismantled with care and thousands of its stones were re-utilized in the building of the new Roman naos in 69-70 AD. The exhibited stones in this gallery are thus the best preserved among those found reburied and reused under and in the Roman rebuilding of it. They represent one of the most dramatic discovered remains of the pre-Roman Hellenistic period in Jerash (Gerasa) and Jordan as a whole. The painted and carved stone blocks showing geometric designs as well as floral and faunal elements is well worth a quick visit if the Zeus Museum is open when you visit Jerash (sometimes is closed with no apparent reason) The vault that houses the exhibition, the East Cryptoporticus, is part of the Roman period expansion under the Gerasene architect Diodoros, son of Zebedas, who directed the building of the great court supported by vaults around the Hellenistic naos. This construction roughly coincides with the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ in the area (which also included the region known as Decapolis of which Gerasa was a member) This exhibition was formed in 2004 and is funded and supervised by the Louvre Museum (Paris, France).