page_title: Jerash
section_title: Archaeological Museums
hierarchical_section_title: Jerash / Archaeological Museums
caption_attribution_description: English: A sculpted marble head of an elite woman with a hairstyle commonly associated with Julia Domna, wife of the Libyan Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. This late 2nd/ early 3rd century head, made from marble from Turkey, was found in the 2016 excavations of the Eastern Roman Baths at Jerash, Jordan and is displayed in the Jerash Visitor Center.
context_page_description: Jerash is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 48 kilometres north of the capital city Amman.
  The earliest evidence of settlement in Jerash is in a Neolithic site known as Tal Abu Sowan, where rare human remains dating to around 7500 BC were uncovered. Jerash flourished during the Greco and Roman periods until the mid-eighth century CE, when the 749 Galilee earthquake destroyed large parts of it, while subsequent earthquakes contributed to additional destruction. However, in the year 1120, Zahir ad-Din Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus ordered a garrison of forty men to build up a fort in an unknown site of the ruins of the ancient city, likely the highest spot of the city walls in the north-eastern hills. It was captured in 1121 by Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, and utterly destroyed. Then, the Crusaders immediately abandoned Jerash and withdrew to Sakib; the eastern border of the settlement.
  Jerash was then deserted until it reappeared by the beginning of the Ottoman rule in the early 16th century. In the census of 1596, it had a population of 12 Muslim households.
context_section_description: The archaeological site of Jerash has two museums in which are displayed archaeological materials and corresponding information about the site and its rich history. The Jerash Archaeological Museum, which is the older of the two museums, is found on top of the mound known as "Camp Hill" just east of the Cardo and overlooking the Oval Plaza. The small museum contains a chronological display of artifacts found in and around Jerash from prehistoric to Islamic times. The museum displays a unique group of small statues of a group identified as the Muses of the Olympic pantheon which were discovered at Jerash in 2016. The statues, which are Roman in date, were found in a fragmentary condition and have been partially restored. The museum also contains a well-preserved lead sarcophagus dated to the late 4th to 5th centuries and features Christian and pagan symbolism. The museum also has a number of sculptures, altars, and mosaics displayed outside. 
  The Jerash Visitor Center serves as a more recent archaeological museum, and presents the site of Jerash in a thematic approach with a focus on the evolution and development of the city of Jerash over time, as well as economy, technology, religion, and daily life. The center also displays further sculptures discovered in Jerash in 2016, including restored statues of Zeus and Aphrodite, as well as a marble head thought to represent the Roman Empress Julia Domna.
caption: A sculpted marble head of an elite woman with a hairstyle commonly associated with Julia Domna, wife of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. This late 2nd/ early 3rd century head, made from marble from Turkey, was found in the 2016 excavations of the Eastern Roman Baths at Jerash, Jordan and is displayed in the Jerash Visitor Center.
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