File:The Jordan Valley and Petra (1905) (14782564742).jpg

Identifier: jordanvalleypet01libb (find matches)
Title: The Jordan Valley and Petra
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Libbey, William
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Putnam
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
turn reveal wider and more beautiful viewsof Galilee and the Jordan Valley. All the way upthis slope we saw traces of the ancient Romanroad, paved with blocks of basalt, leading to Ga-dara, one of the cities of the Decapolis. At theford of the Jordan we set our barometers at zero,and when at last we reached the ruined city theyregistered nearly two thousand feet. To carry achariot road up this bold headland, crowded on twosides with the deep clefts of the Jordan and theHieromax (Yarmuk), over the crumbling limestonestrata, and among the twisted folds of the adaman-tine basalt, and to overcome an elevation of twothousand feet within a distance of about eight miles,is a feat that seems to have delighted the Romans.To have laid those basalt blocks in such a manneras to defy the flight of two thousand years is an in-dex to the iron-hearted purposes of the men whoconceived and carried out such enterprises, whilethey were conquering the world. Mkes, the modern representative of the ancient
Text Appearing After Image:
Gadara and the Decapolis i6i city of Gadara, stands on a headland pushing west-ward, twelve hundred and fifteen feet above theMediterranean and nearly two thousand feet abovethe ford of the Jordan. The steep slopes on threesides, north, west, and south, easily explain why itwas once such a formidable fortress. It is a massof ruins more than two miles in circuit. Its mainstreet runs nearly east and west and is about amile long. The ancient Roman pavement, deeplyfurrowed by the iron chariot wheels, is still in posi-tion and still doing duty as a road. The bases ofhundreds of pillars still remain in siht, showingthat the street was once a beautiful colonnade.Towards the west there are an arch, a forum, anda temple ; and a bath and a mausoleum can still bedistinguished among the ruins lying on each sideof this main street. But the most imposing ruinsare of two theatres, one facing the north, and onewith a western exposure, both located against thehighest spur of the headland. The upper ti

Note About Images