<description>Recent content in Church on Picturing Jordan</description>
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<h4>Ruins of the octagonal sixth-century Byzantine martyrium</h4>
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<p>Nestled on a plateau in the northwestern corner of Jordan lay the ruins of the ancient city of <em>Gadara</em>. From this vantage point, just beyond the sleepy town of Umm Qays, you have a spectacular view of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_the_Golan_Heights">Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights</a>. Like many other places in the region, Gadara appeared on the historical record after Alexander the Great&rsquo;s conquest of the Near East in 333 BCE.<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup> The city seems to have been mostly destroyed and subsequently abandoned after an earthquake in the eighth century.</p></description>
<p>Shortly after moving to Amman <a href="https://picturingjordan.com/2016/09/saint-thaddeus-church-amman/">I noticed this unique building</a> on a distant hill and I set out on a sort of scavenger hunt to find it. The walk from downtown to Jabal Al-Ashrafiyeh is packed with winding streets and steep staircases (some of which go nowhere). To this day the church is one of my favorite landmarks in Amman and I often make the trek there when I&rsquo;m feeling like getting some exercise and exploring the city. I like to think of it as a pilgrimage—it <em>is</em> a religious site after all!</p></description>
<p>Even if the number of mosques in Amman <em>didn&rsquo;t</em> outnumber churches by a factor of ten, the Saint Thaddeus Armenian Apostolic church would still stand out. The unique architecture caught my eye once and then I started seeing it every time I glanced at Jabal Al-Ashrafiyeh. After weeks of squinting and asking myself &ldquo;<em>Is that an Armenian church?</em>&rdquo; I finally went on an scavenger hunt and found it.</p></description>