A large colonnaded court and the beautiful temple of Artemis, one of the principal deities of Greek mythology, were uncovered today at Jerash, the ancient Greek city of Gerasa, in Transjordania, by the joint expedition of Yale University and the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem.
Jerash, believed to be the Biblical Ramoth Gilead, as late as the second and third centuries of the Christian era was a flourishing center of Greek civilization devoted to the special worship of Artemis. The ruins were first found in 1806.
The debris reaching down twenty feet and the magnificent stones that have fallen from the walls of the temple, one of the best preserved buildings of Roman times, made the clearing difficult, but the portico and corridors uncovered by the excavators indicates that the base of the great altar will be found soon. Two fine mosaic floors with inscriptions were laid bare and hundreds of coins were turned up in the remains of buildings from Arab, Byzantine and Roman times.
Later buildings and debris cover the newly discovered small temple with an altar and column base. Dozens of plundered tombs complete with doors and great locks and chains, all containing the remains of interesting of
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.