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Field notes, travel stories & platform updates from the ActivGate community.

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Showing 41–44 of 44 results
#Ajloun #Ayyubid #Castle

Ajloun Castle: the Ayyubid fortress Saladin built to keep the Crusaders out

Built in 1184 by a commander in Saladin's army, the castle on Mount Ajloun guarded the Damascus–Egypt road and held the line against the La…

Anas Hu · 6 min read
#Amman #Decapolis #Jordan

The Amman Roman Theatre: 6,000 seats cut into the hill across from the Citadel

Built in the 2nd century under Antoninus Pius and oriented north so the sun stays out of spectators' eyes — the largest surviving Roman the…

Anas Hu · 5 min read
#Byzantine #Holy Land #Jordan

The Madaba Map: the oldest surviving mosaic of the Holy Land, still in the church floor

A 6th-century Byzantine mosaic of two million tesserae depicting Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Holy Land — discovered in 1884 under the flo…

Anas Hu · 5 min read
#Archaeology #Decapolis #Gerasa

Jerash: walking the Roman city the 749 earthquake left behind

Forty-eight kilometres north of Amman, the Decapolis city of Gerasa survives in better shape than almost any Roman ruin outside Italy — unt…

Anas Hu · 7 min read