Jordan

Abila City

WHS Score 0.38
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  • Riccardo Quaranta

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  • Alexander Lehmann
Abila was one of the cities of the Decapolis, a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire (now in Jordan, Syria and Israel). The site had been inhabited already by the Iron Age and possibly even the Bronze Age. During the Roman period it gained regional importance. It had an advance water system sustained by two aqueducts.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Abila City (Modern Qweilbeh) (ID: 1557)
Country
Jordan
Status
On tentative list 2001 Site history
History of Abila City
2001: Added to Tentative List
Added to tentative list
Criteria
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org

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First published: 22/08/23.

Riccardo Quaranta

Abila City

Abila City (On tentative list)

Abila City by Riccardo Quaranta

I visited Abila in August 2023 during my extensive trip in Jordan. I visited it in combination with the others TWHS in northern Jordan making up the series of the Decapolis cities.

I had some expectation on this site based on other TWHS in Jordan (and on Google reviews and WHC description) but, unfortunately, Abila didn't meet them at all.

But let's start from the beginning.

I used Jerash as a base for the exploration of northern Jordan by rental car, as it seemed the easiest thing to do without the need to go back to Amman at the end of every single day and each TWHS in the area can be reached in about 1 hour from Jerash. Reaching Abila was relatively easy, it's clearly marked in Google Maps, although it isn't clear that the last part of the road is on an unpaved steep dirt road that goes through some crops. Nothing impossible though. My regular small sedan could make it easily. However, once I reached the first ruins of Abila, I realised that the site isn't managed or maintained properly. There is nothing, not even a sign marking the importance of the place. The main ruins are located in a valley, and they seem almost completely abandoned, although I believe there must be some sort of regular maintenance.

From the description on the WHC website the place seems full of things to see, unfortunately not much is left beside the main Basilica (in …

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