Umm El-Jimal - Brief History

Brief History

The village of Umm el-Jimal originated in the first century A.D. as a rural suburb of the ancient Nabataean capital of Bostra. A number of Greek and Nabataean inscriptions found on the site date the village to this time. During the first century, the population of the site is estimated at 2,000-3,000 people. Upon the foundation of Provincia Arabia in A.D. 106 the Romans took over the village as Emperor Trajan incorporated the surrounding lands into the empire. In the village, the Romans erected a number of buildings including the Praetorium and the large reservoir near the castellum. After the Rebellion of Queen Zenobia in A.D. 275, Roman countermeasures included the construction of a fort (Tetrarchic castellum) that housed a military garrison. As Roman influence in the area gradually diminished, the area once again became a rural village under control of the new Byzantine Empire. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Umm el-Jimal prospered as a farming and trading town in which the population jumped to an estimated 4,000-6,000 people. However, after the Muslim conquests of the 7th century A.D., the village population diminished even though building projects and renovations continued to take place. In circa A.D. 749 an earthquake destroyed much of the area and Umm el-Jimal was abandoned like other towns and villages. The village remained uninhabited for nearly eleven hundred years until the modern community developed in the twentieth century.