Umm el-Jimal is a village in Northern Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 approximately 17 kilometers west of Mafraq

Mafraq

Mafraq is the capital city of Mafraq Governorate, Jordan, located 80 Km to the north from the Jordanian capital Amman in crossroad to Syria to the north and Iraq to the east. It has 58,954 inhabitants...

. It is primarily notable for the substantial ruins of a Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 and early Islamic town which are clearly visible above the ground, as well as an older Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 village located to the southwest of the Byzantine ruins.

History

The village was first settled in the second century A.D. following the incorporation of the Nabatean empire into the Roman empire by Trajan. This settlement was destroyed in the middle of the third century A.D., probably during the revolt against the Romans led by Queen Zenobia

Zenobia

Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria. She led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire following Odaenathus' death in 267...

 of Palmyra (de Vries 1990).

The Byzantine village began as a military outpost in the late Roman attempt to defend the Empire's periphery. A prosperous rural community developed around this outpost, reaching its peak in the sixth century A.D. Plague and war weakened the community, and the earthquake of 748

748

Year 748 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 748 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* January – An earthquake strikes the Middle...

 resulted in destruction from which it was never able to recover (de Vries 1990).

The site remained unoccupied until the early 20th century when a community of Druze

Druze

The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...

settled in Umm el-Jimal for a few years reusing the ancient Byzantine structures, before abandoning the site again. The current village was established around 1950 and is built around the Byzantine remains (de Vries 1990).