South Cardo

Southern part of the Cardo of Gerasa, the main axis of the city. It is an over 800 m long colonnade street that stretches from the Oval Plaza to the North Gate. Because of the course of the Chrysorhoas (Gold River) and the topography of the area, the Cardo does not run exactly from south to north (as usual), but slightly shifted to north northeast.

The street plan of Gerasa was designed in the middle of the 1st century A.D. according to the Greek-Roman model of a strict grid. In the 2nd century A.D. extensive changes took place. The main road was widened, the Ionic columns replaced by Corinthian ones (except at the Oval Plaza and the northern Cardo) and raised in front of the entrances important buildings to highlight them, a new diagonal paving was done to reduce the hard pushing of the cart wheels somewhat.

About 1 m below the Cardo runs the Cloaca maxima, the main sewer, crossed by secondary sewers, e.g. under the South Tetrapylon.