COMMODUS GATE

How To

Commodus Gate Conservation

Preserving a major mixed-use complex.

  • Connecting Umm el-Jimal to the World

    This bird's eye view of the Commodus Gate, just east (right) of the West Church near the center of the image, illustrates its central role as the main connection between ancient Umm el-Jimal and its surroundings. Today this area forms a bridge between the historical site and modern town.

  • How a Gate Was Named

    Early 20th-century archaeologist H. C. Butler found this Roman dedication inscription among the tumbled stones of Umm el-Jimal's western gate. Such inscriptions usually referenced the current emperor at time of construction—in this case co-rulers Marcus Aurelius and his son, Lucianus Commodus, who reigned together from AD 177-180. The stone would have been positioned just over the gate's arched entryway and visible to all who passed underneath. While Butler's name for the gate lives on, the original stone itself no longer survives.

  • In Need of Conservation

    After eighteen centuries and several major historical earthquakes in the region, by 2015 little remained standing of the original gate. Oral histories from Umm el-Jimal recount that during the early 1940s residents of nearby Umm ar-Rumman, in southern Syria, took many of the stones from the West Church and Commodus Gate by camel caravan for use in their own construction projects. Here the Umm el-Jimal project team prepares to begin survey, excavation, and conservation of this important area of the site.

  • An Ancient Game?

    These holes carved into the doorstep of the Commodus Gate may have been used to play a game similar to Mankala. While it's impossible to know for sure, perhaps the gate's guards used the game to help pass their time on duty.

  • Survey and Planning

    Project architect Ruth Cahill, among the third generation of de Vries family members to work at Umm el-Jimal, oversaw a comprehensive survey of the Commodus Gate and west entryway area before archaeological excavations and conservation began in May, 2015.

  • Plan and Structure

    The gate itself consisted of two small gatehouses connected by a single arch forming a passageway about thirteen feet across—large enough for several people and animals to enter or exit at once. Excavations revealed that the walls on either side of the gate were built at the same time.

  • Uncovering an Ancient Road

    Ahlam Hamdan, a project archaeologist and life-long Umm el-Jimal resident, jots down field notes for her square, EE.6. Visible in the trench are paving stones which formed part of a road leading from Umm el-Jimal and the Commodus Gate to the Via Trajana, a major trade highway a few kilometers away.

  • Finding a Date

    This potsherd was found deep within the fill between the interior and exterior west wall of the north gatehouse. Though humble in current form, this eastern terra sigillata sherd is a second-century Roman ceramic ware. Hence its presence inside the wall helps confirm the construction of the Commodus Gate to the late 2nd-century AD.

  • Preparing the Stones

    Jordanian archaeologists from the team prepare the basalt blocks which remain standing to be catalogued, photographed, and moved by numbering them consecutively. This way, each can be put back in its original position as the gate is rebuilt from the ground up.

  • Block by Block

    Conservators move the catalogued stones back to the gate area, to be fit into the reconstituted gate walls.

  • Rebuilding the Gate

    Archaeologists painstakingly move stones back into their respective places one at a time, chinking the larger blocks with small, flat rocks in order to ensure a sturdy and level reconstituted wall.

  • Cleaning Up

    When the stones are once again securely in place, the numbers—as well as some old, yellow graffiti paint—are carefully washed away.

  • Conservation Complete

    A rare rainy day in November, 2015, saw the conclusion of conservation work at the Commodus Gate. A key concern of the project was to only restore parts of the gate which could be directly confirmed by archaeological and historical evidence, rather than rebuild the entire structure. This scientifically-appropriate style of conservation is known as anastylosis.

  • The Commodus Gate, 100 Years Ago

    This early 20th century photo by H. C. Butler shows a much more substantial and intact Commodus Gate. A regional earthquake in 1926, combined with the usual weathering and wear, combined to reduce the gate to its pre-conservation state.

  • Butler's Reconstruction Drawing

    Butler developed a speculative reconstruction of the Commodus Gate based on its structure at the time of his 1905 and 1909 expeditions, as well as the remains from the gate which still lay nearby. The presence of fallen arch stones at the time helped him recreate a likely design of the gate during antiquity.

  • 3D Visualization

    A CAD-based update to Butler's work better illustrates what the Gate of Commodus could have looked like in antiquity. Since the complete architecture of the original gate can never be known, all of the west-facing stones which still stood during Butler's time have been marked with a dot pattern to denote them from stones already missing before his arrival at Umm el-Jimal.

  • An Enduring Presence

    While not scientifically accurate, a simple digital overlay of Butler's west elevation drawing superimposed over the gate's remains helps modern visitors to the site understand the Commodus Gate's monumental scale. For Umm el-Jimal's ancient citizens, the town's gate and walls must have been an enduring and everyday presence. Note that the photo used in this illustration predates the Commodus Gate's 2015 conservation process.

A Monumental Entrance

In ancient times Umm el-Jimal's monumental Commodus Gate was the town's main entrance. The gate is named after Lucius Commodus, co-ruler of Rome along with his father Marcus Aurelius from AD 177-180, after their names were discovered on an associated dedicatory inscription. (Archaeological research has confirmed the gate’s construction to the late 2nd century AD.) The gate was designed as a symbol of Rome’s power on the Arabian frontier. Located on the northwest edge of the main site, remains of an ancient road lead from the gate toward nearby Qasr Al-Ba’ij and the nearby Via Trajana—the major Roman highway running from Ayla (Aqaba) to Bostra.

Archaeological investigation of the Commodus Gate has helped uncover the story of life at Umm el-Jimal over several centuries. While not defensive in nature, the site’s original Roman perimeter wall connects to the gate and would have provided some security for animals and people. The gate survived Umm el-Jimal’s temporary destruction in the late 3rd century rebellion of Queen Zenobia against Rome, and soon after the road leading away from the site was repaved. Sometime in the 7th century AD (Late Byzantine or Umayyad periods) the road and part of the gate’s north tower were again resurfaced. This was most likely part of the general remodeling of the site at that time, as confirmed by other structures such as the Praetorium and the House XVII-XVIII complex.

Conservation

Today, the Commodus Gate is the primary intersection between Umm el-Jimal's modern community and its ancient town. In 2015-2016, a grant from the Sustainable Cultural Heritage through Engagement of Local Communities Project program by USAID and the American Center of Oriental Research made its conservation possible as part of the Umm el-Jimal Project's long term site plan—including the west entryway's coming development into a park connecting the city and site. Watch the slideshow above to find out about how the gate was conserved, and to see virtual reconstructions of how it likely appeared in antiquity.

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Working to conserve the Commodus Gate

Conserving the Gate

Find out more about the process of excavating, consolidating, and conserving the Commodus Gate by watching brief films in Site Conservation. For more about another of Umm el-Jimal's most prominent buildings, watch the Barracks clip in Short Films.