Short answers, pulled from the story.
Ancient Greek inscriptions suggest Alexander the Great founded this city as Gerasa around the spring of 331 BC. Other historical sources attribute the founding to Seleucid King Antioch IV or Ptolemy II of Egypt.
In 1596 Jerash appeared in an Ottoman census as Jaras with a population of twelve Muslim households paying taxes on agricultural products totaling 6,000 akçe. By 1838 the site was described by observers simply as a ruin before modern excavations began.
Approximately 330,000 visitors arrived in Jerash in 2018 making it one of the most visited sites in Jordan behind only Petra. The city hosts the Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts which attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year since 1981.
An archaeological team from the University of Jordan unearthed two human skulls at a site called Tal Abu Sowan in August 2015. These remains date back to the Neolithic period between 7500 BC and 5500 BC.
A devastating earthquake struck in 749 destroying much of Jerash and its surroundings. Subsequent earthquakes contributed to additional destruction over time.