An Ancient Message for You

Texts, voicemail, letters, books, tattoos, photographs, film…How do you tell your story? How do you record your family history?

These tools were not available in the year 280 C.E. As you explore Umm al-Jimal, pay close attention as you may find stories carved into the stones of the buildings, almost hidden in plain sight. Etched into the ancient basalt rock are carvings full of meaning. As you pass under a doorway into the church, look up; the lintel carries a hand-carved prayer of commitment.

Inscriptions are a way to understand past societies from their detailed religious practices to governmental regime rules. Who were these people? What did they want to share? What did they want to leave behind? How do they live together peacefully?

The Inscription Garden at Umm al-Jimal Interpretive Center holds answers to many of these questions on inscriptions from the 1st to 9th centuries AD.

Inscriptions tell the story of identity. What do you truly know about yourself? What would you leave behind on your inscription? How are you the same as people of the past? What parts of our identity do we all share?