Sheep graze near the ruins of a colonnaded Roman street in Jerash, 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Amman. Part of the Greco-Roman Decapolis League under Pompey the Great during its golden age, the ancient city’s remarkably well preserved ruins include public plazas, temples, and theaters.
Resting on a plate of stony coral, a giant carpet sea anemone coexists with bright clownfish in the Red Sea, which meets the southwest tip of Jordan at Aqaba. Isolated from the open ocean, the sea harbors a wealth of endemic marine creatures: One-fifth of the species are found nowhere else.
An intimate portrait of a Bedouin woman captures the enduring traditions of those who call Petra home. The woman’s forebears were among the Bedouin encountered in 1812 by Swiss scholar Johann Burckhardt, the first modern European to see the ruined Nabataean city of ancient lore, which vanished from most maps in the seventh century.
Wind-combed dunes meet parched mud flats in Wadi Rum, a stark desertscape in southwestern Jordan. Revered for its dramatic sandstone and granite rock faces cut into a breathtaking span of sunbaked desert, Wadi Rum was made famous by Lawrence of Arabia, who based his operations there during the Arab Revolt.