The Roman theatre and other Amman, Jordan Things to Do Tips

This is the more spectacular remaining of the old Philadelphia (the name Amman was given during the Hellenistic period by Ptolemy Philadelphius in honour of his sister-wife Arsinoe Philadelphia).
Built in the 2nd century, it could contain 6000 spectators.
Quite impressive this is definitely worth the 500fils (0.5 JD) you pay to enter. Small warning, this is closed quite early : at 4pm on a Saturday (in september)

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I’d be ready to bet lots of tourists are not aware of it but with the same ticket, you can visit as well, the Odeon. Indeed you can easily miss this tiny theatre. Located between the huge theatre and the forum, it has been built in the beginning of the 2nd century.

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Still with the same 500fils ticket, you can visit as well two small museums. The first one presents traditional clothes from the area. The second one presents some objects typical of the day to day life and reproduces scenes of the traditional life: Bedouin caravan, village’s house, local artwork,…

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The site of Amman, ancient Rabbath Beni ‘Ammon, was occupied from as early as 8500-5500BC (pre-pottery neolithic).
Settlements in the subsequent periods were revealed mainly on the citadel. This is a natural hill of 840m.
After the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom by Trajan in 106 and the building of the Via Nova Tralana, Amman/ Philadelphia prospered being situated along this Roman road between Damascus and the Red Sea. In the Antonine period, in the 2nd century AD, Amman experienced reorganization as an urban centre based on a Greco-roman city plan, complete with an acropolis, temples and a lower city.

The picture has been taken from the Jabal Weibdeh, one of the other 7 mounts on which Amman has been built.

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Not much left of this temple erected in the 2nd centry under the roman emperor Marc-Aurele. However these 3 columns give a good idea of the temple splendor. At this time a huge marble statue of Hercule was standing there.

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The decline of the city began in the late Byzantine period, around the mid-6th to first half of the 7th century, which aided the Arab Muslim troops, led by Yazid Ibn Abi Sufyan to conquer Amman in 634. The citadel had always been the “symbol” of Amman and thus the governor’s headquarters. It appears obvious that the Umayyad retains this nucleus of the city for their own governor. As a capital of the Belqa, Amman became thus the residence of the governor in the Umayyad period (661-750).
Being already well-placed as a geographical centre and thus as a headquarter, the city was given an additional and important role in the Umayyad period because it became a main stopping point on a major road between Damascus and the holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Madina. This prosperous era was brought to an abrupt end through natural disasters: the epidemic plague and the catastrophic earthquake in 749.

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The qasr was the Umayyad palace. What is left of it is this “diwan”. This is the room where the calife receive his subjects. Its size and luxury was supposed to impress the visitor.

Originally the diwan was covered with a dome. The actual structure is too weak to support again this kind of weight. During the renovation, it has however been decided to cover it again but with a much lighter structure.

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Spanish are pretty much involved in the renovation of this site. Indeed they have a pretty good knowledge of the Umayyad architecture.
Even if the Ummayyad buildings we can find in Spain are more recent, Spanish have developed a pretty good expertise in this area.

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Water has always been a scarce ressource in the area.
This huge reservoir was built during the Umayyad period to collect the rain water.
A huge pillar was standing in the middle to measure the level.

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That was originally one of the main roman streets crossing the city.
It has later been recycled in the Ummayyad Qasr as the way leading to the therms

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