The Old Amman and other Amman, Jordan Things to Do Tips

The city Rabbah Ammon had its origins in the period about 1500 BC, and was important as the chief city of the Ammonites. In the 3rd century BC the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philadelphus captured it and renamed it Philadelphia, under which name it was known throughout the eras of the Roman and Byzantine empires. Many ruins of this period can be seen in Amman today. In the 1st century AD it was a leading city of the Roman province of Arabia. Lost to the Byzantines at the rise of Islam and subsequently conquered by Arabs in the 7th century, the city fell into decline by about 1300, again taking its former name, Rabbah Ammon. It was revived in the 20th century. An important Turkish base during World War I, it was taken from the Turks by the British in September 1918. Amman became the capital of newly independent Jordan in 1946.

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