| Page Views: 3,984 Last Visit to Amman: March, 2005 | Amman: the heart of Jordan by Cristian_Uluru - last update: Jul 5, 2005 |
Welcome in the heart of the wonderful Jordan: Philadelphia or as it now knows Amman.
Amman is fantastic and wonderful. The heart of all the town is the Citadel with Romans and Ammonites ruins. From the top of the Citadel you can see a wonderful landscape over the hills of the city.
Amman is an overcrowded town. If you don't know the town you can lose yourself because there are so many cars that it's impossible to understand where you are.
One of the nice place in Amman is Shmeisani, the residential area, where there are beautiful villas and where you can find some good restaurants.
Amman is the perfect starting point if you want to visit all the area around this town. From Amman is very easy to reach Jerash, Ajlun, Pella, the Dead Sea and the Desert Castles. |
| Byzantine basilica & al-Qasr |
|  | Some of history... Amman is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with homes and towers believed to have been built during the Stone Age, circa 7000 BCE. There are many Biblical references to the city, which by about 1200 BC it had become the Ammonite capital of Rabbath-Ammon. The Ammonites fought numerous wars with Saul, David and others. The history of the town between the end of its Biblical references and the time of the Ptolemies is unclear. We do know that the city was renamed Philadelphia after the Ptolemaic ruler Philadelphus in the third century BC. After coming under Seleucid and Nabatean rule, Philadelphia was taken by the Roman vassal King Herod in 30 BC and it became part of the Decapolis League. Under Roman rule, Philadelphia was replanned and reconstructed in typically grand Roman style with a colonnaded street, baths, an amphitheater and impressive public buildings. During the Byzantine period several expansive churches were built in the city. It declined during the late Byzantine years, and was overrun by the Persian Sassanians in 614 CE. Their rule was short-lived, however, collapsing before the Arabian armies of Islam around the year 635. The name of the city then returned to its Semitic origin of Ammon, or "Amman." It remained an important stop on the caravan routes for many years, but eventually trade patterns shifted and dried up the lifeblood of Amman. The city declined to little more than a provincial village for many centuries. The modern history of Amman began in the late 19th century, when the Ottomans resettled a colony of Circassian emigrants there in 1878. During that time and the early decades of the 20th century, the neighboring city of Salt was more important as a regional administrative and political center. However, after the Great Arab Revolt secured the state of Transjordan, Emir Abdullah bin al-Hussein made Amman his capital in 1921.
Enjoy yourself in this fantastic town!!! |
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 Comments for Cristian_Uluru about Amman | | | | |
PierreZA Sat Mar 14, 2009 13:00 UTC
A very helpful and well written page, thank you for sharing. | angiebabe Thu Aug 21, 2008 07:18 UTC
Hi Christian -nice to see yr pg. am looking at possibility of visiting Amman from Israel and renting a car is best? | DAO Sat Jul 12, 2008 00:22 UTC
Excellent page! Really great photos to go with some well researched stories. All the best! | dejavu2gb Mon Jul 7, 2008 19:49 UTC
WOW... Amman seems amazing... The history... the Mosque, Ampitheatre and Citadel seems absolutely amazing... I love the look of the food too... HMMM.... |
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