Amman

Evidence of habitation in Jordan’s capitol city dates as early as 7250 BC when it was called Ain Ghazal. During the Iron Age, it was called Ammon and was the capitol of the Kingdom of the Ammonites. During its Greek and Roman periods, the city was called Philadelphia, becoming Amman once it became part of the Ottoman Empire.

We were given an overall tour of the city prior to visiting the Citadel, which mirrors the city in the number of ruins and artifacts from different historic periods. The oldest site on the Citadel that I saw was a Bronze Age cave dating to sometime between 1650 and 1550 BC. No Greek buildings remain, just pieces of pottery.

The Temple of Hercules is the main structure from the Roman period on the Citadel. It was built in roughly 162 to 166. Much of the marble used for the temple was reused for the later Byzantine Church.

A colossal statue of Hercules was once part of the temple. All that is left of it are three fingers and an elbow. It was likely destroyed during an earthquake. Just below the Citadel is a large Roman Theatre.

The Byzantine Church is all that remains from that period, but the early Islamic Umayyad Palace is thought to have been built over another Byzantine building in the beginning of the 8^th century. The palace is mainly in ruins, but the entrance chamber has been restored. Near the palace is a cistern from the same period. The remains of a mosque are also nearby.

In the Archaeological Museum are artifacts from all over Jordan, dating from prehistoric times to the 15^th century. At the time of my visit in 2010, the museum was located at the Citadel. In 2014, a new museum was opened not far from the Citadel (near the Roman Theatre). The new museum was built because the old one had become too small and they couldn’t expand on the Citadel.

In addition to some of the Dead Sea Scrolls (including the only copper versions yet found), the museum also has some of the oldest statues of human figures in the world, dating from when Amman was Ain Ghazal (roughly 7250 BC). Not only could we see these items, but we could photograph them as well.

When we checked into the hotel, we found that we had been upgraded to suites. However, since I had a 2:50am flight from Amman to Frankfurt, it was pretty much useless to me. I did take advantage of the large, jetted tub before dinner. But one of the couples and I were leaving the hotel at midnight. So only two hours between dinner and our pickup time.

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we found we were grounded. The Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull (don’t ask me to pronounce it), after a pause of a few weeks, had started erupting again. Fortunately, our delay was only for about three hours and not overnight. The couple was heading to Toronto and I was flying to Chicago. Upon arrival in Chicago, I needed to re-book my flight to Minneapolis as I had missed the one I was supposed to have been on. By the time I got home, I had been up for nearly 48 hours.

Next time — the start of a tour of the Historic Eastern US.