Ruins of the Amman Citadel Walking Tour – With Captions

Ruins of the Amman Citadel Walking Tour – With Captions

Welcome to the Amman Citadel, an archeological site at the center of downtown Amman, the capital of Jordan. Amman Citadel sits on an L-shaped hill, one of the seven hills that originally made up Amman. The Citadel has a long history of occupation by many great civilizations.

Evidence of inhabitance since the Neolithic period has been found on the site. From here you can see another of Amman’s ancient monuments, the Roman Theater. The hill where the Citadel now lies was fortified during the Bronze Age (1800 BC).

The government has ensured that the modern city does not encroach on the ancient site. The Temple of Hercules is considered to be the most significant Roman structure in the Amman Citadel.

According to an inscription the temple was built when Geminius Marcianus was governor of the Province of Arabia (AD 162–166), in the same period as the Roman Theater in Amman. The temple is about 30 by 24 meters and was probably left unfinished. The portico would once have had six columns.

Archeologists believe that marble from the columns was used to build a Byzantine Church nearby. The temple would have had an outer sanctum of 121 by 72 meters.

Excavations have uncovered signs of human occupation from as far back as the Middle Bronze Age (1650–1550 BC) in the form of a tomb that held pottery and scarab seals. The sculpture garden contains fragments of a colossal partly stone statue, identified as Hercules from the Temple of Hercules.

The museum contains thousands of exhibits including ancient sculptures, pottery and human remains. The museum opened in 1951. The Amman Citadel Mosque is an example of early mosques that imitated the Persian-style apadana hall. This is characterized by a “forest of columns”. These mosques are normally found only in Persia and Mesopotamia.

During the Umayyad period (AD 661–750), a palace structure known in Arabic as al-Qasr was built at the Citadel. The Umayyad Palace was probably used as an administrative building or the residence of an Umayyad official.

The palace draws on Byzantine architectural patterns, for example, the entrance hall is built in the shape of a Greek cross. The palace may have been built on top of an existing Byzantine structure in this shape.

Built during the first half of the 8th century, the Palace is now largely ruined, with a restored domed entrance chamber, known as the “kiosk” or “monumental gateway”. Long before the Umayyad rule, the Citadel was the site of the capital of the Ammonites during the Iron Age.

The hill became the capital of the Kingdom of Ammon sometime after 1200 BC. It was known as “Rabbah” or “Rabbath Ammon”. The Amman Citadel Inscription comes from this period, and is considered to be the oldest known inscription in the Ammonite language, written in the Phoenician Alphabet.

Amman is a city of 4,061,150 people and is the largest in the Levant region. The Colonnaded Street dates from 730 AD and connects key areas of the palace. There is a huge water reservoir dug into the ground adjacent to the palace. It was used to provide fresh water for the palace.

The earliest evidence of settlement in Amman dates to the 8th millennium BC, in a Neolithic site known as ‘Ain Ghazal. After the Kingdom of Ammon, the citadel came under the sway of empires such as the Neo-Assyrian Empire (8th century BC).

In the 6th century, the citadel became part of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and then the Seleucids in the 3rd century. The Byzantine Church dates from around 550 AD. It was built following a basilica plan with a central nave and two side aisles.

It has a semi-circular apse at the eastern end and columns with Corinthian capitals. During the Seleucid era, there were not many architectural changes, but pottery provides evidence for their occupation. The site became Roman around 30 BC. The site eventually came under Muslim rule in 661 AD with the Umayyads.

The Citadel declined in importance under Umayyad rule in the 13th century, but a watchtower was added to the site during this period. Despite the decline which lasted into the 19th century, the Citadel of Amman is considered to be among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places.

Archaeologists have been working at the site since the 1920s but a great part of the Citadel remains unexcavated. Starting in 1995–96, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Jordan began a project to conserve and restore the site to benefit tourists and the local community.

The Roman Theater dates from the second century BC and could once seat up to 6000 spectators. Archeologists believe there is also much more to be excavated around modern Amman too. Tourists to Jordan can purchase the Jordan Pass which grants entry to the Citadel and other attractions like Petra.

This walking tour around the Ruins of the the Amman Citadel in Jordan was filmed on Sunday March 27th, 2022 starting at 9:27 AM at the entrance to the ruins.

🗺️Map of the Walk – https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1qm-qJEgfNU9e67_eAOFvKZLvCFvENY4&usp=sharing 🗺️

🔻𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀🔻
0:00 Intro and Map
1:44 Entrance
7:16 Roman Temples
8:35 Temple of Hercules
13:48 Early Bronze Age Cave
14:32 Sculpture Garden
15:48 Archaeological Museum
17:17 Umayyad Mosque
17:57 Courtyard
18:28 Umayyad Palace
21:47 Umayyad Residential Units
23;22 North Roman Temple Wall
24:38 Umayyad Audience Hall & Throne Room
29:30 Colonnaded Street
31:32 Umayyad Cistern
34:50 Byzantine Church

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For the best viewing experience, be sure to watch on a large smart TV like the Samsung Frame. Closed Captions [CC] which include historical facts and descriptions are available in all languages. This tour was filmed using amazing Binaural Audio 🎧 which is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being there.

No part of this video may be used for personal or private use without written permission from Prowalk Tours. I will not remove a copyright strike after one has been issued.

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