Amman
Amman is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of five million as of 2024, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant region, the fifth-largest city in the Arab world, and the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the Middle East.
Amman is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The earliest evidence of settlement in Amman dates to the 8th millennium BC in 'Ain Ghazal, home to the world's oldest statues of the human form. During the Iron Age, the city was known as Rabat Aman, the capital of the Ammonite Kingdom. In the 3rd century BC, the city was renamed Philadelphia and became one of the ten Greco-Roman cities of the Decapolis. Later, in the 7th century AD, the Rashidun Caliphate renamed the city Amman. Throughout most of the Islamic era, the city alternated between periods of devastation and periods of relative prosperity. Amman was largely abandoned during the Ottoman period from the 15th century until 1878, when it was resettled by Circassians. The city grew after it was connected to the Hejaz Railway in 1904, leading to the formation of its first municipal council in 1909.
Amman witnessed rapid growth after its designation as Transjordan's capital in 1921, receiving migrations from different Jordanian and Levantine cities, and later several successive waves of refugees: Palestinians in 1948 and 1967; Iraqis in 1990 and 2003; and Syrians since 2011. It was initially built on seven hills, but now spans over 19 hills combining 22 areas, which are administered by the Greater Amman Municipality. Areas of Amman have gained their names from either the hills or the valleys they occupy, such as Jabal al-Luweibdeh and Wadi Abdoun. East Amman is predominantly filled with historic sites that frequently host cultural activities, while West Amman is more modern and serves as the economic center of the city.
Approximately one million visitors arrived in Amman in 2018, which made it the 89th most-visited city in the world and the 12th most-visited Arab city. Amman has a relatively fast growing economy and it is ranked as a Beta− global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Moreover, it was named one of the Middle East and North Africa's best cities according to economic, labor, environmental, and socio-cultural factors. The city is among the most popular locations in the Arab world for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai. Amman has a bus network, including a Bus Rapid Transit system that serves the city and connects it to neighboring Zarqa.
Etymology
Amman derives its name from the ancient people of the Ammonites, whose capital the city had been since the 13th century BC. The Ammonites named it Rabat ʿAmmān, with the term Rabat meaning the "Capital" or the "King's Quarters". In the Hebrew Bible, the town is referred to as Rabbaṯ Bənē ʿAmmōn or simply Rabbā, and it appears in English translations as "Rabbah of the Ammonites," "Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, or "Rabbath Ammon." Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Macedonian ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who reigned from 283 to 246 BC, renamed the city Philadelphia, after himself, after occupying it. By the Islamic era, the Rashidun Caliphate restored its ancient Semitic name and called it Amman in the 7th century AD.History
Neolithic period
The Neolithic site of ʿAin Ghazal today lies in the outskirts of Amman. At its height, around 7000 BC, it had an area of and was inhabited by ca. 3000 people. At that time, the site was a typical aceramic Neolithic village. Its houses were rectangular mud-bricked buildings that included a main square living room, whose walls were made up of lime plaster. The site was discovered in 1974 as construction workers were working on a road crossing the area. By 1982, when the excavations started, around of road ran through the site. Despite the damage brought by urban expansion, the remains of ʿAin Ghazal provided a wealth of information.ʿAin Ghazal is well known for a set of small human statues found in 1983, when local archeologists stumbled upon the edge of a large pit containing them. These statues are human figures made with white plaster, with painted eyes. Thirty-two figures were found in two caches, fifteen of them full figures, fifteen busts, and two fragmentary heads. Three of the busts depicted two-headed characters, the significance of which is not clear.
Iron Age: the Ammonites
In the 13th century BC, Amman was the capital of the Ammonite Kingdom, and became known as "Rabat Amman". Rabat Amman provided several natural resources to the region, including sandstone and limestone, along with a productive agricultural sector that made it a vital location along the King's Highway, the ancient trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia. As with the Edomites and Moabites, trade along this route gave the Ammonites considerable revenue. Milcom is named in the Hebrew Bible as the national god of Rabat Amman. Another ancient deity, Moloch, usually associated with the use of children as offerings, is also mentioned in the Bible as a god of the Ammonites, but this is probably a mistake for Milcom. However, excavations by archeologists near Amman Civil Airport uncovered a temple, which included an altar containing many human bone fragments. The bones showed evidence of burning, which led to the assumption that the altar functioned as a pyre and used for human sacrifice.Amman is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, the Ammonite king Hanun allied with Hadadezer, king of Aram-Zobah, against the United Kingdom of Israel. During the war, Joab, the captain of King David's army, laid siege to Rabbah, Hanun's royal capital, and destroyed it. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city, including the king's crown, and brought it to his capital, Jerusalem. Hanun's brother, Shobi, was made king in his place, and became a loyal vassal of David. Hundreds of years later, the prophet Jeremiah foresaw the coming destruction and final desolation of the city.
Several Ammonite ruins across Amman exist, such as Rujm Al-Malfouf and some parts of the Amman Citadel. The ruins of Rujm Al-Malfouf consist of a stone watchtower used to ensure the protection of their capital and several store rooms to the east. The city was later conquered by the Assyrians, followed by the Babylonians and the Achaemenid Persians.
Classical and late antiquity
Hellenistic period
Conquest of the Near East by Alexander the Great firmly consolidated the influence of Hellenistic culture, marking the start of the Hellenistic period. Little is known about Greek/Macedonian control over the Levantine coast and Transjordan until 301 BCE, 22 years after Alexander's death, when the Ptolemies took control over this area. The Greeks founded new cities in the area of modern-day Jordan, including Gadara, Gerasa, Pella and Philadelphia. Ptolemy II nicknamed Philadelphus, the Macedonian ruler of Egypt, established in or before 259/58 BCE at the site of Amman what was initially probably a military colony, which then developed into a full-blown Greek-type polis, possibly by settling there Hellenised Tyrean colonists. Ptolemy II named it Philadelphia, evoking "brotherly love" in Greek, in adulation to his own nickname.Written sources speak of members of the Jewish Tobiad family based in Jerusalem, who worked for the Ptolemies as tax collectors in charge of the entire region. The last known Tobiad, Hyrcanus, built the unique Hellenistic palace of Tyros southwest of Philadelpheia, before killing himself in -168 BC as the Seleucid king Antiochus IV seemed poised to attack him. This was one of several episodes in the Syrian Wars between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, ending with the 200 BCE victory of the Seleucids at the Battle of Panium. In 218/17 BCE for instance, Seleucid king Antiochus III destroyed the Ptolemaic garrisons in the centre of Transjordan, capturing Philadelpheia in the process. Even after 200 BCE, Philadelpheia seems to have broken free at times from Seleucid rule and probably also escaped capture by Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaios, who was more successful elsewhere in the region. Other Hasmonean and Nabataean rulers acted as regional power brokers, contributing to the instability of the political situation during the 2nd century BCE and until the advent of the Roman period in the following century, which led to the Hellenisation of the region only truly setting in under the Romans.
Roman period
The Romans conquered much of the Levant in 63 BC, inaugurating a period of imperial rule conducted from Rome that lasted for four centuries. In the northern parts of modern-day Jordan, the Greek cities of Philadelphia, Gerasa, Gedara, Pella and Arbila joined with other cities in Palestine and southern parts of today's Syria to form the Decapolis League, a confederation based on common economic and cultural interests. Philadelphia became a point along a road stretching from Ailah to Damascus that was built by Emperor Trajan in AD 106. This provided an economic boost for the city in a short period of time.There are traces of Roman construction all across Jordan. In Amman the most conspicuous structures include the Great Temple at the Amman Citadel, the Roman Theatre, the Odeon, and the Nymphaeum. The two theaters and the nymphaeum fountain were built during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius around AD 161. The theatre was the larger venue of the two and had a capacity for 6,000 attendees. It was oriented north and built into the hillside, to protect the audience from the sun. To the northeast of the theatre was a small odeon. Built at roughly the same time as the theatre, the Odeon had 500 seats and is still in use today for music concerts. Archaeologists speculate that the structure was originally covered with a wooden roof to shield the audience from the weather. The Nymphaeum is situated southwest of the Odeon and served as Philadelphia's chief fountain. The Nymphaeum is believed to have contained a pool which was deep and was continuously refilled with water.