THE CITADEL (JABAL AL QALA'A)

An emblematic monument of ancient Philadelphia, the citadel of Amman is worth a visit whether you are an archaeology enthusiast or not. It offers an extraordinary panorama of the city and its hills of beige stone buildings. The lower city and the Roman amphitheater spread out at your feet while the minarets of the mosques break with their verticality the architectural uniformity of the city. At nightfall, the muezzins sound their haunting call to prayer and the neon lights of the mosques tint the black sky with green, like an aurora borealis. If you're in a chauffeured car, ask it to arrive from the north (Salah Ad-Din al-Ayoubi St.) and enjoy incredible views of the city and the citadel, which stands majestically at the last moment. The site is very pleasant to walk around and Jordanian families go there for picnics on weekends. In summer, you should come early in the morning to avoid the hot hours of the day. It takes between 2 hours and half a day to visit.

History. The L-shaped hill was occupied long before the citadel was built. A tomb dating from 1650 B.C. was discovered here, containing pottery. An inscription on a limestone tablet was found in a very good state of preservation at the site in 1961. This text, the oldest in the Ammonite language, dates back to 800 BC. The various civilizations that have occupied the region from the Assyrians in the 8th century BC to the Umayyads in the 8th century have all left their mark on Qala'a Hill. The Greeks may have built the city of Philadelphia, whose power was known throughout the empire, but they left no visible traces on the site. It was not until the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (160-181) that the city changed its face and became part of the Decapolis. He used the plan of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the world. The Byzantines built a church, while the Umayyads added a mosque and a palace

The low citadel. From the entrance to the site, a gently sloping path climbs to the top of the plateau of al-Qala'a hill. There are some poorly documented ruins and a cave that was once a dwelling. One can also observe the remains of the Roman fortifications.

The temple of Hercules. Built when Geminius Marcianus (162-166) was the Roman governor of the Province of Arabia, the Temple of Hercules may have been built over an ammonite temple. It measures 30 x 24 meters and a smaller sanctuary is attached to it. It is the oldest monument of the very powerful Philadelphia. The Romans worshipped their demigod Hercules, the man of 12 labors. A gigantic statue stood at the entrance of the temple, as evidenced by the fragment of a hand that now lies at its feet. Of the temple, only the high columns and a fragment of the lintel remain. The missing marble would have been used as building material for the nearby Byzantine church. However, the whole building has not been excavated and discoveries are perhaps to be made.

The archaeological museum. A visit to this old museum is a must if you are interested in the ancient history of Jordan: some incredible pieces are on display. The collections are presented chronologically from the Neolithic to the Roman occupation. Artifacts are displayed in English. Notable works include the strange anthropomorphic statues of Ain Ghazal. They are 10,000 years old and are among the oldest idols in the world. The body is rudimentary and abstract, but the details of the faces are remarkable. The mouth and nostrils are clearly visible, but especially the eyes in relief, painted in black thanks to an inlay of bitumen. The material has been modeled by hand on a network of reed branches tied together to give them their internal structure like a skeleton. The plaster of which they are composed is then baked, thus attesting to a mastery of high temperatures. The two-headed statue is the most remarkable. A total of 15 statues of the same type have been discovered at Ain Gazhal. One is on loan to the Louvre and a second to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

To the right of the room, 7,000-year-old skulls come from the ancient city of Jericho, the oldest city in the world. They were covered with clay during a burial rite. All of the adjacent display cases showcase relics found in Jericho, including trepanning skulls.

In the "Iron Age II" section, admire the statue of Yerah "Azar, son of Zakir, son of Sanipu," carved 700-800 B.C. This Ammonite king reveals in his features and symbolism the influence of the powerful neighboring Egypt of the time, especially the lotus flower he carries in his left hand crossed over his belly, a royal symbol used by the pharaohs of the new Egyptian empire, copied by the Assyrians and Aramaeans. She also wears the clothes of Aramaic dignitaries, showing the various regional influences at the time of her creation.

The museum also houses a reproduction of the Mesha stele. Its text, written in a variant of Phoenician, tells how the Moabite god Chemosh became angry with his people for being seduced by Israel and how he came to the aid of King Mesha to free the Moabites from the yoke of the Jewish people. This stele was discovered in 1868 by a German missionary in the village of Dhiban. This discovery aroused the British, French and German appetite to own it. The French archaeologist Clermont-Ganneau managed to make an imprint of the stele before it was destroyed by the Bedouins who were angry at the pressure exerted by the Ottomans to sell the stele to the Germans. A copy of the reconstruction of the "Moab Stone" made from partial original fragments is held by the Louvre Museum.

Finally, the museum also houses superb anthropomorphic clay sarcophagi used in the Iron Age, between the 13th and 8th centuries BC.

The Byzantine church. To the north-east of the Temple of Hercules, heading towards the upper terrace, we come to the ruins of a Byzantine church of rather modest dimensions. It would date from the^5th or 6th century and would have been built with part of the stones of the temple of Hercules. A series of mosaics has been brought to light. Excavations carried out intermittently suggest that the Byzantine city extended over the entire hill. Twenty meters further on is a large round cistern 5 meters deep. It could hold 1,000^m3 of rainwater and supplied the Umayyad Palace. Just next to it are the remains of an olive press.

The Umayyad mosque. The mosque attached to the Umayyad palace was built around 730 on the highest point of the hill. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the vaulted ceilings. Only seven rows of columns arranged around a central courtyard and part of the southern wall remain.

The Umayyad Palace. This monument would have been built around 720 by the Umayyads, under the reign of the Caliph Hisham. A true testimony of the splendor of the time, it included nine residential quarters opening onto a central courtyard. Only the courtroom survived the earthquake of 749. It is built on the foundations of an ancient Byzantine church (hence the cross shape) and covered with a wooden dome added in 1998. One can still admire the geometric patterns finely carved in the stone, inherited from Byzantine traditions. The palace was equipped with thermal baths, whose pipes date back to Roman times. Behind the hall, a courtyard leads to an alley of columns that must have been the heart of the administrative quarter. At the end of the alley is another square and the remains of the actual Umayyad palace. The distribution of the quarters shows the existing hierarchy in the city, ending with a porticoed courtyard leading to the throne room.