Amman's history goes back a long time, almost 9000 years, to the Stone Age to be exactly. This history is formed by a diversity of settlements (inhabitants) and invaders s.a. Neolithic settlements (+/- 6500y B.C.), the Ammonites in the Iron Age (named in the Bible). Amman was called Rabbath-Ammon then. Fortrtess towers, used to protect against enemies incl. King David, are still there. Then came the aera with the the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians (for several hundred years). In the 4th century they named Amman Philadelphia after Philadelphus the Ptolemaic ruler. After the Seleucid and Nabataean time came the Romans and they modernized the city by building colonaded streets, baths, theatres and amazing buildings. Amman/Philadelphia was the centre of the new Roman province of Arabia and an important hub in the trade route. Christianity became the official religion of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the early 600's Islam was already spreading and Philadelphia became Amman again. The Crusades, the Mameluks of Egypt and the Ottoman empire followed and after 1806 the Amman area was quiet with almost no inhabitants, only Bedouins. After the linking of Medina and Damascus by train Amman became the centre of a busy trade route again.
On the 22nd March 1946, Transjordan secured its independence. Two months later, Abdullah’s title of Emir, was changed to King, and the country was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with Amman as its capital.
East Amman, the old historic city centre, is the hub for the capital's historic sites and cultural activities.
There are numerous museums in Amman including the Royal Automobile Museum, the Jordan Archaeological Museum, Jordan Museum of Popular
Tradition, the Jordan Folklore Museum, Souk Jara, and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts. |
