5/5 János I. 10 months ago on Google
The
Amman
Citadel
(Arabic:
جبل
القلعة,
romanized:
Jabal
Al-Qal'a)
is
an
archeological
site
at
the
center
of
downtown
Amman,
the
capital
of
Jordan.
The
L-shaped
hill
is
one
of
the
seven
hills
(jabals)
that
originally
made
up
Amman.
The
Citadel
has
a
long
history
of
occupation
by
many
great
civilizations.[1]
Evidence
of
inhabitance
since
the
Neolithic
period
has
been
found
and
the
hill
was
fortified
during
the
Bronze
Age
(1800
BCE).
The
hill
became
the
capital
of
the
Kingdom
of
Ammon
sometime
after
1200
BCE.
It
later
came
under
the
sway
of
empires
such
as
the
Neo-Assyrian
Empire
(8th
century
BCE),
Neo-Babylonian
Empire
(6th
century
BC),
the
Ptolemies,
the
Seleucids
(3rd
century
BCE),
Romans
(1st
century
BCE),
Byzantines
(3rd
century
CE)
and
the
Umayyads
(7th
century
CE).[2]
After
the
Umayyads,
came
a
period
of
decline
and
for
much
of
the
time
until
1878
as
the
former
city
became
an
abandoned
pile
of
ruins
only
sporadically
used
by
Bedouins
and
seasonal
farmers.[3][4][5]
Despite
this
gap,
the
Citadel
of
Amman
is
considered
to
be
among
the
world's
oldest
continuously
inhabited
places.[6]
Most
of
the
structures
still
visible
at
the
site
are
from
the
Roman,
Byzantine,
and
Umayyad
periods.[7]
The
major
remains
at
the
site
are
the
Temple
of
Hercules,
a
Byzantine
church,
and
the
Umayyad
Palace.
The
Jordan
Archaeological
Museum
was
built
on
the
hill
in
1951.
Though
the
fortification
walls
enclose
the
heart
of
the
site,
the
ancient
periods
of
occupation
covered
large
areas.
Historic
structures,
tombs,
arches,
walls
and
stairs
have
no
modern
borders,
and
therefore
there
is
considerable
archaeological
potential
at
this
site,
as
well
as
in
surrounding
lands,
and
throughout
Amman.
Archaeologists
have
been
working
at
the
site
since
the
1920s,
including
Italian,
British,
French,
Spanish,
and
Jordanian
projects,[8]
but
a
great
part
of
the
Citadel
remains
unexcavated.