15 September 2011
Arjan-Amman Jordan
4:55pm
Greetings,
I know I’ve been out of touch for a while, but I became quite ill and was forced to spend the past 24 hours in bed. This was good since I’ve recently become so scared of my Arabic teacher that the idea of going to class with anything less than utter fluency (or at least a grip on the idea of pronoun endings) makes me shake. That is NOT why I stayed home from school. I stayed home because of the fever, crushing muscle aches, and exhaustion. This post is a few days old (and by “a few” I mean “seven”), but the pictures are great so enjoy it anyway.
Alexandra, Melissa, and I went up to look at the ruins on the hill overlooking Amman. The view of Amman is a beautiful 360 panorama. I might get ambitious and try to put some prints together to make a panoramic picture when I get home, but I don't know if I can be that creative.
Check out that view.
I've always been a bit of a nerd for ancient history, so I was really excited. The oldest thing there is the Temple of Hercules, which was built thousands of years ago when the Roman's controlled the area. It fell down (as things that are thousands of old tend to do) and parts of it we rebuilt as they were excavated in the 20th century. They pillars that are standing now are exactly as they were at the time Christ crucified (less that 50 miles away!) It blows my mind. The temple was dedicated to the Hero God Hercules, and there was a stature that stood over 13 meters high on the same site, of which only two pieces remain intact I was amazed by the amount of detail on the fingers, and wish the rest was still around to see.
The Temple of Hercules
The hand of Hercules
Near the Temple is the National Archeological Museum, one of the largest archeological museums in the country- we bought bottled water there for .5JD a piece- it was hot in that sun! We took a heat-break to look at the exhibits before we went back out to see the rest of the site.
When we got back outside we looked that the Byzantine church ruins, built about 700AD. I was amazed at how small it seemed, only about the size of a good sized living room, but with more pillars. Very little is known about the church or the people who worshiped there, kind of an archeological mystery.
Just past the church is the Umyyad palace. The Umayyads were an early Islamic group that that controlled the region for quite some time. In 730 they used parts of the existing Roman and Christian architecture to build a good sized city on the mountain and made it the seat of governance in the region. The entire complex had a mosque, government halls, residential areas, semi-permanent souke (market), and cistern for water. The common people lived on the sides of the hill in what is today downtown Amman. The cool thing about this site is that- since it was used continually from 0 AD on, a lot of the structures are preserved. For example, the Umyyads used both the Byzantine church and the roads made by the romans as integral parts of the construction of the city. In 750 the Ammonites conquered the city, and they used the existing architecture as well.
The governor's receiving hall
Rode connecting the official buildings to the residential areas. It was build by the Roman's about the same time as the temple and re-uded by the Umyyads and Ammolites.
Just like when we saw the Amphitheater I couldn't believe that we were able to walk right up to- and touch- this amazing history. It only cost 2JD admission and 10 JD for a tour guide. We forwent the tour guide and I did the guiding from the map and informational flyers they gave me at the entrance.
At the exit a taxi driver asked us where we were going and said he could give us a ride, but because he only worked at the Citadel it would cost us 4 JD. I have never paid more than 2JD to get anywhere in the city, and I wasn't about to start now, so I told him that we would just walk and get a cab at the bottom of the hill. I suspected he was trying to take advantage of us because we're obviously American. Alexandra and I live close to the ruin- it only cost us 1.25 JD once we found a cab. I told Hiba when I got back and she told me that it is actually illegal for them to charge more than is on the meter, so next time I should make a point of showing him that I'm writing down the license plate number and they will give me the correct price. My friend Melissa taught me an Arabic phrase that literally translates to "I am a woman of the country" which is code for "You aren't going to rip me off because I'm American and a woman."
Just because I'm a woman of the country does not mean I do not take obligatory solo tourist pictures in front of historic landmarks. At least this way you know its really me.
This weekend we’re taking an SIT group trip to As-Salt, a nearby city, to visit the market and museums there- I’ll be sure to take pictures!
All the best,
B
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