A trip downtown to see this ancient example of Roman architecture allows you to wonder at the past, stand on the stage and marvel at the clever acoustics, and to observe modern and ancient cultures merge together.

The Roman Amphitheatre in Amman

Pillars of Wisdom

Visitors to the Amphitheatre are often struck by its dizzying gradient; it is built into the side of the cliff which was partly cut away to accommodate it.

Amman: Sara Kilani

Amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy day in a thriving city, nestled between a mountain and countless fast - food restaurants, clothes shops, shoe shops and even pet shops, lies a stunning stone marvel that temporarily blocks out the sound of honking taxis and hollering boys. Located in the center of Jordan’s capital, Amman, the Roman Amphitheatre is a startling reminder of the country’s ancient heritage.

The Amphitheatre was built under Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) when Amman was the Roman city of Philadelphia. Once upon a time it played host to athletes, musicians, actors, and orators. The Amphitheatre has all the traditional hallmarks of a Roman stage, but perhaps most impressive is that today, it is still used as a venue to entertain up to 5000 citizens of modern day Amman, with performances ranging from ballets to pop concerts being held on its renovated stage. Adjacent to the theatre and set on the east side of the Forum is the Odeon, which dates back to the late 2nd century AD, and was traditionally used for smaller recitals.

As you drive through the polluted, overcrowded down-town area on the way to the Amphitheatre, you catch a glimpse of the Nymphaeum, an ornamental fountain, which dates back to 191 AD. Water always played an important role in Roman cities, and the Nymphaeum is dedicated to the water nymphs. History lies everywhere in this town, even quite literally beneath your feet: a Roman water duct channelling a stream between the Nymphaeum and the Amphitheatre is covered by concrete and runs underneath the road. A glance across the street from the Amphitheatre automatically draws up the eye upwards to the Citadel and the Temple of Hercules sitting on the mountaintop overlooking the downtown area.

The Citadel Hill tells the story of the various peoples who have inhabited what was once the capital of the Ammonites (BC 1200) and was mentioned in Deuteronomy in the Bible. Anchored in the slopes of the Citadel Hill are shards of pottery from the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic and Roman ages. The Umayyads added to the site with a square and various buildings in the 7th and 8th centuries. Ammon was occupied by the Greeks around 300BC, then by the Ptolemies of Egypt. In the first century BC Amman was occupied by the Nabateans, then by Herod the Great around 30 BC. After the Roman conquest the city was again re-planned and rebuilt. Although still flourishing at the time of the Arab conquest in the seventh century AD, by the 1500s it was practically deserted and in ruins.

One can see from photos of the Amphitheatre in the 1930s that Amman was little more than a village, with the hill around the Amphitheatre bare of the houses and buildings that crowd around it today. It is startling to observe pictures of the Roman Amphitheatre 90 years ago side by side with contemporary pictures as so much has changed in the surrounding environment and infrastructure.

Then, Amman was mainly a Circassian settlement with most people living in other towns throughout the country.  The National Folklore Museum, which is housed in the Amphitheatre building, is testament to this with its collection of valuable traditional  costumes, in particular women’s dresses,  called “thobes” . Each “thobe” has an individual color, style and embroidery pattern as well as headdress which reflect the area or town from which the woman hails and whether she is Bedouin, Circassian, or a farmer. These traditional dresses are highly prized by Jordanians and can cost several hundred JDs.

In the 1930s Prince Abdallah established his office in a house near the Philadelphia Hotel (which no longer exists) across the road from the Amphitheatre. The Department of Antiquities was in a small five-room house adjoining the Roman Theatre and it became the first headquarters of the newly formed Arab Legion before its final incarnation as the office of the Department of Antiquities. When Prince Abdallah restored Amman to the status of a capital soon after the First World War, the ancient ruins inevitably became slowly swallowed up by the modern, expanding city.  There were some benefits to be gained from this as in the 1950s when renovation work started on the square, colonnaded plaza, the Odeum, and the roofed stream.

Visitors to the Amphitheatre are often struck by its dizzying gradient; it is built into the side of the cliff which was partly cut away to accommodate it. This unique talent for building on the side of mountains is visible in the homes and buildings surrounding the Roman site. The citizens may no longer be Roman, Greek or Ottoman, but Jordanian master builders and architects carry on building homes on hills and carving apartment blocks into the sides of mountains. A trip downtown to see this ancient example of Roman architecture allows you to wonder at the past, stand on the stage and marvel at the clever acoustics, and to observe modern and ancient cultures merge together seamlessly in one exotic blend of people, noise, traffic, massive stones and an enchanting ambiance in the heart of Amman.