Downtown

The Roman theatre, dominating the heart of Downtown, was the centrepiece of Roman Philadelphia, and also the initial focus for Amman’s modern settlement late in the nineteenth century. As you approach from Hashmi Street, a long Corinthian colonnade and some original Roman paving are the only physical remains of Philadelphia’s forum, the marketplace which filled the gap between the theatre and the street (this whole area was under redevelopment at the time of writing; it’s hard to tell how the plans will turn out).

Cut into a depression in the hillside, the Roman Theatre itself is impressively huge, and the view, as well as the ability to eavesdrop on conversations between ant-like people on the stage below, definitely repays the steep climb to the top. The structure was built between 169 and 177 AD, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, for an audience of almost six thousand, and is still occasionally filled today for concerts. Above the seating is a small, empty shrine with niches; the dedication isn’t known, although part of a statue of Athena was discovered during clearance work.

Standing on the stage or in the orchestra – the semicircle in front of the stage – you can get a sense of the ingenuity of the theatre’s design: the south-facing stage is flooded with sun throughout the day, while virtually every spectator remains undazzled and in cool shadow. To discover the incredible acoustics, stand in the middle of the orchestra and declaim at the seating, and your normal speaking voice will suddenly gain a penetrating echo; step off that spot and there’s no echo. Furthermore, two people crouching down at opposite ends of the orchestra can mutter into the semicircular stone wall below the first row of seats and easily hear each other.

The museums of folklore and popular traditions

Within the Roman theatre, to the sides of the stage, are two small museums, housed in vaults beneath the auditorium. On the right as you walk in, the Folklore Museum displays mannequins engaged in traditional crafts and a reconstruction of an old-fashioned living-room. The more worthwhile Jordanian Museum of Popular Traditions, opposite, enlivens the theme of traditional clothing, jewellery and customs by rooting it firmly in the present-day life of ordinary people. The vaulted rooms are full of examples of national dress, with detailed notes and occasional photographs to set them in context. Other exhibits include pieces of antique bedouin jewellery and a fascinating range of stones used in healing, as well as mosaics downstairs gathered from Madaba and Jerash (and viewable up close).

Opposite the Husseini Mosque, the building on the corner where King Talal Street begins formerly held Amman’s best-loved coffee house, the grand old Arab League Café – a stalwart here for over fifty years, with its fine balcony overlooking the bustle below. In 2002, after a wrangle between the building’s owners (one wanted to keep it as it was; the other wanted to rebuild), the café was gutted – to the horror of seemingly everyone in the city bar the owners themselves. The site has now been redeveloped.

The area around the Husseini Mosque remains the heart of Amman’s souks. To the east lies a warren of alleys known as Souk Sukkar, where stalls sell everything from dates and spices to soap and mops. Souk Sukkar translates as “Sugar Market” – though some say the area was actually named after 1950s entrepreneur Samir Sukkar, who built the first shops.

To the west of the mosque, the main street funnelling traffic out of Downtown is King Talal Street, lined with stores selling ordinary household goods, fabric and bric-a-brac. A little way down on the left, hidden behind a row of shopfronts, is the city’s main fruit and vegetable market.

The main street parallel to King Talal Street follows the course of the Roman decumanus maximus, which was formed by paving over the free-flowing stream beneath. The street – officially Quraysh Street – is still popularly known as Saqf As Sayl (Roof of the Stream), but these days the sayl is dry, having been tapped upstream. This is Amman’s liveliest quarter, with cobblers, CD stalls and hawkers of soap and toothbrushes competing for space under the pavement colonnades with a secondhand clothes market.

The Nymphaeum

On Saqf As Sayl behind the Husseini Mosque, excavation and restoration work on the Roman Nymphaeum has been going on for years, seemingly without end. It’s very similar in design to the huge nymphaeum at Jerash, which has been dated to 191 AD; at that time, Philadelphia too was at its zenith. The site is fenced and is usually off-limits, though the guardian may not object to you exploring.

However, apart from the immensity of the building (and its newer reconstruction), there’s not much to see. Nymphaea – public fountains dedicated to water nymphs – were sited near rivers running through major cities throughout the Greco-Roman world. This one, facing onto an open plaza at the junction of the two principal city streets, the east–west decumanus and the north–south cardo, was originally two storeys high and must have been quite a sight. Colonnades of Corinthian columns would have drawn even more attention towards the concave building, which was lavishly faced in marble, with statues of gods, emperors or city notables filling the niches all around.

Southwest of the Husseini Mosque, King Talal Street and Saqf As Sayl meet at a large traffic intersection. To the south rises the hill of Ashrafiyyeh, while dead ahead (west), in the valley of the Sayl Amman, is an area known as Ras Al Ain (“Source of the Spring”). Here, just past an open colonnaded plaza known as Sahat Al Nakheel (“Palm Square”) featuring a public fountain at its centre, stands the large, new Jordan Museum, due to have opened by the time you read this (though the project has been running years late, so it’s hard to be sure). This sleek building houses the national archeological collection, as well as exhibits on Jordan’s history and the story of the Hashemite royal family; the exact layout, though, had not been finalized as this book went to press. Expect halls to be designed thematically, with interactive displays and a strong educational angle. Partnerships established with global institutions including the Louvre are likely to ensure world-class exhibitions.