Jordan History
AMMAN
CAPITOL OF JORDAN
Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, Amman, its friendly, it’s safe and up to date. Gleaming white buildings in contemporary styles coexist with turn of the century villas, and trendy boutiques compete with richly colorful bazaars. A varied cuisine awaits you, as the savory sweets and mezuzah of traditional Arabic restaurants. Add to this mix the mystique of old Amman the Citadel and its defensive walls, the magnificent Roman Theatre.
Amman is the modern and ancient capital of Jordan, formerly the Ammonite capital city of Rabbath---Ammon, and later Greraeco Roman city called Philadelphia. It is a city of contrasts, a mixture of ancient and modern. Often referred to as “the white city” Amman’s houses are built on many hillsides, and forma a great canvas of overlapping beiges, ochres and whites
JERASH
THE GRANDEUR OF IMPERIAL ROME
Jerash is the best preserved Roman outpost in the world. Stroll the street of columns to the oval plaza and linger till sunset when the city is awash in golden light. An archaeologist’s dream of an ancient city: 9,000 year old Pella, the hill top ruins of Gadara, or Um Quais, and Um el Jimal. Only a short hour’s drive from Amman is the Greco Roman City of Jerash, known as the Pompeii of the East for its extraordinary state of preservation. As they approach the city, are imposing triple arched gateway built to honor the Emperor Hadrian’s arrival at Jerash in A.D. 129.
Jerash within these walls have been found the remains of settlements dating from the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayade and Abbasid periods, indicating human occupation at this location for more than 2,500 years.
Jerash is considered the best preserved and most complete city of the Decapolis, a confederation of Ten Roman cities dating from the 1st Century B.C.
MADABA & MOUNT NEBO
THE ANCIENT HOLY LAND
Madaba, City of Mosaics, view its wonderfully vivid map of the sixth century A.D. Holy Land. Nearby is the revered Mount Nebo, where Moses climbed to survey the promise land. Visit the site of Machaerus, strong hold of Herod Antipas, where Salome danced for the head of John the Baptist.
The Madaba of the Bible is today the small town of Madaba, south of Amman. The Byzantine and Umayada mosaics are which Madaba is best known. Greek Orthodox Church of St. George is the earliest surviving original map of the Holy Land, which was made around A.D. 560.
Mount Nebo is believed to be the tomb of Moses. It is a lonely, windswept hill. Protecting the ruins of a 4th and 6th Century church whose floor is still covered with marvelous mosaics, is a building constructed by the Franciscans who started excavating the site in 1933.
Archaeologists have also unearthed the Church of St. Stephen whose remarkable mosaic floor of the Umayade epoch is decorated with Jordanian, Palestinian, and Egyptian city plans.
KERAK
DISTINGUISHED BY ITS FINE CASTLE
Kerak is distinguished by its fine crusader castle built in the 12th century on the remains of earlier citadels, which date back to Nabataean times. Kerak winds down into and up out of the inspiring Wadi Mujib along Moabite ridge.
THE JORDAN RIVER AND AL-MAGHTAS
THE SPOT WHERE JESUS WAS BAPTISED
Visitors and citizens walk through the plains, valleys, hills, mountains, and streams whose names were forever fixed into human consciousness: Abraham, Moses, Lot, Aaron, Elijah, Joshua, Jesus, John the Baptist, and others walked the land.
The large loop in the Jordan River opposite Jerico has long been identified as the spot where Jesus Christ was baptized. It is called Al-Maghtas in Arabic. Furthermore, Al-Maghtas is clearly located on the mosaic map found in Madaba church near Mount Nebo, which was discovered in the middle of the sixth century.
The natural hill forming the core of Bethany is called Elijah’s or Tell Mar Elijas in Arabic. Local tradition for thousands of years has identified it as the place from where Elijah ascended to heaven. The 5th-6th Century A.D. remains at Bethany are those of the Byzantine period settlements, also called Ainon or Saphsaphas and depicted on the 6th Century Madaba mosaic map of the holy land.
PETRA
THE SPECTACULAR ROSE RED CITY
Petra was first established sometime around the 6th century B.C., by the Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the foundations of a commercial empire that extended into Syria. Despite successive attempts by the Seleucid King Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey and Herod the Great to bring Petra under the control of their respective empires, Petra remained largely Nabataean hands until around 100 A.D., when the Romans took over. It was still inhabited during the Byzantine period, when the Roman Empire moved its focus east to Constantinople, but declined in importance thereafter. The Crusaders constructed a fort there in the 12th century, but soon withdrew, leaving Petra to the local people until the early 19th century, when it was visited by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
The Siq twists and turns, the high walls all but shutting out the early morning sunlight, until abruptly, through a cleft in the rock, the first glimpse of the city of Petra can be seen.
The best known of the monuments is Kazneh. The façade, carved out from the sandstone cliff wall, is 40m high, and is remarkably well preserved. The name means “Treasury”, comes from legend that it was a hiding place for treasure.
The Royal Tombs North from the Kazneh there are three structures, known as the Royal Tombs have been carved into the rock face, which is known as the King’s wall.
WADI RUM OF JORDAN
Our little caravan grew self-conscious,
And fell dead quiet, afraid and ashamed to
Flaunt its smallness in the presence
Of stupendous hills.
Wadi Rum has so much authentic biblical history, nearly every valley, mountainside and watering hole has a relic of the past: Thamudic, Safaltic, Nabataeon, Greek, and Arabic cultural art adorns cave walls, there are rudimentary Stone Age shelters scattered throughout the gorges and, near Jebel Rum, there is even an ancient Nabataean temple.
The moonscape surface, echoing rocky canyons and deafening silence of the nighttimedesert are so intoxicating that it’s little wonder the Bedouins, the traditional inhabitants, hold on to the land with such tenacious zeal. The Bedouins of the Wadi Rum still practice a semi-nomadic lifestyle, grazing their flocks of sheep and goats for months at a time before packing up their “bayt ash-sha’ar” [goat’s hair tents or, literally, house of hair] and moving on to greener pastures.
Dead Sea
In ancient times, the Dead Sea water and salt were imported to Italy, by Roman nobles, asphalt, the bituminous substance rising to the surface of the lake, was used for many industrial and medicinal purposes. Plants growing in lakeside oases, especially the balsam tree, produced valuable and highly sought after cosmetics, perfumes and medicinal substances. Their value was of such great importance, for wars that were fought for their possession, as when Mark Anthony conquered the Dead Sea area for Cleopatra. It is said that the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra had some factories there for manufacturing of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Also, the Arab Nabateans used to supply Egyptian’s with bitumen, which was essential factor for mummification for the Pharos of Egypt.
The Dead Sea is one of the most saline lakes in the world. It is fed mainly by the River of Jordan in the North and by perennial springs and streams from the East and West. Having no outlet, the Dead Sea is a terminal lake which loses huge amounts of water by evaporation into hot dry air. These results in high concentrations of salts and minerals in a unique composition that is particularly rich in chloride salts of magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium, bromide and various others. The water of the Dead Sea contains 21 minerals. Twelve of these are found in no other sea or ocean and some are recognized for imparting and for easing metabolic disorders, circulatory system, and rheumatic disease comfort. The high salt and mineral concentration enables everyone to float in its waters but doesn’t allow the proliferation of fish and other marine life.
Sunshine is filtered through the low situation of the Dead Sea [additional 408 meters of air]. This vapor serves as an additional filter to sunshine nature filter the [UV] ultra-violet ray is reduced as well as [UVB] rays responsible for the sunburn therefore are adequate for solar therapy which constitutes a basic element of climate therapy is available in the area. The unique sun rays increase the specific spectrum of the ultra-violet radiation provides unusual therapeutic properties which impact on a number of skin diseases.
Sun Rays: The longest solar ray optical path length as a result of it being the lowest terrestrial point [approximately -408 m], on the earth. This results in enhanced scattering by air molecules, water vapor and aerosols.
Sun Rays: A relatively dense haze, composed of aerosols [minerals], caused by continuous evaporation from the Dead Sea.
Together these layers act as a unique filtering screen that reduces the intensity of the more harmful lower wave length UVB rays to a greater extend than the longer wave length UVA rays.
Air: The Dead Sea region is of rich in oxygen 10% more than at the Mediterranean Sea level. The atmosphere is also rich in bromide, which is about 15 times more than Amman for example, bromide acts as a sedative allowing the nervous system to recover and rest, restoring the mind and the body.
The atmospheric pressure, due to the low situation of the Dead Sea is as high as 800mm.
The Black Mud is rich in magnesium, and natural bitumen, and silicates [Silicon compounds] Mud baths are mainly useful for arthropathy, as they help in stimulate circulation around the affected joints, and packs are effective in case of psoriatic arthritis.
The uniqueness of the Dead Sea had been known for centuries. This is the only place in the world with a combination of exclusive spa benefits: peculiar sun radiation and climatic conditions, enriched oxygen atmosphere, rich salt sea, thermo-mineral springs, and mineral –rich mud.
Discover for yourself the unique combination of health at the lowest point on Earth. You can't get closer to the Earth's core than this!