Roman baths were uncovered in

downtown Amman Downtown Amman () is the old town of Jordan's capital, Amman. Nestled in a narrow valley called Wadi Amman, the downtown is a popular tourist destination, known for its shopping Bazaar, souks and ancient ruins. The Amman valley, surrounded by ...

, Jordan, during infrastructure works for an underground rainwater drainage system in 2020. Two Roman statues were found at the site, as well as

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s from

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

, and Ottoman eras. The ruins were reburied using sand with a high

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant f ...

content for future excavation due to lack of funds. The findings led to speculation that other ruins of ancient Amman may lie beneath the downtown area.

Background

Between the third century BC and seventh century AD, Amman was called Philadelphia. Following the Roman conquest of the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

in 63 BC, Philadelphia became part of the regional ten-city league known as the

Decapolis The Decapolis (Greek: ) was a group of ten Greek Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Greek and late Roman Empire in the Southern Levant in the first centuries BC and AD. Most of the cities were located to the east of the Jordan ...

. In AD 106, Philadelphia was incorporated into the Roman province of

Arabia Petraea Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province or simply Arabia, was a frontier Roman province, province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century. It consisted of the former Nabataean Kingdom in the southern Levant, th ...

, and became an important stop along the

Via Traiana Nova The or for, la, Via Nova Traiana, Trajan's New Road, previously known as the ''Via Regia'' or King's Highway, was an ancient Roman road built by Emperor Trajan in the province of Arabia Petraea, from Aqaba on the Red Sea to Bostra. It was sp ...

, '

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

's New Road'. Thus, the city prospered in the second century AD, with many Roman landmarks constructed during that time, including a large theater, a small odeon theater, and a

forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

in the Amman valley, near a water stream known in Arabic as

Seil Seil (; , ) is one of the Slate Islands, Scotland, Slate Islands, located on the east side of the Firth of Lorn, southwest of Oban, in Scotland. Seil has been linked to the mainland by bridge since the late 18th century. The origins of the isl ...

. A stairway connected the valley to the upper part of the city, the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

, located on the hill to the north, which is known today as Jabal Qal'a (Citadel Hill), where the Roman Great Temple was built, better but inaccurately known as the Temple of Hercules. The Roman baths were uncovered in the valley near the course of the historic Seil (which had been roofed over to make way for roads in the 1960s), namely beneath today's Al-Hashemi street.

Findings

In September 2020, the

Greater Amman Municipality Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant reg ...

uncovered the remains of

Roman baths In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

while constructing an underground rainwater drainage system near the

Hashemite Plaza The Hashemite Plaza is a plaza in Amman, Jordan that spans over an area of 20,000 square metres. It was renewed in 2014 and is named after the Jordanian royal family, the Hashemites. The Hashemite Plaza includes open spaces, fountains, gardens, p ...

on Al-Hashemi street. Excavations revealed

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

-built furnaces used to heat water in the lower area of a Roman public bath, which were carried out by the

Department of Antiquities A Department of Antiquities is a government department with responsibility for cultural heritage management, archaeological research and regulating antiquities trading in some countries. Many were established by British and French colonial admini ...

until January 2021. Two headless white marble statues were found in the baths; analysis showed these were carved from stone extracted from quarries on

Thasos Thasos or Thassos (, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of 380 km2 and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate regiona ...

, Greece. The two statues share similarities with the many statues found at a number of Roman sites in Jordan. They date to the second or third century AD, when the city of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

prospered. Walls dating to the

period in the 7th century AD were also identified at the site, suggesting it had been later reused for residential purposes. Umayyad coins, ceramic lamps, and an incense burner were also discovered, as well as fragmentary ceramics from the

, and Ottoman eras. The ruins were documented with photographs and subsequently reburied using sand with a high silica content for future excavation, owing to lack of funds during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The finding of the Roman baths led to speculation by officials from the Department of Antiquities that other ruins of ancient Amman may still lie beneath the downtown area.

Map

, , , , , /mapframe> Overview of Roman ruins in downtown Amman.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Amman Roman sites in Jordan Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century Tourist attractions in Amman Archaeological sites in Jordan Ancient Roman baths

Background

Findings

Map

See also

References