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The name "Amman" comes from "Rabbath Ammon," or "Great City of the Ammonites," who settled the region after 100 BC. Ptolemy II Philadelphus renamed the city "Philadelphia" after himself and the city was incorporated into Pompey the Great's province of Syria. Amman became the capital of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921, and of the newly-created Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1947. Amman and its suburbs today is the most important urban area in Jordan, containing over half of the country's population.
> The Hill of the Citadel (Jabal al-Qal'a)
The Hill of the Citadel (Jabal al-Qal'a) is in the middle of Amman. It was occupied as early as the Neolithic period and fortified during the Bronze Age (1800 BC). The Citadels history symbolizes the birth of the three great monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The site has Biblical references, is associated with iconic deities, was besieged by wars, ruled by celebrated leaders, crushed by earthquakes and home to profoundly different cultures. Though the fortification walls enclose the heart of the site, the ancient periods of occupation covered large areas. Historic structures, tombs, arches, walls and stairs have no modern borders, and there is archaeological potential at this site, in surrounding lands, and throughout Amman.
> National Archaeological Museum
The Citadel is also the site of the first national Archaeological Museum, which contains a collection of artifacts and objects from other Jordanian historic sites. The museum contains antiquities ranging from prehistoric times to the 15th Century. Four exhibits are particularly worth viewing:
- Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1952; one tells of treasure hidden on the west bank of the Jordan River.
- Neolithic limestone statues of Ain Ghazal, which are linked to advances in pro-technology.
- The Mesha Stele or Moabite Stone, erected by Moabite King Mesha in 850 BC to celebrate his victories over the Israelites.
- Four rare Iron-Age anthropomorphic sarcophagi of cocoon-like design.
The Roman Theater was built during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (169-177 AD), the large and steeply raked theatre could seat about 6,000 people. It is built into the hillside, and oriented north to keep the sun off the spectators. The theatre is divided into three horizontal sections (diazomata). Side entrances (paradoi) existed at ground level, one leading to the orchestra and the other to the stage. Rooms behind these entrances now house the Jordanian Museum of Popular Traditions on the one side, and the Amman Folklore Museum on the other side. The highest section of seats in a theatre was (and still is) called "The Gods". Although far from the stage, even there the sightlines are excellent, and the actors could be clearly heard, owing to the steepness and acoustics of the cavea.
The Dead Sea is a salt lake bordering Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. Its surface and shores are 1,385 ft below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is 1,240 ft deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, with 33.7% salinity. It has a density of 1.24kg/L, making swimming difficult. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.
Jerash is the modern name for the ancient city of Gerasa. It is located 30 miles north of the Amman. Jerash is known for the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa. Jerash is considered one of the most important and best preserved Roman cities in the Near East. It was a city of the Decapolis.