Amman Roman Theatre and Downtown Amman

Under Roman rule, Amman was chosen as the glittering capital of the Roman Empire, but the city was then called Philadelphia, after its Ptolemaic ruler, Philadelphus.

The theatre was built in the period 138-161 CE, which dates back to the reign of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. The sole centrepiece of the city it was designed to be northerly-oriented, to keep the sun off its spectators, and could seat up to 6,000 people on its steep stairs.

Like any other Roman Theatre in the world, it was constructed upon the same three building blocks: the cavea, the orchestra and the scaenae frons. The cavea is the seating space that contained the largest number of spectators. The highest rank was known as ‘the gods’; although far from the stage, this section offered a good view, thanks to the lofty position and steepness of the stairs. The orchestra is the area directly in front of the stage, reserved for VIPs to ensure they didn’t miss a split second of the action. The two stories rising from the stage upwards are the saenae fons, and were used as a backstage space.

The spectators were intentionally separated by status, gender and nationality. The Romans had major control over the social hierarchy, and it was illustrated in all their archaeological works later on. The government of Jordan started restoring the theatre in 1957.

Downtown Amman is the heart of the city and sits in the middle of the surrounding seven hills, which originally made up this metropolis. There is a fruit and vegetable market, where you will find vendors singing to entice shoppers to their stall.

Many open shopfronts sell everything from clothing and antiques to gold and smaller trinkets. There are the six main streets – Prince Mohammad, King Talal, Quraysh, Al-Salt, Al-Hashemi and Basman, each have their own speciality when it comes to the goods for sale. King Talal has handmade goods, carpets and fabrics and Al-Hashemi for an assortment of souvenir stalls.

I visit the extremely popular Habibah Sweets. They make and sell kanafeh, which consists of mild white cheese and shredded wheat surface, which is covered by sugar syrup, delicious!Read more