Amman # 1 - The Ancient City

The Citadel

The Hill of the Citadel (Jabal al-Qal'a) in the middle of Amman was occupied as early as the Neolithic period, and fortified during the Bronze Age (1800 BC). The ruins on the hill today are Roman through early Islamic. The name "Amman" comes from "Rabbath Ammon," or "Great City of the Ammonites," who settled in the region some time after 1200 BC.

Amman has a bit of scandal attached to it. The Bible records that King David captured the city in the early 10th century BC; Uriah the Hittite, husband of King David's paramour Bathsheba, was killed here after the king ordered him to the front line of battle.


A Different View

The Temple of Hercules, today also known as the Great Temple of Amman. The temple was built in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD).

Read more:

http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/jordan/amman/citadel.html

The Palace

The most impressive building of the Citadel is known simply as Al-Qaser (the Palace), which dates back to the Islamic Umayyad period around 720 AD. Its exact function is unknown, but the building includes a monumental gateway, cruciform audience hall and four vaulted chambers. A colonnaded street runs through the complex and to the north and east, ruins of the palace grounds are visible.


The Bagpipers

As I approached the Palace, I seemed to hear bagpipe music.  It could not be bagpipe music of course so what was it ?  The music got louder and louder and then I knew it  had to be bagpipe music for sure .  But in Amman?  At the ancient Citadel?
Then, I remembered seeing the Jordanian Army Band when I was here in '84.  The band had bagpipers as part of its musicians.  Shades of the British Army that once ruled the area.  Shades of Lawrence of Arabia !


The Roman Amphitheatre

This is the Roman theatre and it is on Phildalphia Street, named after the ancient city of Philadelphia , not the one in Pittsburg.

The theatre was built during the reign of Antonius Pius (138-161 CE). The large and steeply raked structure could seat about 6,000 people: built into the hillside, it was oriented north to keep the sun off the spectators.

Read more :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_theater_(Jordan)

Unlike the rest of Amman where everything has changed, the area near the Citadel with its homes and shops has not changed.

Far from the Citadel, you can see the future Amman with its skyscrapers and multi storied buildings.

The Shawarma Shop at the Second Circle still has the best shawarma in town. My embassy colleagues and I would have lunch there at least once a week. The old embassy was located between the second and third circles.

This type of fast food did not exist when I was in Amman 1982 - 1984.

The very changed face of Amman at the fifth circle.

Damascus #5 - The Old City

Damascus is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.

Damascus # 4 - Saladin's Tomb + the Mosques





Saladin

Third Crusade 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin
The armies of Saladin engaged in combat with the army of King Richard at the Battle of Arsuf on September 7, 1191, at which Saladin was defeated. All attempts made by Richard the Lionheart to re-take Jerusalem failed. However, Saladin's relationship with Richard was one of chivalrous mutual respect as well as military rivalry. When Richard became ill with fever, Saladin offered the services of his personal physician. Saladin also sent him fresh fruit with snow, to chill the drink, as treatment. At Arsuf, when Richard lost his horse, Saladin sent him two replacements. Richard suggested to Saladin that Palestine, Christian and Muslim, could be united through the marriage of his sister Joan of England, Queen of Sicily, to Saladin's brother, and that Jerusalem could be their wedding gift.^{[citation needed]} However, the two men never met face to face and communication was either written or by messenger.
As leaders of their respective factions, the two men came to an agreement in the Treaty of Ramla in 1192, whereby Jerusalem would remain in Muslim hands but would be open to Christian pilgrimages.

Given the greatness of the man, his monument is humble.  There is a tomb inside where his remains are buried and next to it is another  ornate marble tomb , given to the city by Germany,  that rests side by side.   I don't get the connection other than Saladin fought the kings of England , France and Germany in the Third Crusade and was incredibly kind in victory.

To enter the Saladin shrine and the mosque , women had to be in full hijab or wear a special robe that could be rented at the entrance.\

The special robe

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جامع بني أمية الكبير‎, transliteration Ğām' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr), located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. It is considered the fourth-holiest place in Islam.^[1]
After the Arab conquest of Damascus in 634, the mosque was built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (Yahya) since the time of the Roman emperor Constantine I. The mosque holds a shrine which today may still contain the head of John the Baptist, honored as a prophet by both Christians and Muslims alike. There are also many important landmarks within the mosque for the Shī‘ah, among them the place where the head of Husayn (the grandson of Muhammad) was kept on display by Yazīd I. The tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.

The spot where the mosque now stands was a temple of the god Hadad in the Aramaean era of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. The Aramaean presence was attested by the discovery of a basalt orthostat depicting a sphinx excavated in the north-east corner of mosque.^{[citation needed]} The site was later used for a Temple of Jupiter in the Roman era, then a Christian church dedicated to John the Baptist in the Byzantine era.

This is the inner courtyard (or half the inner courtyard).  In the Koran , tradition has it,  Jesus, a major prophet for the Muslims will return in the Second Coming and sit atop one of the four minarets of this mosque.

The Mosque attracts both Suni and Shiite worshippers. The women in the picture are Shiites from Iran. 

 

This picture above shows the expanse of the mosque.  It is taken in the women's area with the men's area to the right.

 

This is the tomb of Saint John the Baptist.  Tradition has it that his head is buried here.  Muslims revere St. John so when they converted the church to  a mosque, they left the tomb untouched. 

This style of tomb seems to be typical Muslim and I saw it here and in Central Asia.  Saladin's tomb looks exactly like this but pictures were not permitted.

For centuries the mausoleum of Ruqayya bint al-Hussein ash-Shaheed bi-Kerbala (Ruqayya, the Daughter of the Martyr Hussein of Kerbala) was hidden among the clutter of tumbledown Damascene housing just to the north of Umayyad Mosque. In 1985 the Iranians (Ruqayya being a Shiite saint) began construction of the Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque around the mausoleum, designed very much in the modern Persian style.

While the portico, courtyard and main 'onion' dome are relatively restrained and quite beautiful, the interior of the prayer hall is a riot of mirror mosaics. Except during Friday prayers, non-Muslim visitors are welcome (modest dress is required and women must cover their heads).

The daughter's tomb

The men would sit in a circle where they beat their chests as hard as they could and then stop while one of them stood up to sing verses from the Koran.  When this man sang, in a beautiful mornful voice, many of the men and most of the women were crying. 

The women sat passively outside the circle and watched.

Outside the mosque. the women sell  nuts.

Damascus #3 - St Paul

 

In 34 AD, on a mission from the Jewish high priest of the Jerusalem Temple, Saul of Tarsus, at 26 years old,  was on a mission: to kill or capture as many Christians as he could fleeing Jerusalem for the safety of Damascus. The Bible tells us Paul  was knocked from his horse and blinded by a brilliant light.  A voice asked why he persecuted "his people"   Saul was immediately converted but his blindness remained.  His troops brought him to the city to a house on Straight Street, still a popular street today.



 

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Ananias, a leader of the Christians, also heard a voice that day . It told him to go to Straight Street and find the blind Paul, baptize him and cure him. Reluctant to do so because he had heard the evil Saul of Tarsus had done to Christians, he obeyed and found the house in which Paul was staying.  Ananias then saved Paul and this allowed Paul to write his epistles and letters from prison and as many scholars say become the single most powerful force in the spread of Christianity as a religion.

Ananias turned his home into a chapel and a place to honor the deeds of St. Paul.  Ananias went on to become a bishop of the Chruch and met a martyr death by stoning.




The relief above shows the three major events in St. Paul's stay in Damascus.  The middle shows Paul's baptism.  The right shows his
conversion and the left shows him being lowered  in a basket through a breach in the wall to escape the Jewish authorites. They had vowed  to kill him and put guards on all seven gates around the city.  

Paul avoided all seven gates in  order to avoid capture.  This is one of the remaining gates that allowed   people to enter Damascus. Paul was able to escape and spread Christianity until his imprisonment in Rome and martyrdom in 63 AD

Some believe this cafe sits atop the site of an ancient cafe in service two millenniums ago.


   (Okay , I made that up but as my Irish grand uncle used to say: "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story" )

Damascus #2 - The Christian Towns of Maaloula and Seydnaya

Leaving the Castle of the Knights, I headed for the towns of Maaloula and Seydnaya, Christian areas where Aramaic (the language of Jesus) is  still spoken as a daily language.   Both towns are Christian,  part of the twenty percent of the country that is Christian.  At one time,  there were over 100 churches in this area.

Maaloula

I visited the tomb / shrine of St Takla,  a noble woman who converted to Christianity after hearing St. Paul preach.  She later used her gold and jewelry to help Paul be released from jail in Damascus.

Sister Aziya, in the picture above,  told me the story of St . Takla with great drama and passion.  She weaved the tale well, interspacing the drama with  her question, “You understand my English, yes? “ I admit I had to listen carefully but kept thinking "Not bad for someone who taught herself English."  

 By the way, the girl in the picture is studying Aramaic. The language is dying out and the UN has a program to get young people there to study and speak the language,  keeping it alive.  She spoke some Aramaic for me and asked me what I thought.  I responded: “It sounds very holy”  (Just kidding:  Karen and Ally you can stop rolling your eyes.) 

The Story of Takla

Takla was the daughter of rich parents who were pagans. Her father was the governor of the province and when she converted, the father, at the urging of her mother, ordered her burned at the stake. As the fire started, legend has it, God sent down a huge rain storm.  The father then ordered her thrown to the lions but they licked her hand. He had her tied to four bulls to be pulled apart but the ropes slipped and the bulls charged the crowd.  She ran away but was chased by the army.  She came to a mountain with nowhere to go and prayed to God who split the mountain into two parts and she was able to pass safely.  Maaloula means “entrance “in Aramaic c.  Although she died a natural death, people here call her the First Christian Martyr “ for all she suffered for her religion (at the hands of her parents!) Given how hopeless her situation seemed many times, she is also known as the saint who can cure impossible situations, a kind of St. Jude of the East.

Seydnaya

I did not get to Seydnaya until it was dark. This picture below was the best I could shoot. There was a lovely Christian Orthodox service in progress.  The priest sang like an opera star and the congregation responded like a professional chorus.  It was very moving.  I had hoped to see a painting of the Virgin Mary, supposedly painted by St. Luke but there was no chance. The mass had just started and it was already late. Unfortunately, I did not see two other churches, one built in the third century and the other built in the fifth century.  There is always next time!  

Damascus #1 - Krak des Chevaliers (Castle of the Knights)

I rode to the mountains of Syria,  passing signs along the way for turn off to Baghdad, Beirut or Amman . It was cold, incredibly cold especially if you do not dress for snow and rain.  On the way, I wondered if it was really such a good idea but , when I got there,  I knew it was a great idea,  no matter how much my teeth were chattering.

Attackers did not have many options to conquer the castle. However,  they chose the south side for its lower  elevation

The Castle of the Knights was one of seven castles the Crusaders built to help them conquer Jerusalem and to control the passages from the Lebanese coast and the mountain passes the Muslim warriors could use to attack or to reinforce troops. This castle controlled the mountain passes and offered a panoramic view of the area.



View of the surrounding area



The original castle was small built by the Kurds in 1030.  Raymond of Tolouse led a Crusader force into the area and like all such army his was short on supplies food  and always hungry.  The Kurds let all their sheep run from the castle and , as predicted, the knights chased the sheep. While they were doing that, the Kurds charged the Crusaders.  Raymond who had not intended to capture the castle  did so in  January 1099 out of anger over the Kurds' trick. Jerusalem fell in July of 1099 



The outer wall

 Over the years the castle was strengthen and reinforced.

The castle rests on a hill.  It is a castle within a castle.  If attackers breached the outer walls by crossing a moat and  getting through massive gates and  100 foot thick walls , they were faced with the daunting challenge of crossing another moat and then climbing  80 feet up to the top of the inner wall, dodging boiling oil poured down by the  defenders.    



The inner wall



Here another Raymond visits the castel and sits at the round table where senior knights would sit during meals and entertainment.



The grounds of the inner castle

 Another great Raymond, known as Raymond the II of Tripoli, gave the castle to the Knights of the Hospitaliers in 1144. The Knights of the Hospitaliers, along with the  Knights Templars ,were known as warrior monks.  The Hospitaliers held the castle until 1271 when it was conquered by the Marmulak (Egyptian ) king,  Beybar.  The castle had held as many as 2000 knights at the beginning of the Crusades(There were eight such ventures) but by 1271 the knights numbered less than 200.  Perhaps the Pope's assurance that anyone who died fighting for Jerusalem would go straight to heaven lost its appeal when men noticed the fine print that said "died fighting", accidents and illness did not count. Also, later crusades did not always focus on Jerusalem.

The Trick
Just like the castle was first conquered  because of a trick  - the old sheep trick - the castle was lost due to a trick.  The castle had been under siege by 20,000 Muslim warriors for three months but it was hard going and it was going to take many more months.  The attackers came up with a clever idea and forged a letter from the Grand Master of the Hospitaliers and attached it to a carrier pigeon.  The letter told the 200 knights that they had no hope and should surrender immediately.  It worked ! They were allowed to leave unharmed and to make their way to the coast.