Earlier today, I went to the old part of Amman, where Roman ruins mingle with the trappings of a modern Arab capital: the honking horns, bustling businesses and blaring music. Modern streets surround a Roman theater which rises up the hillside, blanketed with homes. Jebel Al-Qala is the citadel of Amman, and on its top are the ruins of a temple to Hercules built around 170 BC, and the Umayyad palace, built in 720 and used throughout the Abbasid and Fatamid periods. A reconstructed dome (it’s debatable whether this building ever had one) was built in 1998 with an inner structure made of golden wood.
There’s also a nice archaeological museum with artifacts from the Stone and Bronze ages, the Nabatean period, and onward through the Roman and Byzantine periods to the various Muslim controlled eras. In the photo above, ancient eyes stare from a stone face on a Hellenistic sculpture.
When I first looked at the statue face photo I thought I saw glass like pupils but on closer examination I see that is an illusion created by the carving of the eyes in that area. Facinationg photo you spotted therte. I see you are still looking up on occassion.
Dad
these shots are just beautiful. and to see sunshine in january, what a notion!