[p.357] favourite place of resort of the Bedouins: the valley was
covered with a fine coat of verdant pasture. From hence the road
ascended through oak woods and pleasant hills, over flinty ground, till
we reached, after a march of two hours and a half, an elevated plain,
from whence we had an extensive view towards the east. The plain, which
in this part is called El Ahma (Arabic), is a fertile tract,
interspersed with low hills; these are for the greater part crowned with
ruins, but they are of irregular forms, unlike the Tels or artificial
heights of the Haouran, and of northern Syria. Just by the road, at the
end of three hours, are the ruins called El Kholda (Arabic). To the left
are the ruins of Kherbet Karakagheish (Arabic); and to the right, at
half an hours distance, the ruins of Sar (Arabic), and Fokhara
(Arabic). At about one hour south of Sar begins the district called
Kattar (Arabic) or Marka (Arabic). The ruins which we passed here, as
well as all those before mentioned in the mountains of Belka, present no
objects of any interest. They consist of a few walls of dwelling houses,
heaps of stones, the foundations of some public edifices, and a few
cisterns now filled up; there is nothing entire, but it appears that the
mode of building was very solid, all the remains being formed of large
stones. It is evident also, that the whole of the country must have been
extremely well cultivated, in order to have afforded subsistence to the
inhabitants of so many towns. At the end of three hours and a half we
entered a broad valley, which brought us in half an hour to the ruins of
Amman, which lies about nineteen English miles to the S.E. by E. of
Szalt. The annexed plan [not included] will give an idea of the
situation and ruins of Amman, one of the most ancient of the cities
recorded in Jewish history. The town lies along the banks of a river
called Moiet Amman, which has its source in a pond (a), at a few hundred
paces from the south-western end of the town; I was informed that this
river is
[p.358] lost in the earth one hour below the pond, that it issues again,
and takes the name of Ain Ghazale (Arabic); then disappears a second
time and rises again near a ruined place called Reszeyfa (Arabic);
beyond which it is said to be lost for a third time, till it reappears
about an hour to the west of Kalaat Zerka, otherwise called Kaszr
Shebeib (Arabic), near the river Zerka, into which it empties itself.
Ain Ghazale is about one hour and a half distant from Amman, Kalaat
Zerka is four hours distant. The river of Amman runs in a valley
bordered on both sides by barren hills of flint, which advance on the
south side close to the edge of the stream.
The edifices which still remain to attest the former splendour of Amman
are the following: a spacious church (b), built with large stones, and
having a steeple of the shape of those which I saw in several ruined
towns in the Haouran. There are wide arches in the walls of the
church.A small building (c), with niches, probably a temple.A temple
(d), of which a part of the side walls, and a niche in the back wall are
remaining; there are no ornaments either on the walls, or about the
niche.A curved wall (e) along the water side, with many niches: before
it was a row of large columns, of which four remain, but without
capitals, I conjecture this to have been a kind of stoa, or public walk;
it does not communicate with any other edifice.A high arched bridge (f)
over the river; this appears to have been the only bridge in the town,
although the river is not fordable in the winter. The banks of the
river, as well as its bed, are paved, but the pavement has been in most
places carried away by the violence of the winter torrent. The stream is
full of small fish. On the south side of the river is a fine theatre,
the largest that I have seen in Syria. It has forty rows of seats;
between the tenth and eleventh from the bottom occurs a row of eight
boxes or small apartments, capable of holding about twelve spectators
each; fourteen rows higher, a similar row
[p.359] of boxes occupies the place of the middle seats, and at the top
of all there is a third tier of boxes excavated in the rocky side of the
hill, upon the declivity of which the theatre is built. On both wings of
the theatre are vaults. In front was a colonnade, of which eight
Corinthian columns yet remain, besides four fragments of shafts; they
are about fifteen feet high, surmounted by an entablature still entire.
This colonnade must have had at least fifty columns; the workmanship is
not of the best Roman times. Near this theatre is a building (h), the
details of which I was not able to make out exactly; its front is built
irregularly, without columns, or ornaments of any kind. On entering I
found a semi-circular area, enclosed by a high wall in which narrow
steps were formed, running all round from bottom to top. The inside of
the front wall, as well as the round wall of the area, is richly
ornamented with sculptured ornaments. The roof, which once covered the
whole building, has fallen down, and choaks up the interior in such a
way as to render it difficult to determine whether the edifice has been
a palace, or destined for public amusements. Nearly opposite the
theatre, to the northward of the river, are the remains of a temple (k),
the posterior wall of which only remains, having an entablature, and
several niches highly adorned with sculpture. Before this building stand
the shafts of several columns three feet in diameter. Its date appears
to be anterior to that of all the other buildings of Amman, and its
style of architecture is much superior. At some distance farther down
the Wady, stand a few small columns (i), probably the remains of a
temple. The plain between the river and the northern hills is covered
with ruins of private buildings, extending from the church (c) down to
the columns (i); but nothing of them remains, except the foundations and
some of the door posts. On the top of the highest of the northern hills
stands the castle of Amman, a very extensive
[p.360] building; it was an oblong square, filled with buildings, of
which, about as much remains as there does of the private dwellings in
the lower town. The castle walls are thick, and denote a remote
antiquity: large blocks of stone are piled up without cement, and still
hold together as well as if they had been recently placed; the greater
part of the wall is entire, it is placed a little below the crest of the
hill, and appears not to have risen much above the level of its summit.
Within the castle are several deep cisterns. At (m) is a square
building, in complete preservation, constructed in the same manner as
the castle wall; it is without ornaments, and the only opening into it
is a low door, over which was an inscription now defaced. Near this
building are the traces of a large temple (n); several of its broken
columns are lying on the ground; they are the largest I saw at Amman,
some of them being three feet and a half in diameter; their capitals are
of the Corinthian order. On the north side of the castle is a ditch cut
in the rock, for the better defence of this side of the hill, which is
less steep than the others.
The ruins of Amman being, with the exception of a few walls of flint, of
calcareous stone of moderate hardness, have not resisted the ravages of
time so well as those of Djerash. The buildings exposed to the
atmosphere are all in decay, so that there is little hope of finding any
inscriptions here, which might illustrate the history of the place. The
construction shews that the edifices were of different ages, as in the
other cities of the Decapolis, which I have examined.
I am sensible that the above description of Amman, though it notices all
the principal remains, is still very imperfect; but a traveller who is
not accompanied with an armed force can never hope to give very
satisfactory accounts of the antiquities of these deserted countries. My
guides had observed some fresh horse-dung near the waters side, which
greatly alarmed them, as it was a proof that