More Jordan Destinations
This strange black city is located about 20 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Mafraq, 87 kilometers from Amman, and only 10 kilometers from the Syrian border. Umm al-Jimal is now known as the Black Oasis because of the black basalt rock from which many of its houses, churches, barracks and forts were built.
The precise history of Umm al-Jimal is still unclear, but historians believe that it was built originally by the Nabateans around 2000 years ago. Under the Nabateans, the city played host to a great number of trading caravans. Indeed, the name Umm al-Jimal means "Mother of Camels" in Arabic.
The large vacant area in the town center was reserved for traveling caravans stopping in Umm al-Jimal. When the Romans took the city in the first century CE, they incorporated it into the line of defense for Rome's Arab possessions. The city lay only six kilometers east of the Via Nova Triana, which connected Rome's northern and southern Arabian holdings. Umm al-Jimal may have had as many as 10,000 inhabitants during its heyday.
During the third century CE, it seems as though local residents faced some major threat, as they resorted to using tombstones and other available basalt to construct wall fortifications.
This wall was then refortified during the fourth century CE. Most of the buildings of Umm al-Jimal were practical and residential in nature, with little evidence of the systematic layout that can be seen, for instance, at Jerash. After surviving a number of catastrophic events including the Persian invasion, plagues, and minor earthquakes, the city was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 747 CE.
There are no accommodations in either Mafraq or Umm al-Jimal.
Azraq is located about 110 kilometers east of Amman at the junction of roads leading northeast into Iraq and southeast into Saudi Arabia. With 12 square kilometers of lush parklands, pools and gardens, Azraq has the only water in all of the eastern desert. The oasis is also home to a host of water buffalo and other wildlife. There are four main springs which supply Azraq with its water as well as its name, which in Arabic means "blue."
Over the past 15 years or so, the water level in Azraq's swamps has fallen dramatically due to large-scale pumping to supply Amman and Irbid. This has resulted in the destruction of a large part of the marshlands.
While Azraq remains one of the most important oases in the Middle East for birds migrating between Africa and Europe, its declining water levels have led many species to bypass Azraq in favor of other stops.
The area was once home to numerous deer, bear, ibex, oryx, cheetah and gazelle, many of which have been decimated in the last sixty years by overzealous hunters.
Although the Iraqi border is far to the east, the town of Azraq has the feel of a border town, as there are no major settlements further east. There are a number of cafés and small hotels, along with a Government Rest House, in Azraq.
Tabaqat Fahl (Pella)
Above the modern town of Mashare in the Jordan valley are the remains of the ancient city of Pella, exactly at sea level altitude.
The ruins overlook the Jordan Valley. The site is inhabited since the stone ages. Evidences of a Neolithic.
Farming village was found. Remains of Chalcolithic settlement were excavated. Evidences of the Bronze ages and the Iron ages.
After the Roman siege, the early Christians fled to Pella. In the seventh century the Islamic army defeated the Byzantine army.
The Baptism site was called in the Biblical time as Bethany beyond the Jordan. Located at or around the natural hill at Tell el Kharrar where John the Baptist lived, preached and baptized, the village of Bethany beyond the Jordan was explicitly mentioned in the Bible, John 1:28
Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was Baptized, while John 10:40 mentions an incident when Jesus escaped from hostile Pharisees in Jerusalem and went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptizing.
The region of Bethany beyond the Jordan witnessed many significant associations with ancient prophets and biblical personalities including Moses, Joshua, Elisha. The main mound at tell el-Kharrar has long been calls Elijah's Hill, or tell Mar Elias in Arabic. It has been identified as the place from which Prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot and horses of fire after having parted the water of the River Jordan and walked across it with his successor the Prophet Elisha.
In the Roman periodt The Bethany area Known as Betennaboris.
The 6th century AD Byzantine Madaba mosaic map of the Holy Land labels it as Ainon where now is Saphsaphas.
(The name Saphsaphas comes from the Arabic word for willow tree).
Starting with a small hill where Elijah ascended to heaven in the fiery chariot, this vally cross over the ancient road between Mount Nebo and Jericho and ends by the River Jordan, where churches dedicated to John the Baptist were later built.
South of the Dead Sea and near the village of Safi is a steep slope which is the location of a monastery, a Byzantine basilica from the 7th century A.D. and the Cave of Lot. The entrance to the cave is directly behind the basilica. A stone bearing the inscription "St. Lot" which was found during excavations, is evidence for a localisation of Lot's Cave at this place in antiquity.
The Byzantine basilica, which is also depicted on the Madaba Map, has three aisles with three apses, and its floor is decorated with a mosaic. A doorway at the back of the left northern aisle provides access to the cave of Lot.
In the southern part of the church is a cistern with a depth of 7 m. A series of rooms north of the church were probably part of a monastery and pilgrims' accomodations.
Lot, who was brother of Abraham, fled with his wife and his daughters from the sinfulness of Sodom. In spite of a warning his wife looked back upon the city and turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:1-26). Today the strangely shaped rock on a slope above the Dead Sea bears the name "Lot's Wife". In ancient times the site near Safi was identified with the place were Lot is said to have lived in a cave with his two daughters. According to the Old Testament, Lot was given wine by his daughters and he fathered two children by them - the ancestors of the Ammonites and Moabites.
This is yet another castle in the great chain of Crusader fortresses which stretches across Jordan. The stronghold, known as Mont Realis (Montreal), was constructed in 1115 CE by Baldwin I. At its height Shobak was home to about 6000 Christians. It suffered numerous assaults by Salah Eddin (Saladin) before it finally fell to him in 1189. Shobak Castle was then restored by the Mamluks in the 14th century.
The castle is perched on top of a small hill northeast of the town of Shobak. Inside the fortress there are two churches, the first of which is to the left of the entrance and up the stairs.
There are ruins of baths, cisterns and rainwater pipes, in addition to millstones for pressing olives, a few archways and other works which have stood the test of time. The caretaker can point out a shaft from which a set of stairs cut into the rock leads down to a spring below the castle. The shaft has 375 steps and is one of the deepest wells ever cut by Crusader forces.
A side road leads to the castle from the King's Highway about two kilometers north of Shobak village. From there it is another four kilometers to the castle.
It is the ancient rout between Amman and Petra. In the 1st millennium BC this rout liked the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Edom. In the Nabatean times it was used to transport goods like frankincense, Myrrh, and spices from the Southern Arabia to the Mediterranean, Hellenistic and the Roman world. Along this route are the most historical sites of Jordan.
It goes along the mountains to the east of the Dead Sea. You drive through the small towns, which are depending on agriculture.
It is well known as one of the relaxing places in Jordan. Zarqa Ma'in (biblical Belemounta), 58 km south of Amman and 120 meters below sea level, is the thermal mineral hot springs and waterfalls, where Herod the Great was said to have bathed in its medicinal water, and where people have come for thermal treatments, or simply to enjoy a hot soak, since the days of Rome.
It is now being restored and rebuilt as a comprehensive spa and natural clinic providing treatment for people with skin diseases, blood circulatory problems and bone, joints, back and muscular pains. With a 4-star hotel, leisure, bathing, and therapeutic facilities.
The area is famous for the hot springs and waterfalls, which are known for a wide range of therapeutic treatments.
This Herodian fortress palace, named Macherud in Greek, is known today as Mukawir, and is located 66 km south west of Amman.
It retains the memories of some very h dramatic ancient human and political events, including the beheading of John the Baptist, a Jewish revolt against the Roman rule, and prolonged Roman siege and destruction of the rebels.
Umm Al Rasas
The Town of Um Al Rasas, as it is known, was an important town in the Nabatean times and became a frontier station in the Roman time. The city wall, houses and churches are the remains of the ancient Kastron Mefaa.
Little Petra is located to the north of Petra, only a 10 minute drive away. A classical temple stands guard outside the miniature siq which would appear to have been an important suburb of the city of Petra, situated at the point where several ancient caravan routes met, linking Wadi Araba with Gaza, Egypt and the Mediterranean coast.
The narrow file, only some 350 m long, is crammed with tombs, temples, triclinia, houses, water channels and cisterns, in brief, a "Little Petra". Of particular note are the remains of painted frescoes on plaster dating from the 1st century AD, which are to be found in one of the biclinia.