5 Old Ruins to Explore in Amman Governorate

L-shaped hill with a long history of occupation by many great civilizations- Assyrians, Babylonians, the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines, and the Umayyads. The hill became the capital of the Kingdom of Ammon sometime after 1200 BC. The major buildings at the site are the Temple of Hercules, a Byzantine church, and the Umayyad Palace.

Desert castle built sometime before the early 8th century AD. The purpose of this building is still unclear- the building's internal arrangement does not suggest a military use, and slits in its wall could not have been designed for arrowslits. It could have been a resting place for traders, but lacks the water source such buildings usually had close by and is not on any major trade routes.

Ruin of an Umayyad winter palace, part of a string of castles, palaces and caravanserais known collectively in Jordan as the Desert Castles. Though much of the ruins can still be found in the site, the most striking feature of the palace, its facade, has been removed and is on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Roman Nymphaeum Amman is a partially preserved Roman public fountain believed to have contained a 600 square meters pool which was three meters deep. The nymphaeum was built in the 2nd century CE and it was continuously refilled with water.

Situated in the Jordanian Desert, the site has been allied to the biblical settlement of Mephaat mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah. The Roman military utilized the site as a strategic garrison, but it was later converted and inhabited by Christian and Islamic communities. The mosaic floor of the Church of St Stephen made in 785 (discovered after 1986) is the most important discovery on the site. The perfectly preserved mosaic floor is the largest in Jordan.