The Ancient City
This dense cluster of tombs makes a striking feature during a hike around Al Habis or along Wadi Siyagh. In spring they are often decorated with flowering…
Must-see attractions in Jordan
The Ancient City
This eroded stone pillar capped with a serpentine form appears to keep guard over the periphery of the Ancient City of Petra. It acts as a useful landmark…
Jordan
Set up to host occasional cultural events, Beit Arar is located off Al Hashemi St in a superb old Damascene-style house. The rooms are set around a…
The Ancient City
The lower section of the Great Temple, with its stepped enclosure, is thought to have been a sacred part of this major monument, the whole of which…
Karak
This fine statue of the Muslim hero Saladin (Salah ad Din) sits in the middle of a roundabout at the bottom of the town's main shopping street. Astride a…
The Ancient City
At the start of the Colonnaded Street, this public fountain was built in the 2nd century AD and fed by water channelled from the Siq. Little can be seen…
Jerash
This archway with four entrances was built over the intersection of Jerash's cardo maximus (the main north–south axis) and the north decumanus (an east…
Jerash
Jerash's Eastern Baths lie outside the gated city on the other side of the wadi in the modern town. They are lit up at night and are interestingly…
The Ancient City
Carved into a niche in a cliff near the entrance to the Siq is a beautiful eagle with outstretched wings. This bird is often depicted in ancient times as…
Jerash
At the eastern end of the south decumanus is a modern mosque, a reminder of how Jordan has embraced many religions over the years and continues to…
The Ancient City
In making your way up to the Temple of Winged Lions, you might wonder what the old pile of stones opposite represents. Spread over a broad platform, this…
The Ancient City
At the summit of Al Habis are the limited remains of this fort built in AD 1116 by Baldwin I. The ruins are not impressive, but the views across the city…
Jerash
Little remains of this church apart from the twin colonnades (picturesquely overgrown with wildflowers in spring) and the apse, which overlooks the…
Umm Qais
The thick stone doors of this Roman tomb outside the main archaeological area still swing on ancient hinges. Nearby are the less notable tombs of Germani…
Jerash
The unassuming walls of these buildings don't look especially noteworthy, but they're interesting for adding another level of historical accretion in…
Amman
Near the Citadel's archaeological museum is the small Byzantine Basilica, most of which has been destroyed by earthquakes. It dates from the 6th or 7th…
The Ancient City
Unexcavated tombs along the base of the eastern cliffs near the Edomite village lie off the beaten track making them a good place to explore in the…
Sharif Al Hussein Bin Ali Mosque
Aqaba
This grand and beautiful gleaming white mosque – an icon of Aqaba – is named for the great-great-grandfather of the current king, the emir of Mecca who…
Umm Qais
The North Theatre is overgrown and missing much of its original black-basalt stones, which were recycled by villagers in other constructions, but it's…
Umm Qais
The shells of a row of shops remain in the western section of what was once the colonnaded courtyard of the Basilica Terrace.
The Ancient City
Offers a rare glimpse of the way the Nabataeans constructed their rock tombs, starting at the top on a platform of scaffolding and working their way down.
Wadi Rum
Close to Rum village, the labyrinthine siqs of Rakhabat Canyon give access to the heart of Jebel Umm Al Ishrin.
The Ancient City
The temenos was the sacred courtyard of the Qasr Al Bint and separated the commercial area of the city from the sacred area of the temple.
Umm Qais
This public water fountain, once a two-storey complex with a large covered cistern, has niches for statues of the water goddesses.
Jerash
On the western side of the cardo maximus is the agora, where people gathered for public meetings around the central fountain.
Jerash
These ruins of a former church are one of the only sites in Jerash to have a few fragments of Byzantine mosaic in situ.
The Ancient City
Shops would have lined the Colonnaded Street along the front side of this colossal and as yet unexcavated building.
The Ancient City
Arranged above a fertile wadi with oleander fed by a natural spring, these tombs are notable for curved pediments.
The Ancient City
It is likely that the shops of the upper market would have continued along this portion of the Colonnaded Street.
Jordan
A colonnaded hospital dating from the British Mandate period (look for the letters ‘EH’ on the green gate).
The Ancient City
Lining the steep banks of Wadi Thughra, tombs coddle almost the entire area of this vertical piece of rock.
The Ancient City
Erosion has left only a weathered 'keyhole' in the facade of this tomb, accessed via stone steps.
Wadi Rum
The Anfaishiyya inscriptions are scratched into the smooth surface of a huge, vertical rock face.
Jordan
A recently restored Ottoman house dating from 1886, now housing a small local-history museum.
The Ancient City
Flanking the Great Temple, this area provides the stairway and entrance to this monument.
The Ancient City
The Sacred Hall may have had ritual connections with the Treasury, diagonally opposite.
Jerash
The circular ruins of this church contain patches of original floor mosaics.
