Seil Amman () was a water

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

that flowed in the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, Jordan. Starting from Ras Al-Ein with water from springs and rainfall, it flowed northeast for about six kilometers towards Ayn Ghazal, where it fed into Jordan's second largest river, the

Zarqa River The Zarqa River (, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmouk River. It is the third largest river in the region by annual discharge and its watershed enc ...

, as a tributary. Several archaeological sites were located along the banks of the Seil, including the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

site of Ayn Ghazal in its northernmost part, as well as later Roman ruins consisting of the

Nymphaeum A ''nymphaeum'' (Latin : ''nymphaea'') or ''nymphaion'' (), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...

and a forum adjacent to the

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

in its southern part. The abundance of water resources led Amman to becoming known historically as the "city of waters." The areas surrounding the Seil were among the first to be inhabited after the modern resettling of Amman by

Circassians The Circassians or Circassian people, also called Cherkess or Adyghe (Adyghe language, Adyghe and ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia, a region and former country in t ...

in the 1880s. In the 1960s, the Amman municipality roofed the Seil with concrete, in an effort to address its rising levels of pollution, drying up of its springs, frequent flooding, and traffic in the downtown area. A street currently runs along the course of the former stream, which is informally known as Saqf Al-Seil, meaning the roofed stream, and formally as Quraysh Street.

Etymology

During biblical times, the water course was called the Upper Jabbok, in reference to its function as tributary of the

. Western visitors to Amman in the 19th century, such as

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...

, referred to it as Moiet Amman (), meaning Amman's water, or as Nahr Amman (), Amman's river. Later, it was known as Seil Amman, meaning Amman's stream, as it continues to be referred to today.

Geography

The stream is located in the Amman valley, known today as the downtown area, which is surrounded by several mountains. It starts in the Ras Al-Ein area (meaning "source of the spring"), with water from springs and rainfall flowing northeast for about six kilometers before reaching the Ayn Ghazal area. There, it contributes to the

, Jordan's second-largest river, as a tributary. The abundance of water resources led Amman to being historically called the "city of waters."

History

The springs that gave the Amman valley its water supply had made the area a site of human habitation since at least 10,000 BC, as evidenced by

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

remains there. The point where the Seil meets the Zarqa River is home to the archaeological site of Ayn Ghazal, where the oldest human statues of the human form dating to the 8th millennium BC were found. During the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

in the first millennium BC, the

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

ites constructed a citadel on top of the hill overlooking the valley from the north, known today as Jabal Al-Qal'a (citadel hill), which was expanded by the Romans in the first century AD. The

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' The Amman valley was cut by the Seil into two banks. In the Roman era, the northern bank contained a colonnaded street, an east-west road known as

Decumanus In Roman urban planning, a ''decumanus'' was an east–west-oriented road in a Ancient Rome, Roman city or ''Castra, castrum'' (military camp). The main ''decumanus'' of a particular city was the ''decumanus maximus'', or most often simply "the ...

that no longer exists, while the southern bank contained a forum (in the location of today's Hashemite Plaza), a Roman Theater, an Odeon Theater, and a fountain and baths known as the

. Rainwater rushing from the surrounding hills into the valley led to flooding, leading the Romans to construct a series of vaults and arches as well as a network of underground channels to control the flow. Several of these constructions for the Seil were damaged in the past century. Muslim scholar

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

described the stream in the 12th century AD as: ِAfter the modern resettlement of

in the 1880s, the areas surrounding the Seil were among the main spots to be inhabited, such as the Shabsough and Al-Muhajireen areas. In the 1960s, the Amman Municipality began roofing the Seil, an effort it said was due to its worsening sanitary and health conditions, and flooding during the winter which damaged nearby shops and houses. It also stated that it aimed to increase capacity of roads to address increasing traffic in the downtown area. Costing around 3 million dinars, the municipality gradually roofed the Seil's course, in the years 1964–1971. Today, the street that runs along the course of the old stream is informally known as Saqf Al-Seil, meaning the roofed Seil, and officially as Quraysh Street.

References

{{Commons category, Seil Amman Geography of Amman

Etymology

Geography

History

See also

References