Jordan History and Culture

At Ain Ghazal near Amman, archaeologists found some of the oldest large human statues ever made, about nine thousand years old. Ancient kingdoms such as Ammon, Moab and Edom traded along the King's Highway, one of the world's oldest continuously used roads.

From around the 4th century BC the Nabataeans, Arab traders who mastered the incense and spice routes, carved Petra into the sandstone cliffs and engineered water systems to sustain a city in the desert. Rome later absorbed the kingdom, and cities of the Decapolis, above all Jerash and Gadara (Umm Qais), flourished. Byzantine churches left superb mosaics, including the famous map of the Holy Land in Madaba.

In the 8th century the Umayyad caliphs built desert castles such as Qusayr Amra, with its painted bath halls. Centuries of Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman history followed. The Hashemite Kingdom traces its modern story to 1921, and full independence came in 1946. Read about the royal family of Jordan and the ancient incense route. The basalt town of Umm Al-Jimal in the north joined the World Heritage List in 2024.

Madaba is the mosaic capital of the Middle East, where artisans still set tiny stones by hand. Bedouin women weave goat-hair tents and bright rugs, and the bottles of colored sand layered into desert scenes are a classic Jordan keepsake. Amman's Jabal Al Weibdeh and Jabal Amman districts are home to galleries, the Darat al Funun arts center and design boutiques along Rainbow Street.

Traditional dabke line dancing appears at weddings and festivals, and the Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts brings music to the Roman stage each summer. Learn more about Bedouin heritage and desert culture.

The Dead Sea, shared with its neighbors, is so salty that you float effortlessly. Wadi Rum's red dunes have stood in for Mars in several Hollywood films. Petra was largely unknown to the Western world until 1812. Plan it all with our Jordan luxury travel guide and our page on visiting Petra. In 2026 the coral reefs of the Aqaba Marine Reserve were inscribed as a natural World Heritage Site; dive them from Aqaba's Red Sea resorts.