Daily life trail at As-salt city

Daily life trail

People in As-salt were living in a very cohesive social system. Their traditions, thoughts, lifestyle and political attitudes were very similar.

They were bonded by social controls based on the traditions and morals.

It’s necessary to revive those morals during the daily life trail; to introduce the great things in As-salt to the visitors and tourists. the trail would emphasize on the heart of the city, commercially active, the Hammam street.

This information could be explained on the upper terrace of Abu-Jaber house.

As-salt city (A historical overview)

The location and the naming As-salt city is located in the middle of Jordan. It’s 35 Km away from Amman and it’s the capital city in Al Balqa province. As-salt was considered the first Capital of Jordan before Amman.

There is a variety of explanations for the city name. One of the explanations says that it was derived from the Latin word “Saltos” which means the forest Another says that it was derived from the Roman language and it means “The land of grapes and figs (the wooded valley). Other says that the name was derived from the Syriac word “Slata” which means the solid rock or it was named after the Alexander of Macedonia, who invaded it and built the temple of Zeus in Zy town, named after Zeus.

The population In the beginning there were just two big localities: Al’wamleh and the Kurds. Then the city started to grow and it gathered more localities such as Al Jada’a, Khat Asalalem, Almehbasyeh, Al’zeryeh, Al Qteshat locality and lastly, the foreigner’s locality which consisted of the incomers from Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. These localities were inhabited by Muslims and Christians.

The history As-salt has a deep-rooted history. It was inhabited by humans for thousands of years BC. It’s special location between the Jordan valley and the western desert made it the headquarter of many leaders; it has important ruins such as the Roman cemeteries and the Ayyobian castle.

It’s hard to track the old history of As-salt from its ruins, since the lasted ruin is the castle built by the Ayyobian Sultan, Eisa bin Ayob in 1198 on the northern, eastern side. the castle foundations sound Roman. to the south of the city, there is Al-Jador hill. A small temple was built for the prophet “Jador or Jad” to the south sets the Al- Jador spring. there are many other springs too. On this hill, a Hellenistic settlement was built. Many pottery shards were found, they’re probably Roman and Byzantine.

Without a doubt, As-salt history dates back to prehistoric times. Al-Jador thought to be the start point this city, which one cannot see unless he/she in the middle of it. the Archaeological excavations in the city found old roman ruins. The strange thing is that the city was not mentioned in the resources except the late Islamic ones in Salah Ad deen Alyoobi era. This give an impression that it became a strategic region to observe the enemy. for this reason, the castle was built to imitate the other castls in Ashobak and Ajlun. from this era, As-salt strated to be more important. It was first named “S’lt” then it became “salt”. Amman, Hisban and As-sallt were competing to be the capital of Albaqa. here, As-salt was closely attached to Albalqa.

There are many historical sites in As-salt suburbs, although the archheologists did not perform any organised excavations yet. One of the most important sites is Khrbt Asoouk 4 km south to As-salt city and Krbt Ayob, krbt hreiz, and the prophet Joshua’s shrine to western north of the city.

As-salt was also the centre of the bishopric for the nabatean Busra city first then for Petra in the Byzantine era. During the Franks era, the king Qdr Bodowan I put a tax on Ajlun mountains and on As-slat city. The Mogol invaded the city and destroyed its castle so Baibars re-built it in 1266. Then Ottoman Ibrahim basha destroyed the castle again in 1840 and little of its foundations remained till today.

After the Ottomans had controlled the region, As-salt was included. It seems that the Ottomans did not really control it until the 16-17th century. Then it got out of their control till they got it back in 1869. This had made it an attractive city to live in, so it became the largest agglomeration in Jordan the head of its administration is Qaem Maqam with the assistance of the Board of Directors, the Court of First Instance and the tax and finance officials.

The first secondary school in Jordan was built in As-salt. the school had a section for foreigner students.

As-salt is considered the “First” in everything. It’s the “top students” city in Jordan’s history. Combining the modernity and the elegance of the past, It was the first Jordanian capital, and the first political centre upon the Ottoman rule and during the state foundation process.

The modern city of As-salt in the city centre of Albaqa which has Alblqa University with branches in all over the country.