Roberto Parapetti
July 25th 1938 that crosses it.” The members of the Italian Archaeological These evocative notes, of a time only in part Mission in Trans-Jordan, whose seat is in Am- passed, are the starting and the fnal records from man, met in Brindisi to board the seaplane to the excavation diary drawn up by the feld assis- Athens. tant during the last 1938 campaign of the Italian July 26th Mission of the Citadel. The outbreak They continue their journey to Haifa making of the Second World War and the engaging ap- a stop in Rhodes. pointment of Renato Bartoccini, the director of July 27th the mission, in the Italian public administration, From Haifa to Lydda by train and from Ly- imposed a defnite halt to the research in dda to Jerusalem by car. . July 28th Unfortunately, since then those works had They stop at Jerusalem because of the Pales- been almost forgotten in spite of the preliminary tinian insurrectional movements. reports, published between 1930 and 1939. July 29th It is true, in fact, that before 1973 (Zayadine Jerusalem-Amman by car. 1973) no mention was made of those issues2. July 30th In consideration of the radical change made Preparation for excavation work cannot be on the archaeological landscape of the citadel started because tools and “decauville” material through the uncovering of the Great Temple and are lacking: it is impossible to collect the above more than half of the Umayyad Palace, which mentioned material from the storehouse of the had been unchanged until the early 1990s, those Directorate of Antiquities of Amman because of works were but irrelevant: the drivers’ strike...... August 4th “…In fgures, there have been fve digging Work starts near the eastern gate and the campaigns, employing 350 workers for an fnal arrangement of the “decauville” track is amount of 20.000 working days. 30.000 cu. m. settled... November 22nd of materials have been removed, bringing to Work is aimed at a radical cleaning of the light more than 7.000 sq. m. of monumental ar- Arab monument and at completing the clearing eas…..” (Bartoccini 1939). out one of the rooms. Furthermore, the arrange- No matter how things have developed, the ment of the basilica is started by cutting the path following remarks are intended to complete
1. For the present overview, beside the examination of the Antiquities fles, was available already before that date, published material, I could take advantage of the docu- but without bibliographic references (see Tell S., Notes ments preserved at the Institute of Ancient History of on the Archaeology of ‘Amman. ADAJ 14 (1969): 30). the University of Perugia and in Macerata at «Centro It must be also omission is also remarkable in the re- Studi per l’Africa Settentrionale». Here, I would like to port of the trial trenches made for the construction of thank Prof. Antonino di Vita for having allowed me to the museum, likely planned on the citadel between the make use of those documents. monuments just brought to light by Bartoccini (Hard- 2. A mere mention of the Italian work on the site of the ing G.L., Excavations on the Citadel, Amman. ADAJ Great Temple, probably based on the Department of 1 (1951): 7).
-159- ADAJ 52 (2008) those unfortunately incomplete works. In order sults are concerned, I could only go through a to facilitate the reading, Bartoccini’s quotations short manuscript he sent to Renato Bartoccini were translated from Italian. including, together with the Excavation Permit, The beginning of the Italian adventure in a letter dated June, 2nd 1929 wishing him good Transjordan is described in this way: work, just a few days before the latter left to ‘ . “...... After the establishment of the Emirate, On the 25th October 1927 the survey of the the Italian Association for the Missionaries de- acropolis started and continued until the end of cided to build there a hospital. Soon afterwards, November. also an Archaeological Mission was sent there, From the above mentioned manuscript, it ap- the care of which was entrusted to the Direction pears that Guidi could have at his disposal an of the Italian Scientifc Missions in the Levant average of 60 workers led by the assistant Musa presided by H.E. Paribeni. Having participated Kamar. The Dominican Fathers for their hospi- in the war in Palestine, he felt and still feels a tality and Dr. Fausto Tesio, director of the Italian nostalgic affection towards those countries. The Hospital, for his friendly support, were worthy mandatory power granted our request for an ex- of credit. The bases to establish a long term re- cavation permit…... In October 1927, comrade search were immediately evident to him. The Giacomo Guidi…. carried out the frst survey frst pick was dealt inside the area delimited by in Amman, and started the frst excavations on the remains of a structure appearing like a four- the acropolis……. The following year, Giacomo sided portico of the Roman times, north of the Guidi succeeded me in the Direction of the Ex- well-known Arab building: cavations in Tripolitania, as I was entrusted with that of the Mission in Trans-Jordan” (Bar- “…. the excavation began from the north-east toccini 1939). corner so to have the advantage to discharge the earth down to the desolated valley below…..….. More than the nostalgic feeling or the com- while digging, it was possible to fnd, inside the fort from the presence of the missionaries, it four sided portico, Byzantine and Arab struc- was a political opportunity to suggest Roberto tures. Some of them, judging from the remains Paribeni, the ‘Direttore Generale delle Anti- of masonry built column bases must have had a chità e BelleArti’, should start archaeological quite fair aspect. ... In the superfcial layer, there research beyond the Jordan river. Notwithstand- was plenty of interesting fragments of Arab pot- ing the endemic economic diffculties, fascist tery in geometric style: afterwards, I saw some Italy could not avoid being present in regions of the integral pieces of these ceramics in the where European and American scholars had al- little museum of Nazareth... Had chosen a space ready gathered prestigious scientifc positions3. free from the Byzantine-Arab structures, it was Besides the frst 1927 mission, the feld activity possible to dig a deep trench...... many remains in Transjordan consisted of only four campaigns: of characteristic pottery were found, dating June-September 1929, July-October 1930, Janu- back to the Hellenistic period, to the Iron Age ary-April 1933 and July-November 1938. and fnally to the Bronze Age III. Therefore, the As far as Giacomo Guidi’s 1927 mission re- scientifc systematic exploration of the four-sid-
3. In Transjordan in particular, the numerically irrelevant more miserable destiny and despite various scientifc presence of western wealthy missions, would not have projects were presented, it was not funded in that pe- caused embarrassment for Italian government. Despite riod (Petricioli 1988: 129-152). various misadventures, the mission in Transjordan was 4. An editorial news on Guidi’s mission is given on the in reality the most fortunate among the Italian adven- magazine « Oriente Moderno » in January 1928. The tures in Middle East. On the contrary, the mission in Excavation Permit to excavate the Acropolis of Am- Mesopotamia, planned since 1929, was realized in man bears the n° 3, issued under Trans-Jordan Antiqui- 1933, with only one excavation campaign which lasted ty Ordinance, signed by George Horsfeld, Inspector of three months at Kakzu, under the direction of Giuseppe Antiquities (for the Director of Antiquities), by Hassan Furlani. The mission in Yemen, was no longer suc- Khalid Aloul, Chief Minister, in confrmation, and by cessful. It ended with a mere philological mission of Giacomo Guidi (for the Missiones Scientifques Itali- Ettore Rossi in 1936. Though strongly wanted by the ennnes en Orient) in acceptance; the date is October central government, the mission in Persia had an even 18th, 1927.
-160- R. Parapetti: An overview of the Italian Excavations in the Citadel 1927-1938 ed portico’s subsoil are promises for interesting rastyle pronaos, certainly deriving from Butler fndings especially of biblic and Greek period. reconstruction (Butler, H.C., Ancient architec- At this point, it seems there’s no more doubt that ture in Syria, Section A, Leiden, 1907), has been the fortifed citadel, under the walls of which eventually revised during the restoration work general Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, fell, had carried out by the American Center of Oriental to be located in the third terrace of the acropolis Research in ‘Amman (Kanellopoulos 1994). of Amman”. The front must have had, in fact, six columns (see also Zayadine 1977-78: fg. 1). In his frst campaign in the summer 1929, In July 1930 (second campaign), Bartoccini reconsiders his predecessor’s hypoth- esis affrming that the Biblical Rabbath Ammon “...... the mission was welcome with the could not be located on the third terrace as this usual warmth by Col. Cox, English resident, by is only the result of a flling contained by the the President of the Emirate’s Council, by Mr. imposing Hellenistic-Roman walls, on which Head, regent of the Department of Antiquities... the four-sided portico had been built The most .... With me, there were architect Carlo Ceschi, ancient city had rather to be located on the frst who made a complete surveying of the Amman terrace, that is in the long eastern wing of the monuments, and an assistant5….Towards to the acropolis (Bartoccini 1930: 15). end of the campaign, H.H. the Emir Abdallah The feld activity was mainly focused on visited the mission’s work... “The work began bringing to light the Great Temple in the second with the resumption of the excavation in the terrace: temple…. [where] it was soon brought to light a colossal marble elbow, part of a possibly female “…. we dug for an average of 3 m. down to statue…” the Roman soil; I made a 2 m. more down sound- ing collecting material of various epochs…..the No mention is made of the fragmentary left temple foundations are still deeper ….the temple hand belonging to the same colossal statue, at podium preserves …..a nice wide base mould- present, together with the elbow, at the sides of ing. Astride the joint of two blocks of the base the Museum’s entrance, evidently a later fnd- there were the letters A//ZE. ……The temple ing. pronaos…..was a tetrastyle of the Corinthian order, the columns were composed of more ele- “....to continue the excavation it became ments…On one of each drum faces there is the necessary to remove a pillar laying sideways in Greek name Dwseos ...... and some sign which I the cella and a number of ashlars which have believe to indicate their positioning…Observa- been numbered and stocked in the vicinities…. tions of some interest were made on the monu- The bed rock was soon reached showing a con- ment structure itself. The workmanship of the vex shape…. a cistern was uncovered (together cella have nothing to share with that one of the with two others outside the temple) flled up by pronaos. The stone material itself shows sensi- stones among which only a couple of black ware ble differences…… At any rate it is certain that monocline handless lamps (cocked-hat lamp) the pronaos was added to a preexisting, perhaps were found. Just close to the temple front a big not Roman, building, built under Marcus Aure- rock appeared and…. stone blocks against its lius rule…. I began then the unearthing of the south side have been interpreted to form rudi- cella … walls of various structure and orienta- mentary steps. Once cleared, a cavity on its top tion associated with change of fndings started was recognized associated with other cavities at to appear” (Bartoccini 1930: 15-16). its base connected by a drainage groove. To its north east side a small cave, the roofng of which The hypothesis of the temple having a tet- had collapsed was also found……. We were then
5. Ceschi’s drawings of the lower city’s monuments, The- published by the director of the Spanish Archeological atre, Odeon, Nymphaeum and of the Great Temple and Mission in ‘Amman (Almagro 1983). Water Reservoir on the acropolis have been already
-161- ADAJ 52 (2008) at the presence of the Ammonite sacrifce sacred are painted, generally distributed on horizontal rock, the most ancient worship site of this bel- zones...... We are dealing with a new ceramic licose people… ” (Bartoccini 1932: 16-23). production. Only the Kaiser Friedrich Museum has two samples of uncertain origin but cer- The subject of the “Ammonite sacred rock” tainly not coming from an excavation, and three was resumed in a separate short article (Bartoc- or four fragments found near one of the Arab cini 1935). The identifcation of the site with castles of the desert area bordering Amman. the ‘high places’ of Semitic tradition, though, Therefore, for the frst time, their exact context was not shared by Zayadine who considered can be declared...... In this case, we should not fully convincing the supplied identifcation date the fnding back to the 12th-13th century... elements (Zayadine 1973). The rock, oriented ...I took a typologically complete collection of eastwards apparently like a ship prow, seemed the above described ceramics to Italy and gave to confrm the discoverer the hypothesis that the it to the “Museo Internazionale della ceramica” citadel mentioned in the Bible had to be located in Faenza” (Bartoccini 1932: 22-23, Fig. 1)6. on the lower terrace. So he decided to open a large north-south trench on the lower terrace — During the same campaign a ‘water reser- and therefore the excavation permit had to be voir’, which had been seen already by Conder extended — spanning from one terrace side to (Conder, C.R., The survey of Palestine I, Lon- the other. At the end of the campaign the frst don, 1889), north of the northern bastion, was building structures appeared at about a depth cleared. of one metre. The collected material consisted, Bartoccini, like the British traveller, associ- mostly of Roman potsherds. ated it with a passage of Polybius [Histories] ac- The availability of a ‘decauville’ allowed the cording to whom, during Philadelphia’s siege, excavation to start again and more rapidly ex- Antiochus the Great defeated the besieged Ptole- tending the work begun in 1927 in the four-sided my Philopator by cutting off the water-supplies portico. Together with the various architectural that must have been granted by a secret passage elements, an abundance of Arab pottery was from inside the fortress to a water reservoir. The found, of the type already observed by Guidi, investigation on the cistern was resumed in the was gathered: following campaign 1933:
“...... In the layer which can be dated back a “..the channel giving into the great cistern few centuries later than the construction of the opens outside the present walls. It must there- well-known Arab building, we brought to light a fore be supposed that these ones were erected big quantity of potsherds of a rather unrefned when the frst was not in use anymore. …From a and porous mixture with external pale-yellow careful exam of the foothill one can suspect….. wash on which brown geometric decorations the existence of a more advanced city wall, con-
1. Faenza, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, samples of medieval pottery from the 1930 excavation in the “four sided portico”.
6. Of the 80 pot shards brought to Italy in 1930, only 40 Second World War, and they are still available. have survived the bombing of the museum during the
-162- R. Parapetti: An overview of the Italian Excavations in the Citadel 1927-1938 temporary to the one on the frst terrace dating were keen to make their comrades believe they to the bronze age….In the next campaign I plan were “almost... Italians”, as they spoke Spanish further investigation in that area. (Bartoccini or Portuguese! Exquisite, as usual, the welcome 1934: 275-276). of H.H. the Emir Abdallah and col. Cox,……and of the colleagues Horsfeld and Head…. ” (Bar- If any, Bartoccini did not give record of fur- toccini 1934: 275, Fig. 2). ther research. However, the suggestion of the existence of a more ancient city wall was much The presence of such a variety of labours later confrmed. The water reservoir and the area was due to a different reality. The events that surrounding it were, in fact, carefully investigat- occurred in Cyrenaica as result of political and ed allowing for the reaffrmation of the extent military actions carried out by the Italian colo- of the historical reconstructions advanced by nial government, and in particular the killing of Conder and Bartoccini (Zayadine, Humbert and the rebel Omar Muktar in 1931, anti-Italian ac- Najjar 1989; Zayadine 1990). In my opinion, tions were provoked throughout the whole Mus- judging from its layout, the water reservoir, as lim world: the workers of ‘Amman demanded it appears now with its thick plaster lining, must an excessive pay increase and the owner of the had been originally made for a hypogeal tomb. land, where the excavation debris were usually We must realize, however, that our archae- thrown down, demanded a lease. The removal ologist was not lucky, indeed. In 1949, in fact, of the anti-Italian impasse, came through an un- just a few metres away from the above men- expected chance: the British premier J.R. Mac- tioned reservoir, four exceptional sculptures Donald paid Mussolini a visit and soon after (R.D. Barnett, Four Sculptures from Amman. this, the latter made a declaration for the non ADAJ I, 1951), which had to be associated with an Ammonite shrine dating back to the 8th cen- tury B.C., were found. They could have given Bartoccini a much wider scope of research. Still in the 1930 campaign:
“...... We isolated and discovered part of a co- eval construction [with the Arab building], simi- lar in style, which raised on the northern limit of the terrace. It promises to reveal new deco- rative material with a better link with the very well-known material of Mshatta. The gate in the western side of the walls, that I had identifed in a series of soundings carried out to recognize the exact perimeter of the acropolis, had to be probably connected to this group” (Bartoccini 1932: 23). January and April 1933 (third Campaign):
“...As regards the workers, we had a great choice, due to the crisis in the work sector that also Trans-Jordan was going through...... In this campaign, but never before, the whole Is- lamic world was represented on the acropo- lis of Amman: Javanese, Zanzibaris, Somalis, Eritreans, Yemenite, Iraqis, Druses, Syrians, Circassians, Tripolitans, Tunisians, Egyptians, 2. ‘Amman, offcial visit to the Italian Archaeological a small tower of Babel complicated by natives Mission at the Citadel in 1933 (centre, Emir Abdullah; already immigrated from South America who left, R. Bartoccini).
-163- ADAJ 52 (2008) partition of Syria. Bartoccini was able to take an gods of the two sculptures must be assigned to advantage of those circumstances: after dismiss- the Syrian-Palestinian pantheon, infuenced by ing the entire labour gang, he recruited again the the Egyptian artistic style; I think they can be milder of them and paid the land owner a ten dated to the IV-III century B.C.” (Bartoccini years lease (Petricioli 1988). 1934: 278, Fig. 3). The work continued as usual in the four-sided portico (from then called “agora”). Photographic images of the two stelae are reproduced in the report (Bartoccini 1934: 277) “...... The large sounding along the walls... identifying the two gods Osiris and Bastit. An ...towards the Arab building, towards the west, incredible oversight. Leaving out here discus- have revealed many and frequent re-makings of sion of the date of the pieces, we have to correct the protecting walls built around the third ter- the interpretation of the second bas-relief which, race... …...two interesting basalt stelae each by his “ram-head” is evidently an Amon. After bearing the image of a divinity were uncovered. the fnding, the two important discoveries were The frst of them was found near the [west] city dislocated at the sides of the entrance gate of gate,…the second was found while dismantling the mission’s house, where they remained un- a part of the wall which from the Arab building til 2004 when they were moved to the Citadel goes straight to the agora [north] entrance… Museum. One of the fgures is shaped like a mummy bear- ing the uraeus on his head …; the other one, pro- “…..It is now clear that the all area (of the ceeding on the side has a cat head (!) adorned agora) was occupied by a complex of private with the uraeus, the naked breasts below the constructions, chronologically posterior to the egida…. For style and intrinsic anomalies, the Arab conquest and topographically connected
3. Basalt stele of Osiris and Ammon, 2003.
-164- R. Parapetti: An overview of the Italian Excavations in the Citadel 1927-1938 to the great monument . …The whole was em- in some details of partition fllets, of panels and bellished with a double colonnade of which the frames, it has an overall design which makes it bases were found…. The main building was in stand out from the old classic world, taking it fact in direct relation with a coeval building out- back to the typical products of the Arab archi- side the agora at the limit of the fortifcation…. tecture’s origins... With this respect, the building The main construction represented the entrance is closer to Qasr-el-Qarani….. The main en- to the complex and for this use two seats were trance of the Arab building from the agora side located at the entrance gate sides. A similar ar- was found sealed and the interior was reshaped rangement was realized at the old [north] en- by partitions of a very late epoch….after the col- trance to the agora….. In a synthesis….. we lapse of the central dome…. Already before our acquired the following: 1st The Roman agora, excavation, the local archaeological offce had probably settled during the rule of an emperor executed propping works which resulted though, of the Antonine dynasty …..2nd The agora was insuffcient. I managed to build them again and endowed with a second outer [northwards] col- to seal the most unsafe breaches..” (Bartoccini onnade….to create a portico……3rd At least, 1934: 279-282, Figs. 4-8). the eastern side of the agora was arranged with shops paved with a plain white mosaic foor- In consideration of Bartoccini’s classic back- ing…The façade of this side was certainly ground it is remarkable how close he went to the different from the others. A number of corbels date suggested for the “Arab building”. The ex- for sculptures was found; one of them is a big cavation made by the Spanish mission, starting winged phallus. 4th Beyond the agora, between from 1974, ascertained that the Arab building this last and the temple, already explored on the is the result of a remodelling of a late-antique/ second terrace, there must have been buildings Byzantine construction which took place around of an importance……. A tradition , according to the middle of the VIII century (Almagro-Ola- Mukaddasi, assigns [the Arab buiding] to the varri 1982). More accurate observation on the function of a mosque built on Uria’s tomb. … building technique allowed for the hypothesis That room is obligatory a by pass space and. that later building additions were in the Abbasid …..all induces to believe that it was simply a pa- period (Northedge 1992). vilion, in which the lord, that resided beyond the The excavation of the big trench in the lower plaza, in the building on the walls, received the terrace, where Bartoccini was sure to fnd traces applicants: i.e. a diwan. The decorative appa- of the city destroyed by David, goes on: ratus adorning the interior of the building must have been repeated outside in its top part as the “….my attention was attracted by the par- lower one was only plastered ……. Fragments of ticularity of a stretch of the walls in which was columns and corbels… were possibly to create evident a discontinuity indicating the blockage a blind arcade. Traces of coloured retouch are of a previous gate. From there, the decision to present, in which the red is prevailing. As for the start the research….The discoveries can be for date of this pavilion ….the majority assigns it to the moment subdivided in this way : 1st A thick a lord of a Sasanian dynasty in consideration of soil stratum with abundant Roman potsherds… Persian infuence to be recognized in the geo- .2nd Byzantine structures connected to some metric and foral patterns of the decorative ap- evidence of an agricultural exploitation of the paratuses ….From the artistic point of view it as area consisting in cisterns and irrigation chan- been associated with the Mshatta castle….but, nels. 3rd below the bigger of the various water also for this monument the most various hypoth- reservoirs discovered, subsequently demolished, esis have been proposed. Strzygowski assigns it the bedrock cropped out, apparently the top of to the IV century, Brunnow to the V, Diehl to the the hill……The rock shows characteristic arti- VI, others to the VIII. ……I have no diffculty to fcial cavities which are called “ coupoles” by assign it to the IV century (!), but for the Amman the Semitists. In one of them there was found a pavilion, I think we must descend to the second single potsherd of coarse ware, which I shall as- half of the VII century because, even tough there sign to the Bronze Age….. At the side of this rock are evident reminiscences of Byzantine patterns crop it was gathered a double room cistern with
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4. The great “Arab building”, cross section, 1930. eight pillars and a small polygonal column dem- the Roman agora, which was from them trans- onstrating the long use of the reservoir.” (Bar- formed in a fortifed settlement. Outside those toccini 1934: 284-285). walls we identifed and dug a small three nave Basilica, apparently a Crusader’s time reshap- During the 1933 campaign, Bartoccini devel- ing of a small Byzantine church…..” (Bartoccini oped the necessity of consolidating, in Amman, 1939): a stable position for the Mission. With the sup- port of Mariano de Angelis, consul in Jerusalem, Explicit proof of the Crusaders on the citadel the Italian Foreign Offce decided to assign the is not supplied. On the other hand, it is likely amount of Lit. 80.000 for the construction of the that the land of ‘Amman passed for a short pe- Italian Mission House, at the same time sacrifc- riod under Crusader’s control, while we know ing the funds for the 1935 digging campaign. In of Ayyubid work on the citadel (Northedge the meantime, Bartoccini was appointed as the 1992: 55). As for the church of the acropolis of offcial responsible for the Department of Antiq- Amman, a frst report was issued only in 1973 uities and Arts in Puglia and while the building thanks to Father Begatti’s enduring work (Be- was in progress in Amman, he remained in Italy gatti 1973). The resumption of the study of the (Petricioli 19887, Figs. 9-10). church and the extension of the investigation are In July 1938, after fve years of inactivity, due to F. Zayadine in 1977 (Zayadine 1977-78: Bartoccini resumed the work on the acropolis of 34-37), but no reshaping from the time of the Amman. Crusaders has been observed. No preliminary report was produced about A precise description of the work of the 1938 this last digging campaign, except a few obser- campaign is available, consisting though of little vations contained in an article on the entire work more than quantitative data, in the assistant’s di- of the mission: ary mentioned above. We learn from it that the work continued, besides the new excavation of “……With this year excavation in Amman, the church, in the area of the so called agora, in we have proved the Crusaders’ presence within the small Arab monument north of it and in the
7. The building plot was chosen adjacent to the Italian political reasons and with unknown procedures, during Hospital, built few years earlier by the ‘Associazione or soon after the Second World War, was transferred to Nazionale dei Missionari’, and the project was real- the Italian Hospital. From 1991 to 2003 it was given in ized by the same architect Antonio Balduzzi (Bartoc- use to Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino cini 1939). The property of the building, probably for to host the Italian-Jordanian Institute of Archaeology.
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5. Decorative panels in the great “Arab building”, 1930. frst terrace. The excavation in the area north of the agora In summarizing the daily records, it comes brought completely to light the remains of an out that the excavation of the agora, between the external colonnade, which shows a corner pil- colonnaded street and the Roman east wall, of lar with engaged half-columns and 22 rooms of which also a sketch plan drawn by arch. Schet- the so called small Arab building. In clearing tini is preserved (Fig. 7), allowing the identifca- out the area, various architectural elements with tion of 44 rooms and three courts; in two rooms Arab decorations were found. the bearing vaults of a staircases are indicated. From September 12th to November 14th, the In another room, indication of a window one excavation of the big trench on the lower terrace metre from the ground is recorded. Beside the continued, extending it with an additional area large quantity of ceramic and glass, numerous of 20 x 18 metres (Fig. 9). Two metres below the fragments of the Roman wall top parts with cor- surface, big walls take shape; one metre below, bels and pediments are mentioned in the diary a tomb with a stone covering is found but not (Fig. 8). opened; and, nearby, fragmentary spherical pots
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6. Decorative element from the amall “Arab building”, 1930. are found. More walls in the layer below are in a conference attended by English, Arab and found digging down to 5.1m under the surface our political and civil authorities…. The result of level without fnding either the bed rock or the the various digging campaigns have been timely walls’ bases. referred through exhaustive reports, awaiting At the same time, from September 19th to for the fnal publication, we hope not to be late. November 22nd , the opening of a new trench Some discoveries of particular importance have started near a modern path, with two columns already been reported in numerous conferences… emerging from the ground. 1.8m below the sur- that have informed the public about the spiritual face, it was found the foor of a building which activity of fascist Italy….” (Bartoccini 1939). was subsequently identifed as a basilica by a central nave and side aisles, with annexed rooms That was the last act of the Italian enterprise and a colonnaded narthex. The semicircular apse in Transjordan. had steps covered with marble. The altar table Bartoccini, for reasons unknown to me, while was to be supported by four small columns, covering, also after the war, important positions the base location of which was recognized on in the administration of Cultural Heritage in Ita- a rectangular platform. The nave probably had ly (Superintendent in Apulia, Superintendent of a mosaic fooring, while the aisles were paved the Etruscan museum in Roma), never revised by fagstones. On ground and on site, a total of his work in the ‘Amman Citadel. 14 bases, 4 of which in the external portico, 11 A real pity! Had Bartoccini speculated, at columns, 14 capitals, a voussoir with a cross en- least, upon the extensive clearing of the ‘Arab graved on it, were found (Fig. 10). Palaces’ that he brilliantly assigned to Umayyad times, the weight of the Italian Mission in Trans- “At the end of December [1938] we celebrat- Jordan could have enjoyed much more relevant ed in Amman the frst decade of our institution consideration than it actually has.
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7. Plan of the structures brought to light between 1927 and 1938 in the north sector of the Citadel, 1938.
8. Graphic reconstruction of the south side of the four-sided portico.
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9. Sketch of the trial trench in the east sector of the Cita- del, 1938.
I would like to suppose that the lack of a comprehensive publication is due to a rise of the author’s own scrupples, as much as a very pos- sible lack of funds. I would also like to suppose that had Ugo Monneret de Villard accepted the direction of the Mission in Transjordan as he was originally invited to do (Petricioli 1988), the research in 10. Plan of the basilica in the Citadel, 1938. the ‘Amman Citadel, in consideration of his ex- perience in Middle Eastern Art and Architecture, upper terrace of the ‘Amman Citadel was even- could have contributed a lot to the knowledge of tually inherited by the Spanish Archaeological the early Islamic architecture at least. Mission. The work, though, has been mainly Starting from 1974, Bartoccini’s work in the dedicated to the restoration of the remains of the
11. ‘ , the house of Italian Archaeological Mission near the Italian Missionary Hos- pital in Jabal al-Ashrafyyah, 1938.
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12. ‘ , the Jordanian-Ital- ian Institute of Archaeology, 1991-2003.
Umayyad cultural horizon. The Pre-Roman set- 1933-34 Scavi ad Amman della Missione Archeologica tlement on the acropolis remains still very poor- Italiana. BAISM IV, n° 4-5: 10-15, Tav. III-XI. ly investigated. Nevertheless evidence of archi- 1934 La terza campagna di scavi sull’acropoli tecture of more ancient times continues to come di Amman. Bollettino d’Arte del Ministero to light. Besides the two basalt stele above men- dell’Educazione Nazionale (dicembre): 275- tioned (a third one has also recently appeared), 385. 1935 La roccia sacra degli Ammoniti. Atti del IV Con- fragments of capital of the vertical volutes type gresso Nazionale di Studi Romani I: 103-108. (proto-Aeolic/Palestinian) and a basalt cushion 1939 Un decennio di ricerche e scavi italiani in Trans- base have been seen by me reused in late walls. giordania. Bollettino dell’Istituto di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte: 75-84. Bibliography Kanellopoulos, C. Almagro, A. and Olavarri, E. 1994 The Great Temple of Amman, the Architecture. 1982 A New Umayyad Palace at the Citadel of Am- Amman. man, SHAJ I: 318-320. Northedge, A. Almagro, A. 1992 Studies on Roman and Islamic ‘Amman I. Ox- 1983 The Survey of the Roman Monuments of Am- ford. man by the Italian Mission in 1930. ADAJ 27. Petricioli, M. Bagatti, B. 1988 Archeologia e politica estera tra le due guerre. 1973 Le antiche chiese di Filadelfa-‘Amman (Trans- Firenze. giordania). Liber Annus 23: 261-285. Zayadine, F. Bartoccini, R. 1973 Recent Excavations on the Citadel of Amman. 1929 ‘Amman città biblica. LA STAMPA 14 Settem- ADAJ 18: 17-35. bre. 1977-78 Excavations on the Upper Citadel of Amman. 1930 Gli scavi di ‘Amman. La rivista illustrata del ADAJ 22: 20-56. Popolo d’Italia. aprile. 1990 La campaigne d’Antiochos III le Grande en 219- 1930 Ricerche e scoperte della Missione Italiana in 217 et le siege de Rabbatamona. Revue Biblique Amman. Bollettino dell’Associazione Interna- XCVII: 68-84 zionale per gli Studi Mediterranei (BAISM) I, n° Zayadine, F., Humbert, J.B. and Najjar, M. 3: 15-17, Tav. IV. 1989 The 1988 Excavation on the Citadel of Amman 1932 Scavi ad Amman della Missione Archeologica lower Terrace, Area A. ADAJ 33: 357-363. Italiana. BAISM III, n° 2: 16-23, Tav. I-IV.
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