Editing Amman (section)

===Hellenistic period===
Conquest of the [[Near East]] by [[Alexander the Great]] firmly consolidated the influence of [[Hellenism (Greek culture)|Hellenistic culture]],<ref name= KHh>{{cite web| url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_hellenistic.html| title=The Hellenistic Period| access-date=22 September 2015| work=kinghussein.gov.jo| archive-date=1 July 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701042013/http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_hellenistic.html| url-status=live}}</ref> marking the start of the [[Timeline of Palestine region#Hellenistic period|Hellenistic period]]. Little is known about Greek/Macedonian control over the Levantine coast and Transjordan until 301 BCE, 22 years after Alexander's death, when the Ptolemies took control over this area.<ref name= JFS>{{cite book |last= Salles |first= Jean-François |chapter= The Hellenistic Age – (323 - 30 BC) |editor= Myriam Ababsa |title= Atlas of Jordan: History, Territories and Society |year= 2013 |publisher= Presses de l'Ifpo ([[Institut français du Proche-Orient|French Institute of the Near East]] Press) |place= Beirut, Lebanon |pages= 134–141 |via= openedition.org |isbn= 9782351594384 |doi= 10.4000/books.ifpo.4894 |chapter-url= http://books.openedition.org/ifpo/4894?lang=en |access-date= 22 September 2015 |archive-date= 23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923061820/http://books.openedition.org/ifpo/4894?lang=en|url-status=live}}</ref> The Greeks founded new cities in the area of modern-day Jordan, including Gadara ([[Umm Qays]]), Gerasa ([[Jerash]]), [[Pella, Jordan|Pella]] (Tabaqat Fahl) and Philadelphia (Amman).<ref name= JFS/> [[Ptolemy II]] nicknamed Philadelphus, the Macedonian ruler of Egypt, established in or before 259/58 BCE<ref name= Cohen>{{cite book |author= Cohen, Getzel M. |title= The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa |year= 2006 |publisher= University of California Press |pages= 268–269 |isbn=978-0-520-93102-2 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RqdPcxuNthcC&pg=PA268 |access-date= 29 October 2015 |archive-date= 21 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521211950/https://books.google.com/books?id=RqdPcxuNthcC&pg=PA268 |url-status= live}}</ref> at the site of Amman what was initially probably a [[military colony]], which then developed into a full-blown Greek-type ''[[polis]]'',<ref name= PLG>{{cite web |last= Gatier |first= Pierre-Louis |title= Philadelphia-Amman: The Hellenistic, Roman & Byzantine City (Amman History Series #3, lecture given on 15 June 2021) |publisher=[[Institut français du Proche-Orient|French Institute of the Near East Press]] (Ifpo) |url= https://www.ifporient.org/amman-history-series-3/ |access-date= 11 May 2025}}</ref> possibly by settling there Hellenised [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyrean]] colonists.<ref name= Cohen/> Ptolemy II named it [[Philadelphia (Amman)|Philadelphia]] ({{langx|grc|Φιλαδέλφεια|Philadelpheia}}), evoking "brotherly love" in [[Greek language|Greek]], in adulation to his own nickname.<ref name= Cohen/>

Written sources speak of members of the [[Jews|Jewish]] [[Tobiads|Tobiad]] family based in [[Jerusalem]], who worked for the Ptolemies as tax collectors in charge of the entire region. The last known Tobiad, Hyrcanus, built the unique Hellenistic palace of Tyros (today's [[Qasr al-Abd]], 'Castle of the Slave') southwest of Philadelpheia, before killing himself in {{circa|170}}-168 BC as the Seleucid king [[Antiochus IV]] seemed poised to attack him.<ref name= JFS/> This was one of several episodes in the [[Syrian Wars]] between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, ending with the 200 BCE victory of the Seleucids at the [[Battle of Panium]].<ref name= JFS/> In [[Third Syrian War|218/17 BCE]] for instance, Seleucid king [[Antiochus III]] destroyed the Ptolemaic garrisons in the centre of Transjordan, capturing Philadelpheia in the process.<ref name= JFS/> Even after 200 BCE, Philadelpheia seems to have broken free at times from Seleucid rule and probably also escaped capture by Hasmonean king [[Alexander Jannaios]] (r. c. 103 – c. 76 BCE),<ref name= Cohen/> who was more successful elsewhere in the region. Other [[Hasmonean]] and [[Nabataean]] rulers acted as regional power brokers, contributing to the instability of the political situation during the 2nd century BCE and until the advent of the Roman period in the following century, which led to the Hellenisation of the region only truly setting in under the Romans.<ref name= JFS/>