Seil Amman
| Seil Amman | |
|---|---|
| The Seil crossing the Amman valley (today's downtown area) in the 1940s | |
| Native name | سيل عمان (Arabic) | 
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • coordinates | 31°56′04″N 35°55′23″E / 31.93444°N 35.92306°E | 
| Mouth | |
|  • coordinates | 31°59′19″N 35°58′41″E / 31.98861°N 35.97806°E | 
| Basin features | |
| Landmarks | Nymphaeum | 
Seil Amman (Arabic: سيل عمان) was a water stream that flowed in the valley of Amman, 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, as a tributary.
Several archaeological sites were located along the banks of the Seil, including the Neolithic site of Ayn Ghazal in its northernmost part, as well as later Roman ruins consisting of the Nymphaeum and a forum adjacent to the theater 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 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.