King's Highway (ancient)

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This article is about an ancient trade route. For other uses, see King's Highway.
The Via Maris (purple), King's Highway (red), and other ancient Levantine trade routes, c. 1300 BCE

The King's Highway was a

Euphrates River
.

After the Muslim conquest of the Fertile Crescent in the 7th century AD and until the 16th century, it was the darb al-hajj or pilgrimage road for Muslims from Syria, Iraq, and beyond heading to the holy city of Mecca.[1]

In modern Jordan, Highway 35 and Highway 15 follow this route, connecting Irbid in the north with Aqaba in the south. The southern part crosses several deep wadis, making it a highly scenic if curvy and rather low-speed road.[1][need quotation to verify]

Route

The Highway began in

Tadmor, ending at Resafa
on the upper Euphrates.

History

Iron Age

Numerous ancient states, including

Aramaean
polities depended largely on the King's Highway for trade.

Classical antiquity

The

Hasmonean Alexander Jannaeus and with Iturea in the beginning of the 1st century BC.[2]

During the Roman period the road was called Via Regia. Emperor Trajan rebuilt and renamed it Via Traiana Nova, under which name it served as a military and trade road along the fortified Limes Arabicus.

Byzantine period

In the

Mount Nebo, Moses' death and burial site according to the Bible. Another road connected it with Jerusalem passing by Livias and the traditional site of Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist on the Jordan River near, known today in Arabic as al-Maghtas, and on via Jericho
.

Muslim period

During Muslim rule from the 7th century, the road was the main Hajj route from Syria to Mecca, until the Ottoman Turks built the Tariq al-Bint in the 16th century.[3]

During the Crusader period, use of the road was problematic. The road passed through the province of Oultrejordain of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.[3] During periods of truce, the Hajj caravans were usually left unharmed by the Crusader lords of Oultrejourdain; however, Raynald of Châtillon attacked and plundered the pilgrims twice. His deeds eventually led to his own death at the hands of Saladin, and to the fall of the Crusader kingdom in 1187 in the Battle of Hattin.[4][5] With his knowledge of ancient history, it was this route that T. E. Lawrence took (160 miles in 49 hours) to Cairo to inform British Intelligence of the Arab victory at Aqaba in July 1917.

In the Bible

The King's Highway (Derech HaMelech) is referred to in the

Amorite King Sihon. For the second time, on the same road, they were denied passage and King Sihon engaged them in battle at Jahaz, where they won that battle "by the edge of the sword". As a result, they gained control in that land and to the north of it. The tribes of Manasseh (eastern half), Gad, and Reuben
subsequently settled those territories.

Many of the wars of the Israelites against the kingdoms of the trans-Jordanian highlands during the period of the Kingdom of Israel (and its sister-kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah) were probably fought, at least in part, over control of the Highway.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Lonely Planet, Jordan
  2. JSTOR 23559946
    , p. XI.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780861591930
    .
  4. S2CID 163740720
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-521-06162-9
    .
  6. ^ Numbers 21:23-24
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