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The
Highway of Kings got its name from the stature of those who traveled
down its hills and across its valleys.
Biblical accounts tell the stories of prophets and holy men who
traveled along the East banks of the River Jordan, and past the
ancient towns that marked those times.
The
Highway starts just outside Amman, known as Rabath-Ammon in ancient
history, and winds down to Madaba, the town were Moses passed away,
then continues through Hisban and Dhiban, also towns of glorious
pasts, and passes by the Jordan River valley that leads down to Petra,
passing through Tafileh and Shaubak |
A
Forty - minute drive away from Amman, we reach Madaba the biblical Madaba a
border town between the Ammonite and the Moabite Kingdoms in the eastern
escarpment. The town is mentioned
on the famous ‘Mesha Stele’, a basalt rock, on which its ruler, King Mesha,
carved a record his battles and achievements.
As
a provincial town under the Greeks, it became a bishopric under the Byzantines
from which period date its famous mosaics, to be seen in some fourteen
churches and numerous houses and around the hilly top settlement.
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The
Persian invasion of 614 AD destroyed much of Madaba.
Later, it was resettled by Christians from Kerak in the early 9th
century.
While
removing the rubble to dig foundations for houses, the settlers found
mosaics all over the area of Mount Nebo in Madaba.
The
most magnificent of which can be seen in a Greek Orthodox Church in
central Madaba, a remarkable map of ancient Palestine.
During
the construction of the church in 1895, workmen broke the original
mosaic, but the remaining piece is still a clear depiction of 6th
century Palestine.
The
center shows a map of Jerusalem with many of its important buildings
such as the church of the Holy Sculpture.
Jerico is also depicted, surrounded, as it still is by lush
palm groves.
The
countryside between Amman and Madaba is especially rich in wild
flowers. On the edge of the escarpment, 11 kilometers from Madaba, is
Mount Nebo the sites were Moses is believed to have passed away.
The area includes a memorial for the prophet Moses. |
First
recorded in the diary of a Roman pilgrim in the 4th century, after
s struggling up the mountain, she writes of finding herself in an area
inhabited by holy men who assured her that Moses was buried here.
What tourists see today is a 6th century, Byzantine Church
resting upon the well-identified remains of an early chapel.
When the floor of the building was uncovered in 1996 it revealed one of
the most perfect early, Christian mosaics ever found.
Four
kilometers southeast of Mount Nebo is another beautifully, preserved mosaic,
in a church on the summit of Khirbet el – Mukhaiyat.
Archaeologists
believe that it is the Site of the biblical town of Nebo, which, like Madaba,
was a flourishing Byzantine settlement.
Dhiban,
the ancient Moabite capital 65 kilometers form Amman is where the ‘Mesha
Steel’” an inscribed basalt slab, was found in 1868.
South
of Dhiban, 20 kilometers, the highway descends into steep valleys, called
‘Wadis’ in Arabic. This is a
good point to pull off the road and enjoy a spectacular panorama.
On
the opposite side, as the highway begins its steep slide towards the Kerak, or
the’Crac de Moabites’ which known for its huge Crusader castle.
This was one of the important fortresses built in ‘oultre Jordain’
the areas to the east of the River Jordan – whose signal fires could be seen
in the Knights’ headquarters in Jerusalem.
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The
main street of Kerak leads into the castle, which, despite its ruinous
state, is a fine example of medieval architecture. |
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One
can explore the underground dungeons, dark and draughty with pallid vegetation
creeping over the crumbing stones. A
final view of the Cruc de Moabites’ is from the King’s Highway, as it
leads into Wadi Hasa, the second great valley scoring the escarpment.
On
the other side of the Wadi, terraced fields descend like stairways.
Just
over halfway, the highway reaches Tafila, a small town situated on the side of
a mountain overlooking a valley cultivated with figs, olives and apple
orchards. Further South, on the way to Petra, lies another castle known as the
‘crac de Montreal’, in a town called Shaubak.
Shaubak castle was built to control the route, between Syria, Egypt ad
the Hijaz.
The Crusader King, Baldwin, built it and inhabited in during the 13th
and 14thThe crusader castle here is too ruinous to warrant more
than a glance before continuing the next 60-kilometer to Shaubak.
South
of Shaubak, by 40 kilometers lies Petra, which is unique among the world’s
ancient cities in that it has not changed since its discovery.
Although many monuments are broken and weathered, its immensely
impressive.
Petra,
the Greek word for ‘rock’ is locked inside soaring sandstone outcrops
separating the high plateau from the western depression of Wadi Arab. Petra’s
outstanding features are its Nabatean architecture, which is unquestionably
electric displaying Greek, Egyptian and Roman influence.
Syrian and Greek artisans who settled in Petra under king Aretas III
undoubtedly influenced the notable Corinthian-like appearance of the famous
Treasury; a demonstration of man’s greatest achievements ever in the Middle
East.
