The King’s Highway

The King’s Highway, דֶּ֧רֶךְ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ (hammelek derek) was a trade route of vital importance in the ancient Near East, that connected northern Africa with Mesopotamia.  It ran from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula to Aqaba, then turned northward across the Transjordan, to Damascus and the Euphrates River.  After the Muslim conquest of the Fertile Crescent in the 7th century CE until the 16th century, it was the pilgrimage road for Muslims from Syria, Iraq, and beyond heading to the holy city of Mecca.  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.  This King’s Highway began in Heliopolis, Egypt and then went eastward to Suez, through the Mitla Pass and the Egyptian forts of Nekhl and Themed in the Sinai desert to Eilat and Aqaba.  From there, the Highway turned northward through the Arabah, past Petra and Maan to Udhruh, Sela, and Shaubak.  It passed through Kerak and the land of Moab to Madaba, Rabbah Ammon/Philadelphia (modern Amman), Gerasa, Bosra, Damascus, and Tadmor, ending at Resafa on the upper Euphrates.  Numerous ancient states, including Edom, Moab, Ammon, and various Aramaean groups depended largely on the King’s Highway for trade.  It was possibly the cause of various wars in the beginning of the 1st century BCE.  During the Roman period the road was called Via Regia.  Emperor Trajan rebuilt it and renamed it Via Traiana Nova, under which name it served as a military and trade road along the fortified Limes Arabicus.  In the Byzantine period, the road was an important pilgrimage route for Christians, as it passed next to Mount Nebo, Moses’ death place and burial site according to the Hebrew 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, known today in Arabic as al-Maghtas, and on the way to Jericho.  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.  During the Crusader period, use of the road was problematic.  The road passed through the province of Oultrejordain of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.  During periods of truce, the Hajj caravans were usually left unharmed.  However, the fall of the Crusader kingdom in 1187 was at the Battle of Hattin.  T. E. Lawrence took this route to Cairo to inform British Intelligence of the Arab victory at Aqaba in July 1917.  The King’s Highway was referred to in the Book of Numbers, but in no other Hebrew biblical book is it explicitly mentioned.  The Israelites, in their Exodus journey needed to use this road.  They had left from Kadesh, and requested the right of way from the King of Edom but were refused passage.  He vowed he would attack them if they used the road.  They made the same request to the Amorite King Sihon, and for the second time on the same road they were denied passage.  King Sihon engaged them in battle at Jahaz.  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 this Highway.  Did you know that there was King’s Highway, besides the one in Brooklyn, New York?