History - Jordan - page 517

The highway runs for 297km between Madaba and Petra; for a thousand years before Christ it linked the king-
doms of Ammon, Moab and Edom. One of the earliest mentions of the highway is in the biblical episode in which
Moses was refused passage along the highway by the King of Edom. The Nabataeans used the route to transport
frankincense, originating in southern Arabia, and other exotic commodities to the important trading posts of Syria.
In later times, the highway received a suitably Roman makeover under Emperor Trajan, who widened and rerouted
part of the highway to facilitate the passage of troops.

The highway has great religious significance for both Christians and Muslims. Attracted by the holy sites of Mt
Nebo and protected by the Crusader forces, Christians used the route for pilgrimage, building and embellishing
many shrines along the way, such as the Church of St Stephen at Umm Ar-Rasas. Muslims used the route on pil-
grimage to Mecca until the Ottomans developed the Tariq al-Bint in the 16th century - the approximate path of the
Hejaz Railway, built in 1900, and the modern Desert Highway.

Inevitably, the importance of the King's Highway declined and it was only in the 1950s and 1960s that it was up-
graded to a tarmac road. Today it's a rural, often pot-holed route, which despite ambling through some of the loveli-
est and most striking landscape in Jordan betrays little of its former status as a road fit for kings. For more informa-
tion on the highway see www.ancientroute.com .

The Crusades & Holy War
The armies of Islam and Christianity have
clashed many times throughout history and the
consequences (and language of religious con-
flict) resonate to this day both within the
Middle East and across the world at large.
The Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries
are among the most famous of the early con-
flicts between Muslims and Christians. Survey
the mighty walls of the great Crusader castles at Karak and Shobak and it's easy to see
that both sides meant business: these were holy wars (albeit attracting mercenary ele-
ments) in which people willingly sacrificed their comfort and even lives for their faith in
the hope of gaining glory in the hereafter - ironically, according to Islam at least, a here-
after shared by Muslims and the 'People of the Book' (Jews, Christians and so-called Sa-
bians).

Maalouf's lively The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
recasts the West's image of knights in shining ar-
mour as ruthless barbarians who pillaged the
Middle East, the horrors of which still reside in the
collective Arab consciousness.

Built by King Baldwin I in the 12th century,
the castles were part of a string of fortifications
designed to control the roads from Damascus
to Cairo. They seemed inviolable, and they
may have remained so but for Nureddin and
Saladin, who between them occupied most of

Nureddin (literally 'Light of the Faith') was the son
of a Turkish tribal ruler. He united the Arab world
and defeated the Crusaders in Egypt. His campaign
against the Crusaders was completed by Saladin