The ancient road that bridged kingdoms

It’s mentioned in the Bible, it been used by a succession of empires and it links some of Jordan’s most important historical sites.

“Welcome to Jordan!” a group of kids shouted excitedly, as I stepped out of the car to admire the sun setting over the vast sandstone canyon of Wadi Mujib.

While I stood on the cliff’s edge, awestruck by the mountain ranges stretching to the Dead Sea, a black-and-white hooded wheatear swooped down near me. I wondered how something so delicate could survive in such desolate ravines, fluttering across the arid mountains and building nests in rock crevices.

From my perch, I could see a narrow, serpentine road winding down the ridges and gorges. This route, known as the King’s Highway, or Darb ar-Raseef (“paved road”, in Arabic), is believed to be one of the world’s oldest continuously used roads. For millennia, merchants, pilgrims, warriors and kings travelled north to south through Jordan’s central highlands, and this thoroughfare served as a vital artery connecting ancient kingdoms and empires.

Today, a modern, tarmacked road (officially called Highway 35) sits atop its ancient ancestor. It runs south from Syria along the Jordan River, passing through Roman ruins, Byzantine mosaics, Crusader castles and the ancient city of Petra – effectively revealing the history of Jordan and linking some of its most important historical sites.

“This route was used in the Nabataean period [4th Century BCE to roughly 106 CE], and probably even before that, in the Iron Age,” said Fawzi Abudanah, an archaeologist who has studied the region’s ancient road system.

A road traversing Jordan known as the “King’s Highway” is mentioned in the Bible’s Old Testament as the route that Moses asked permission to cross after leading the Israelites out of Egypt. As Abudanah explained, since there is archaeological evidence showing Edomite, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic presence along much of the current highway, it suggests that this road has been in continuous use since at least the 8th Century BCE. “We keep following the footsteps of our ancestors,” he said.

According to Abudanah, in ancient times, the King’s Highway was an important trade route connecting Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, the Red Sea and Egypt. Caravans transporting incense and spices from Arabia took this road on their way to the thriving Nabataean capital of Petra. In the Roman period, emperor Trajan (who reigned between 98-117 CE) renamed the route Via Nova Traiana and paved it to accommodate wheeled carts. “We can still find Roman milestones on the side of the modern road,” Abudanah said.

For centuries, the road was also an important pilgrimage route. In the Byzantine period, Christians used it on their way to visit biblical sites in the Holy Land, such as Golgotha, the site of Jesus crucifixion. In the early Islamic period, many Muslims travelled along it on their way to Mecca.

I lived in Amman, Jordan’s capital on and off for several years, but always took the faster, easier roads heading south. When my cousin came to visit me, we decided the best way to explore the country’s long and tangled history was to take the King’s Highway and travel slowly along the path that the many civilisations who have shaped this ancient land once used.

BBC