The Harrān Šarri:
The Road of the King

For thousands of years empires have involved themselves in bitter struggles to dominate the King’s Highway, a route which follows the high eastern ridge of the Jordan-Araba Rift Valley. Such campaigns have passed on a rich legacy of stories and material culture familiar to us through sources like the Torah and the New Testament, the Koran and the Assyrian Annals. These ancient accounts provide us with a window into the fascinating lifestyles that flourished along this ancient route.

But this road’s foundations stem from earlier times. Along this route Stone Age man migrated from Africa to Europe and Asia as far back as 250,000 B.C.E. Its grassy verge became a haven for Neolithic man to farm and settle.

Our earliest written accounts of these agro-pastoralists stem from Egypt’s ‘Execration Texts’ of ca.1870 - 1760 B.C.E. Here the lands of upper and lower Shutu and Kushu correspond with the later biblical locations of Amon, Moab and Edom. It is from this time we get the nomadic journeys of Abram, Isaac, Jacob and Esau.

With possibly the first written itinerary for this route coming from the topographical list of Tuthmosis III, around 1450 B.C.E., it brings us to the reality that this was a well trodden route by the time of Moses and the Israelite tribes.

The King’s Highway:
Development

Therefore, it is not surprising that this scenic north - south highway became a route of vital importance to the ancient Middle East, linking the fertile lands of the Euphrates to the oasis that is the Nile.

Numerous ancient states have depended heavily on the King’s Highway for trade. The Bible tells us of the struggles King David and his son King Solomon had against Amon, Moab and Edom for control over this royal road’s lucrative tax revenue. Later, the Nabatean and Greco-Roman cities of Petra, Jarash and Bostra all vied for its trade.

From the south, ships laden with exotic Eastern produce sailed the waters of the Red Sea to unload their cargo at Aqaba, while overland came fragrant spices and perfumes carried on camels along the famous Incense Route to Petra.

From the north, silk and woolen products, together with cosmetic oils and luxury foodstuffs were carried by Nabatean traders to the Decapolis entrepôts of commerce. This path therefore branched in many directions, linking the Arabian east to the Mediterranean west, to cities like Gaza, where commodities would be shipped to far off locations along the Mediterranean coast.

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Jordan’s Royal Road.: The following list highlights just some of the places visited with links to additional research undertaken for this and other programmes I have made in Jordan.
Link’s to other pages of interest.: The following links explore the stories behind Genesis and Exodus.

The Harrān Šarri: The Road of the King

See Jordan’s Royal Road on:

Jordan’s Royal Road.

Link’s to other pages of interest.

The Harrān Šarri:
The Road of the King