Post by spacecowboy2006 on Aug 19, 2017 18:11:58 GMT
The King’s Highway
Numerous ancient sites give evidence of The Kings Highway in the Iron Age including Edom, Moab, Ammon, and various Aramaean polities which all depended largely on the King's Highway for trade.
The King’s Highway was a trade route of vital importance in the ancient Near East, connecting Africa with Mesopotamia. It ran from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula to Aqaba, from where it turned northward across Transjordan, leading to Damascus and the Euphrates River.
The Highway began in Heliopoli, Egypt and from there went eastward to Clysma (modern Suez), through the Mitla Pass. From there, the Highway turned northward through the Arabah, past Petra and It passed through Moab to Damascus, and Tadmor, ending at Resafa on the upper Euphrates.
The Nabataeans used this road as a trade route for luxury goods such as frankincense and spices from southern Arabia.
In the Bible The King's Highway or Derech HaMelech is referred to in the Book of Numbers, (Numbers 20:17, 21:22), where it is related that the Israelites, in their Exodus journey needed to use the road. They had left from Kadesh, and requested right of way across from King Edom but were refused passage. He vowed he would attack them if they used the road. They even offered to pay for any water their cattle drank. Still King Edom refused them passage and advanced against them with a large and heavily armed force. After making a detour and coming to the Transjordan area between River Arnon and River Jabbok, they directed the same request to Sihon the Amorite King, and for the second time on the same road they were denied passage and King Sihon engaged them in battle at Jahaz. And they won that battle by the edge of the sword, a close call. As a result, they gained control in that land and to the north of it. The tribes of Manasseh (eastern half), Gad, and Reuben subsequently settled those territories.
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 the Highway. The Kings Highway was one of the major north/south trade routes connecting much of the middle east from Egypt through Syria. It is the desert route starting north at Resafa and running parallel to the coastal route ending at Heliopolis in Egypt.“Lining both sides of this thoroughfare is a rich chain of archaeological sites that reads like an index of ancient history and a biblical gazetteer — prehistoric villages from the Stone Age, biblical towns from the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Crusader Castles, some of the finest early Christian Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East, a Roman-Herodian fortress, several Nabatean temples, two major Roman fortresses, early Islamic towns, and the rock-cut Nabatean capital of Petra.
First mentioned by name in the Bible, the Kings Highway was the route that Moses wished to follow as he led his people north through the land of Edom, which today is in southern Jordan. The name may, however, derive from the even earlier episode recounted in Genesis 14, when an alliance of “four kings from the north” marched their troops along this route to do battle against the five kings of the Cities of the Plain, including the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
…. More info may be found on the web.
Numerous ancient sites give evidence of The Kings Highway in the Iron Age including Edom, Moab, Ammon, and various Aramaean polities which all depended largely on the King's Highway for trade.
The King’s Highway was a trade route of vital importance in the ancient Near East, connecting Africa with Mesopotamia. It ran from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula to Aqaba, from where it turned northward across Transjordan, leading to Damascus and the Euphrates River.
The Highway began in Heliopoli, Egypt and from there went eastward to Clysma (modern Suez), through the Mitla Pass. From there, the Highway turned northward through the Arabah, past Petra and It passed through Moab to Damascus, and Tadmor, ending at Resafa on the upper Euphrates.
The Nabataeans used this road as a trade route for luxury goods such as frankincense and spices from southern Arabia.
In the Bible The King's Highway or Derech HaMelech is referred to in the Book of Numbers, (Numbers 20:17, 21:22), where it is related that the Israelites, in their Exodus journey needed to use the road. They had left from Kadesh, and requested right of way across from King Edom but were refused passage. He vowed he would attack them if they used the road. They even offered to pay for any water their cattle drank. Still King Edom refused them passage and advanced against them with a large and heavily armed force. After making a detour and coming to the Transjordan area between River Arnon and River Jabbok, they directed the same request to Sihon the Amorite King, and for the second time on the same road they were denied passage and King Sihon engaged them in battle at Jahaz. And they won that battle by the edge of the sword, a close call. As a result, they gained control in that land and to the north of it. The tribes of Manasseh (eastern half), Gad, and Reuben subsequently settled those territories.
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 the Highway. The Kings Highway was one of the major north/south trade routes connecting much of the middle east from Egypt through Syria. It is the desert route starting north at Resafa and running parallel to the coastal route ending at Heliopolis in Egypt.“Lining both sides of this thoroughfare is a rich chain of archaeological sites that reads like an index of ancient history and a biblical gazetteer — prehistoric villages from the Stone Age, biblical towns from the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Crusader Castles, some of the finest early Christian Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East, a Roman-Herodian fortress, several Nabatean temples, two major Roman fortresses, early Islamic towns, and the rock-cut Nabatean capital of Petra.
First mentioned by name in the Bible, the Kings Highway was the route that Moses wished to follow as he led his people north through the land of Edom, which today is in southern Jordan. The name may, however, derive from the even earlier episode recounted in Genesis 14, when an alliance of “four kings from the north” marched their troops along this route to do battle against the five kings of the Cities of the Plain, including the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
…. More info may be found on the web.
