King's Highway

The ancient route along the Transjordanian plateau from the Gulf of Aqaba to Damascus.

Overview

Running along the high ground east of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, the route linked Egypt and Arabia with Syria through the kingdoms of Edom, Moab and Ammon. It is named in the biblical account of the Exodus, and later the Nabataeans grew rich taxing the incense caravans that used it, building Petra close by. Emperor Trajan rebuilt it as the paved Via Traiana Nova in the early 2nd century, linking Bosra with Aila on the Red Sea. Medieval pilgrims and Crusader castles such as Kerak followed its line, and a modern Jordanian road still traces much of it today.