They came from the east…
From Amman, Jordan there are many interesting day trips to make, following ancient routes that, except for the roads’ surface, have not changed locations over the centuries.
The Kings’ Highway follows ancient trade routes, connecting north and south of the country. It is believed that the Three Wise Men followed at least part of this very same route on their way to Bethlehem. Moses used it to lead his people to Canaan… The Bible refers to it by name.
Originally it was cleared as a donkey track, then to support camel caravans carrying gold and spices. The Romans paved parts of it with their typical cobble stones. There is evidence of ten thousand years of civilization along the Kings’ Highway.
And, even though today it is paved and full of speed bumps as we drive along the ancient road in an air conditioned bus, it gave us goose bumps to follow in tracks steeped in such history. We are taking a tour bus but Jordan looks like quite a drivable country to me, even though traffic in the cities is nuts. Two lanes are being used by four lanes of traffic, lines ignored and there’s lots of aggressive honking and cars parked in traffic lanes… But most traffic signs are bilingual. We loved seeing how close we were to other exotic, Arabian places.
From Amman you can drive a perfect round trip and see several amazing castles and ruins sprinkled throughout the desert. Their history blows you away.
We visited Shawbak Castle, not far from Petra. Built during the Crusader Times from the same giant stones that make up the hills around it, the castle blends into its environment. We clambered over old staircases and thresholds, walked through passage ways and peered into caves. In one spot you can see Arabic engravings. This is the “new addition” from the 1290’s!
Kharranha, an ancient caravanserai
East of Amman and fairly close to the border with Saudi Arabia, is Kharranah (there are slightly different spellings for almost all names). This is not so much a castle as it was a caravanserai that dates back to before the year 710. A caravanserai was a place of accommodations, a hostel, for desert travellers - mostly traders riding camels but also for the Crusaders. Crusaders were a motley crew of soldiers recruited to ‘recover’ Jerusalem, which changed hands to and from Muslims and Christians over the centuries. The Latin church sent armies of soldiers, even farmers with pitch forks, across Europe and the Arab world to fight and secure holy sites.
Kharranah has an inner court yard and basin where camels and horses were fed and watered. It still has many rooms. At first I took the narrow slits in the thick stone walls to be for arrows, just like in European castles. However, these slits are slanted and turned out to be ancient “air conditioning” allowing air to circulate through the rooms.
Qusayr Amra was built around 730. It served both as a fortress with garrison and as a residential palace with a reception hall and hammam (a bath complex with changing room, warm and hot rooms), all richly decorated with painted murals. There is a bath building with frescoes, unique for Islamic architecture of the Umayyad period. The wall paintings show bathing and hunting scenes, trades and animals of the era.The zodiac on the domed ceiling of the caldarium (hot room) is one of the earliest known surviving maps of the heavens on a dome. The intriguing water system of well, tanks and hydraulic pumps survives to this day. The entire building totally reminded me of the baths we saw in Pompeii. Amra is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Azraq Castle is built from black basalt rock, making it look very different from the other castles which reflect the colour of the earth more. Azraq was built by the Romans in 300 AD. It was renovated in 1237 and was used as the home of Lawrence of Arabia and Sharif Hussein Bin Ali in 1917 as a strategic location from which they planned the capture of Damascus. Laurence wrote about his time in Qasr al-Azraq in his famous autobiographical account Seven Pillars of Wisdom. What we admired here most were the amazing doors: solid slabs of granite. Even the hinges are carved from stone and still move without ever needing oiling.
Finally I want to mention the city of Jerash. Very different from the other sites. Just north of Amman, Jerash is said to have been founded between 7500 – 5500 BC and inhabited since the Bronze Age! It doesn’t get much older than that…
I had seen lots of Roman structures in Italy and Spain but Jerash blew me away. I had not really expected Roman cities in the Middle East and, given the violent history of the area, I’m impressed it is still here and in tact.
Jerash is considered one of the largest and most well preserved sites of Roman architecture in the world outside of Italy - not just an arch here or an amphitheatre there, but a complete Roman city constructed in the 2nd century. We strolled from one entrance arch to the other (Hadrian’s Arch), sat in two huge amphitheatres. One was used for performances, the other as forum for meetings. There are bath houses with mosaic floors, pillars, and complete Roman roads lined with fountains and market places. There is a complete colonnaded street complete with chariot ruts in the stones, temples, a city plaza and more.
Not far from Jerash, but across many steep valleys and hills, is Aljoun Castle. Built by Saladin in the 12th century, it is strategically situated at 1250 meters with views in all directions over the deserts and Jordan Valley. Climbing higher and higher, we left olive groves behind until the air was quite cool. Aljoun seemed to be the most preserved or restored of the castles, more like a museum with its displays of weaponry, coins, tools and other artifacts.
If it is castles you crave, Jordan is an impressive country to visit.
Many castle details can be found here: https://universes.art/en/art-destinations/jordan/desert-castles/qasr-al-kharana
