Al Karak

Al-Karak ( ar, الكرك), is a city in Jordan known for its medieval castle, the Kerak Castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. Al-Karak is the capital city of the Karak Governorate.

Al-Karak lies to the south of Amman on the ancient King's Highway. It is situated on a hilltop about above sea level and is surrounded on three sides by a valley. Al-Karak has a view of the Dead Sea. A city of about 32,216 people (2005) has been built up around the castle and it has buildings from the 19th-century Ottoman period. The town is built on a triangular plateau, with the castle at its narrow southern tip.

History

Iron Age to Assyrian period

Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age, and was an important city for the Moabites. In the Bible it is called ''Qer Harreseth'' or Kir of Moab, and is identified as having been subject to the Neo-Assyrian Empire; in the Books of Kings () and Book of Amos (), it is mentioned as the place where the Arameans went before they settled in the regions in the northern Levant, and to which Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727 BC) sent the prisoners after the conquest of Damascus. After the conquest of Damascus, for some number of years later the Shamaili kingdom seized power, but it is unsure for how long. Little has been recorded about their ruling period. In 1958 the remains of an inscription was found in Wadi al-Karak that has been dated to the late 9th century BC.

Hellenistic to Early Muslim period

During the late Hellenistic Period, Al-Karak became an important town taking its name from the Aramaic word for town, Kharkha ().

The area eventually fell under the power of the Nabateans. The Roman Empire – with support from the Arab Ghassanid tribe, or Ghassasinah – conquered it from them in AD105. The city was known in Late Antiquity as Harreketh.

Al-Karak contains some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating as early as the 1st century AD. Under the Byzantine Empire, Charach ( grc-gre, Χαραχ, ''Kharkh'') or Charach of the Moabites (, ''Kharakhmōba'') was the seat of a bishopric, housing the much venerated Church of Nazareth, and remained predominantly Christian under Arab rule. Its bishop Demetrius took part in the council of the three provinces of Palaestina held in Jerusalem in 536. Another bishop, by the name of John, is said to have lived in the 9th century.

Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods

Al-Karak fell within the Crusader lordship of Oultrejourdain, the lands east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. In 1132, King Fulk of Jerusalem made Pagan the Butler ''Lord of Montreal and Oultrejourdain''. Pagan made his headquarters at al-Karak, where he built a castle on a hill called by the Crusaders ''Petra Deserti'' - The Stone of the Desert. His castle, much modified, dominates the town to this day.

The castle was in Crusader hands for only 46 years. It had been threatened by Saladin's armies several times, but finally surrendered in 1188, after the crushing Crusader defeat at the Battle of Hattin and a siege that lasted more than a year. Saladin's younger brother, Al-Adil, was governor of the district until becoming ruler of Egypt and Syria in 1199. Yaqut (1179–1229) noted that "Al Karak is a very strongly fortified castle on the borders of Syria, towards Balka province, and in the mountains. It stands on a rock surrounded by Wadis, except on the side towards the suburb."Le Strange, 1890, p
479
/ref> Al-Dimashqi (1256–1327) noted that Karak: "is an impregnable fortress, standing high on the summit of a mountain. Its fosses