Transjordan, the East Bank, or the Transjordanian Highlands ( ar, شرق الأردن), is the part of the

Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a Region, geographical region encompassing the southern half of the Levant. It corresponds approximately to modern-day Israel, State of Palestine, Palestine, and Jordan; some definitions also include southern Lebanon, southe ...

east of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

, mostly contained in present-day

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. The

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, known as Transjordan, was controlled by numerous powers throughout history. During the early modern period, the region of Transjordan was included under the jurisdiction of

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

n provinces. After the

Great Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On t ...

against Ottoman rule during the 1910s, the

Emirate of Transjordan The Emirate of Transjordan ( ar, إمارة شرق الأردن, Imārat Sharq al-Urdun, Emirate of East Jordan), officially known as the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921,

was established in 1921 by Hashemite Emir

Abdullah Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...

, and the Emirate became a British protectorate. In 1946, the Emirate achieved independence from the British and in 1949 the country changed its name to the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan", after the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank following the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

Name

The prefix ''trans-'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and means "across" or beyond, and so "Transjordan" refers to the land ''on the other side of'' the

. The equivalent term for the west side is the ''

Cisjordan The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

'' – literally, "on this side of the

iver Iver is a large civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park. Geography, transport and economy Part of the 43-square- ...

Jordan". The

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

to grc, πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου,, translit. péran toú Iordánou,, beyond the Jordan, which was then translated to la, trans Iordanen, lit=beyond the Jordan in the

Vulgate Bible The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels us ...

. However some authors give the he, עבר הירדן, Ever HaYarden, lit=beyond the Jordan, as the basis for Transjordan, which is also the modern Hebrew usage. Whereas the term "East" as in "towards the sunrise" is used in ar, شرق الأردن, translit=Sharq al ʾUrdun, lit=East of the Jordan.

History

Egyptian period

The

Shasu The Shasu ( from Egyptian ''šꜣsw'', probably pronounced ''Shasw'') were Semitic-speaking cattle nomads in the Southern Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age or the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. They were organized in cla ...

were Semitic-speaking cattle nomads in the Levant from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. In a 15th-century BCE list of enemies inscribed on column bases at the temple of

Soleb Soleb is an ancient town in Nubia, in present-day Sudan. The site is located north of the third cataract of the Nile, on the western side of the Nile. It was discovered and described by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1844. Necropolis Soleb is also t ...

built by

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...

, six groups of Shasu are noted; the Shasu of ''S'rr'', the Shasu of ''Rbn'', the Shasu of ''Sm't'', the Shasu of ''Wrbr'', the Shasu of ''Yhw'', and the Shasu of ''Pysps''. Some scholars link the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

and the worship of a

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

named

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

with the Shasu. The Egyptian geographical term "

Retjenu Retjenu ('' rṯnw; Reṯenu, Retenu''), was an ancient Egyptian name for Canaan and Syria. It covered the region from the Negev Desert north to the Orontes River. The borders of Retjenu shifted with time, but it generally consisted of three reg ...

", is traditionally identified as an area covering Sinai and Canaan south of Lebanon, with the regions of

Amurru Amurru may refer to: * Amurru kingdom, roughly current day western Syria and northern Lebanon * Amorite, ancient Syrian people * Amurru (god) Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine perso ...

and

Apu APU or Apu may refer to: Film and television * ''The Apu Trilogy'', a series of three Bengali films, directed by Satyajit Ray, with the fictional character Apu Roy, comprising: ** ''Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road'') (1955), the first ...

to the north. And as such, parts of Canaan and southwestern Syria became tributary to the Egyptian Pharaohs in the early Late Bronze Age. When Canaanite confederacies centered on

Megiddo Megiddo may refer to: Places and sites in Israel * Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley * Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel * Megiddo church (Israel) * Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel * Megiddo Junction, ...

and

Kadesh Qadesh, Qedesh, Qetesh, Kadesh, Kedesh, Kadeš and Qades come from the common Semitic root "Q-D-Š", which means "sacred." Kadesh and variations may refer to: Ancient/biblical places * Kadesh (Syria) or Qadesh, an ancient city of the Levant, on ...

, came under the control of the

Egyptian Empire The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radioca ...

. However, the empire's control was sporadic, and not strong enough to prevent frequent local rebellions and inter-city conflict.

Bronze Age collapse

During the

Late Bronze Age collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near East ...

the

Amorites The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian language, Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic-speaking people ...

of Syria disappeared after being displaced or absorbed by a new wave of semi-nomadic West Semitic-speaking peoples known collectively as the Ahlamu. Over time, the

Arameans The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

emerged as the dominant tribe amongst the Ahlamu; with the destruction of the Hittites and the decline of Assyria in the late 11th century BCE, they gained control over much of Syria and Transjordan. The regions they inhabited became known as

Aram Aram may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Aram'' (film), 2002 French action drama * Aram, a fictional character in Japanese manga series '' MeruPuri'' * Aram Quartet, an Italian music group * ''Aram'' (Kural book), the first of the three ...

(Aramea) and

Eber-Nari Eber-Nari (Akkadian, also Ebir-Nari), Abar-Nahara עבר-נהרה (Aramaic) or 'Ābēr Nahrā ( Syriac) meaning "Beyond the River" or "Across the River" in both the Akkadian and Imperial Aramaic languages of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, i.e., the West ...

The Transjordanian Hebrew tribes

The

Book of Numbers The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and com ...

(chapter ) tells how the tribes of Reuben and Gad came to

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

to ask if they could settle in the Transjordan. Moses is dubious, but the two tribes promise to join in the conquest of the land, and so Moses grants them this region to live in. The half tribe of

Manasseh Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse (surname), Manasse. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier * J ...

are not mentioned until verse 33. David Jobling suggests that this is because Manasseh settled in land which previously belonged to Og, north of the

Jabbok The Zarqa River ( ar, نهر الزرقاء, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) or Jabbok River (Hebrew: נַחַל יַבּוֹק ''Nahal Yabōq'') is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmou ...

, while Reuben and Gad settled

Sihon Sihon was an Amorite king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, who refused to let the Israelites pass through his country. Biblical accounts The Book of Numbers recounts that as the Israelites making their Exodus journey came to the country east of th ...

's land, which lay south of the Jabbok. Since Og's territory was not on the route to Canaan, it was "more naturally part of the Promised Land", and so the Manassites' status is less problematic than that of the Reubenites or Gadites. In the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

(),

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

affirms Moses' decision, and urges the men of the two and a half tribes to help in the conquest, which they are willing to do. In Joshua 22, the Transjordanian tribes return, and build a massive altar by the Jordan. This causes the "whole congregation of the Israelites" to prepare for war, but they first send a delegation to the Transjordanian tribes, accusing them of making God angry and suggesting that their land may be unclean. In response to this, the Transjordanian tribes say that the altar is not for offerings, but is only a "witness". The western tribes are satisfied, and return home. Assis argues that the unusual dimensions of the altar suggest that it "was not meant for sacrificial use", but was, in fact, "meant to attract the attention of the other tribes" and provoke a reaction.
Per the settlement of the Israelite tribes east of the Jordan, Burton MacDonald notes;

There are various traditions behind the Books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1 Chronicles’ assignment of tribal territories and towns to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Some of these traditions provide only an idealized picture of Israelite possessions east of the Jordan; others are no more than vague generalizations. Num 21.21–35, for example, says only that the land the people occupied extended from Wadi Arnon to Wadi Jabbok, the boundary of the Amorites.

Status

There is some ambiguity about the status of the Transjordan in the mind of the biblical writers. Horst Seebass argues that in Numbers "one finds awareness of Transjordan as being holy to

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', ''waw'', and '' ...

." He argues for this on the basis of the presence of the

cities of refuge The cities of refuge ( ''‘ārê ha-miqlāṭ'') were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum. Maimonides, invoking talmudic lit ...

there, and because land taken in a

holy war A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...

is always holy.

Richard Hess Richard Samuel Hess (born 1954) is an American Old Testament scholar. He is Earl S. Kalland Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Denver Seminary. Hess has degrees from Wheaton College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Hebr ...

, on the other hand, asserts that "the Transjordanian tribes were not in the land of promise." Moshe Weinfeld argues that in the Book of Joshua, the Jordan is portrayed as "a barrier to the

promised land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...

", Moshe Weinfeld, ''The Promise of the Land: The Inheritance of the Land of Canaan by the Israelites'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 54. but in

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...

and , the Transjordan is an "integral part of the promised land." Unlike the other tribal allotments, the Transjordanian territory was not divided by lot.

Jacob Milgrom Jacob Milgrom (February 1, 1923 – June 5, 2010) was a prominent American Jewish Bible scholar and Conservative rabbi. Milgrom's major contribution to biblical research was in the field of cult and worship. Although he accepted the documentar ...

suggests that it is assigned by Moses ''rather than'' by God. Lori Rowlett argues that in the Book of Joshua, the Transjordanian tribes function as the inverse of the

Gibeonites Gibeon ( he, , ''Gīḇəʻōn''; grc-gre, Γαβαων, ''Gabaōn'') was a Canaanite and, later, an Israelite city which was located north of Jerusalem. According to and , the pre-Israelite-conquest inhabitants, the Gibeonites, were Hivite ...

(mentioned in ). Whereas the former have the right ethnicity, but wrong geographical location, the latter have the wrong ethnicity, but are "within the boundary of the 'pure' geographical location."

Other Transjordanian nations

According to

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

, (),

Ammon Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...

and

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...

were born to

Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

and Lot's younger and elder daughters, respectively, in the aftermath of the destruction of

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

. The Bible refers to both the

ites and Moabites as the "children of Lot". Throughout the Bible, the Ammonites and Israelites are portrayed as mutual antagonists. During the The Exodus, Exodus, the Israelites were prohibited by the Ammonites from passing through their lands (). In the Book of Judges, the Ammonites work with Eglon (king), Eglon, king of the Moabites against Israel. Attacks by the Ammonites on Israelite communities east of the Jordan were the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul (). According to both Books of Kings () and Books of Chronicles (), Naamah (wife of Solomon), Naamah was an Ammonite. She was the only wife of King Solomon to be mentioned by name in the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

The Decapolis is named from its ten cities enumerated by Pliny the Elder (23–79). What Pliny calls ''Decapolis'', Ptolemy (c. 100–c. 170) calls ''Cœle-Syria''. Ptolemy does not use the term "Transjordan", but rather the periphrasis "across the Jordan". And he enumerates the cities; Cosmas, Livias, Libias, Callirrhoe (Jordan), Callirhoe, Gazorus, Epicaeros—as being in this district—east of the Jordan, that Josephus et al. called Perea. Jerash was a prominent central community for the surrounding region during the Neolithic period and was also inhabited during the Bronze Age. Ancient Greek inscriptions from the city, and the literary works of Iamblichus and the Etymologicum Magnum indicate that the city was founded as "Gerasa" by Alexander the Great or his general Perdiccas, for the purpose of settling retired Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian soldiers (γῆρας—''gēras''—means "old age" in Ancient Greek). It was a city of the Decapolis, and is one of the most important and best preserved Ancient Roman cities in the Near East. The Nabataeans' trading network was centered on strings of oases that they controlled. The Nabataean kingdom reached its territorial zenith during the reign of Aretas III (87-62 BCE), when it encompassed parts of the territory of modern Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. Bosra is located in a geographical area called the Hauran plateau. The soil of this volcanic plateau made it a fertile region for the Horticulture#Anthropology, cultivation of domesticated cereals during the Neolithic Revolution, Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. The city was noted in Egyptian documents of the 14th century BCE, and was situated on the trade routes where caravans brought spices from India and the Far East across the eastern desert while other caravans brought myrrh and frankincense from the south. The region of Hauran then called "Auranitis" came under the control of the Nabataean kingdom. And the city of Bosra then called "Bostra" became the northern capital of the kingdom while its southern capital was Petra. After Pompey's military conquest of Syria, Judaea, and Transjordan. Control of the city was later transferred to Herod the Great and his heirs until 106 CE, when Bosra was incorporated into the new Roman province of Arabia Petraea. The Herodian kingdom of Judaea was a client state of the Roman Republic from 37 BCE, and included Samaria and Perea. And when Herod died in 4 BCE, the kingdom was divided among his sons into the Herodian Tetrarchy. Arabia Petraea, Provincia Arabia Petraea or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century. It consisted of the former Nabataean kingdom in the southern Levant, Sinai Peninsula, and northwestern Arabian peninsula.

Crusader period: Oultrejordain

The Oultrejordain, Lordship of Oultrejordain (Old French for "beyond the Jordan"), also called the Lordship of Montreal, otherwise Transjordan, was part of the Crusades, Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Trade routes

Roman roads * Via Maris * Via Traiana Nova * Petra Roman Road The King's Highway (ancient), King's Highway was a trade route of vital importance to the ancient Near East. It began in Egypt and stretched across the Sinai Peninsula to Aqaba. From there it turned northward across Transjordan, leading to Damascus and the Euphrates River. During the Roman Empire, Roman period the road was called ''Via Regia (Orient)''. Emperor Trajan rebuilt and renamed it ''Via Traiana Nova'' (viz. Via Traiana Roma), under which name it served as a military and trade road along the fortified Limes Arabicus. The Incense Route comprised a network of major ancient land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with Eastern and Southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Northeastern Africa and Arabia to India and beyond. The incense land trade from South Arabia to the Mediterranean flourished between roughly the 7th century BCE to the 2nd century CE.

Maps

* BCE File:Egypt 1450 BC.svg, New Kingdom at its maximum territorial extent in the 15th century BCE File:Starożytny Bliski Wschód po bitwie pod Kadesz XIII w. p.n.e..jpg File:Syrie hittite.svg File:Near East in 1300bc (en).jpg, Near East 1300 BCE File:Near East in 1000bc (en).jpg, Near East 1000 BCE File:Transjordan kingdoms.png, Transjordan Kingdoms of

, Edom and

during the Iron Age 830 BCE File:Nabatean Kingdom map.jpg File:First century Iudaea province.gif File:Rijk Herodes de Grote.PNG * CE File:PalestineAndTransjordan.png, The Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. The

is shown in brown. File:Jordan 1948-1967.png,

, 1948–1967. The East Bank is the portion east of the Jordan River, the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, West Bank is the part west of the river File:MiddleEast.A2003031.0820.250m.jpg, Countries pictured are (clockwise from top right) Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt (across the Gulf of Aqaba), Israel, the disputed West Bank Territory, and Lebanon. In the center is

. * Trade routes File:Ancient Levant routes.png, Levantine trade routes 1300 BCE File:NabateensRoutes.png File:Radhanites2.png * Egyptian Empire File:Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia c. 1450 BC.png File:Near East 1400 BCE.png File:Amarnamap.png, The Mitanni, Hanigalbat (Mitanni) and Egypt. File:Moyen Orient Amarna 1.svg File:Moyen Orient 13e siècle.svg File:14 century BC Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.png, Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period. File:NE 1300bc.jpg File:East-Hem 1300bc.jpg File:East-Hem 1000bc.jpg *Transjordan Kingdoms 830 BCE File:Levant 830.svg File:Kingdoms around Israel 830 map.svg, Transjordan Kingdoms during the Iron Age 830 BCE File:Kingdoms of Israel and Judah map 830.svg *Achaemenid Empire, Persian period and Diadochi, Diadochi period File:Achaemenid empire map expansion.png File:Diadoch.png File:Hellenistic world 281 B.C..png *Hellenistic period File:Rome-Seleucia-Parthia 200bc.jpg File:Ptolemaic-Empire 200bc.jpg File:East-Hem 100bc.jpg *Roman Orient File:RomanEmpire 117-oriente.svg File:Palestine according to Eusbius and Jerome - Smith 1915.jpg File:Dioecesis Orientis 400 AD.png File:Israel Byzantine 5c.jpg *Roman Empire File:Roman Empire full - Referenced.jpg File:Roman Empire 125.png, Network of primary Roman roads in the reign of Hadrian File:Roman Empire with provinces in 210 AD.png File:Roman Empire with dioceses in 300 AD.png

References

External links

{{coord missing, Jordan Transjordan (region), Geography of the Middle East Geography of Jordan Regions of Jordan