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The Karak Plateau Before the Crusader
Period Although the Arabic chronicles of
the Early Islamic period do make sporadic references to southern
Jordan, it is difficult to form a coherent picture of the
historical development of this region prior to the arrival of
the Crusaders. The geographers of the ninth and tenth centuries
provide some evidence about the administrative arrangements in
the region (see below). In 983 the town of Karak became the
focus of a rebellion against the authority of the Fatimid
caliphs (an Isma`ili Muslim dynasty who ruled an empire with its
capital in Cairo in the period 969-1171). This is one of the few
times that Karak is mentioned in the context of political
history. We know from excavations at Ayla (modern `Aqaba) on the
Red Sea coast of Jordan that the port was very active from the
time of the foundation of the new city in c.650 through
to the mid eleventh century. Ayla received ships coming from the
Indian Ocean carrying spices, textiles, glass and ceramics from
the Yemen, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia.
Doubtless, much of this valuable commercial traffic passed
through the Karak plateau on its way to Damascus and the other
major urban centers of Syria. The annual pilgrimage (in Arabic,
hajj) from Syria to the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina
also passed south through the plateau before heading into the
Arabian desert. Unfortunately, we know little from historical
sources about what impact this traffic through the region had on
the lives of the inhabitants of the villages and towns of
southern Jordan. Whilst the Karak plateau did
not figure greatly in the political history of the Middle East
before the Crusader period, it was important for economic
reasons. The area produced large quantities of wheat, barley,
olives and fruits that could be transported west to Palestine or
north to Syria. In addition, the nomadic tribes (bedouin) on the
eastern fringes of the plateau raised sheep, horses and camels.
The south and east coasts of the Dead Sea contained villages
whose inhabitants exploited the mineral reserves of the region
(particularly salt and bitumen). As a result, it was important
that central government established the administrative
infrastructure needed to tax the local population and to ensure
the safe transport of the valuable crops and livestock. We no
longer possess the tax documents (such as land surveys) from the
Early Islamic period, but we do have information from
geographical texts concerning the way in which southern Jordan
was split into administrative units. Before the tenth century
the area covered by modern Jordan formed part of the
governorship (in Arabic, jund) of Damascus. This jund
was split into smaller districts (singular: kūra) with
the Karak plateau forming part of the kūra of Ma’āb
(derived from the ancient name for the region, Moab). The
capital of the district was either the town of al-Rabba (also
known in Arabic as Ma`āb and in Greek as Areopolis) or Zughar
(ancient Zoar) at the south end of the Dead Sea. In the tenth
century the kūra of Ma’āb was transferred into the
jund of Filastīn (i.e. Palestine). Perhaps
what is most important about the information about the
administration of the Karak plateau is that, despite its
importance in later centuries, the town of Karak did not
function as the capital of the district of Ma’āb in the Early
Islamic period. Today the town of Karak is dominated by the
massive fortifications built by the Crusaders and the Muslim
dynasties of the Ayyubids and Mamluks, but it is likely that it
contained significant defensive structures before this time. The
Syrian historian Ibn Shaddād (died 1285) relates a story that
before the arrival of the Crusaders Karak contained a monastery
which the monks gradually fortified in order to defend
themselves from the attacks made by local bedouin. We do not
know whether this account is genuine, but we do have evidence of
fortifications at Karak in the form of depictions of the town
(known in the inscriptions as Karakhmoba; that is, ‘Karak of
Moab’) in two floor mosaics in churches: the famous Mādāba map
of the sixth century and the mosaic in the church of St Stephen
in Umm al-Rasās [
Photo]. The
depiction at Umm al-Rasās probably dates to 718. In both cases,
it can be seen that Karak was a walled hill-top stronghold. |
