Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: John C. L. Gibson, “John the Bap-

tist in Muslim Writings.” Muslim World 45 (1955): 

334–345; Geoffrey Parrinder, Jesus in the Quran (New 

York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 55–59; Jaafar 

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, The Ancient Kingdoms, 

The History of al-Tabari. Vol. 4, Translated by Moshe 

Perlmann (Albany: State University of New York Press, 

1987), 101–108; Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Thalabi, 

Arais al-majalis fi qisas al-anbiya, or “Lives of the Proph-

ets,” Translated by William M. Brinner (Leiden: E.J. 

Brill, 2002), 627–637.

Jordan

 

(Official name: The Hashemite 

Kingdom of Jordan)

The state boundaries of Jordan were created by the 

British in the aftermath of World War I. Jordan 

gained formal independence from the British only 

in 1946. Although it has a small population of 6.2 

K  404  

Jordan

---

million people (2008 estimate) and few natural 

resources of its own, Jordan sits at the center of 

a part of the Middle East that is important to the 

economic and political future of the entire region. 

In the west is i

srael

 and the occupied Palestin-

ian territories; in the north is s

yria

; to the east is 

i

raq

; and s

aUdi

 a

rabia

 borders Jordan to the east 

and south.

Jordan has been an important trade route 

linking Africa with West Asia. The Jordan River 

Valley and the area of the lowest point on earth, 

the Dead Sea, were sites of early human settlement 

dating back 8,000 years. Conquering peoples who 

entered Jordan early in its history were Assyrians, 

Greeks, and Romans. Jordan is home to some 

of the best-preserved archaeological sites of the 

Roman Empire, including Jarash, Umm Qais, and 

the amphitheater of the ancient city of Philadel-

phia in downtown Amman.

The greatest trading civilization that had its base 

in Jordan was that of the Nabateans. They began 

settling in southern Jordan in significant numbers 

in the third century 

b

.

c

.

e

. The most enduring mon-

ument to Nabatean civilization is the city of Petra, 

which was carved into steep rock walls of river 

gorges in the first century 

b

.

c

.

e

. At its height, Petra 

was populated by 20,000 people. Its multistoried 

rock-carved facades of monumental architecture 

were finally recognized in 2007 as a new wonder 

of the world and are visited by tens of thousands of 

tourists each year. The Nabateans eventually assimi-

lated to Byzantine culture by the third century 

c

.

e

.

and used Greek instead of Aramaic as their literary 

language. Petra was largely destroyed and aban-

doned after an earthquake in 106 

c

.

e

.

Much of Jordan was uninhabited in the Byzan-

tine period. The rise of Islam led to repopulation 

and a cultural revival in some areas conducive to 

rain-fed agriculture, such as the northern moun-

tainous region. In medieval times, from the 11th 

century, both crusaders and Arab armies built 

castle fortresses on a line of mountain peaks from 

north to south. The castles at Ajloun, Karak, and 

Shobak are three of the best preserved today. How-

ever, much of the countryside outside the fortified 

mountain enclaves was uninhabited or merely the 

temporary seasonal resting place for migratory 

b

edoUin

 tribes.

In the 19th century, Jordan was a backwater 

in the Ottoman Empire. It was governed from the 

provincial capital of d

amascUs

 in Syria. The Otto-

man authorities were unable to collect taxes from 

the townspeople in Ajloun, Salt, Karak, or Maan 

because of the military superiority of autono-

mous tribal bands who negotiated their own 

taxing arrangements with towns and villages in 

exchange for security. At the end of the century, 

The Treasury, originally a royal Nabatean tomb (ca. 

first century 

b

.

c

.

e

. to first century 

c

.

e

.), Petra, Jordan  

(Juan E. Campo)