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Concept
Al-Karak
Summary
Al-Karak (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.
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.
During the late Hellenistic Period, Al-Karak became an important town taking its name from the Aramaic word for town, Kharkha (כרכא).
The area eventually fell under the power of the Nabateans. The Roman Empire 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 (Χαραχ, Kharkh) or Charach of the Moabites (Χαραχμωβα, Kharakhmōba) was the seat of a bishopric, housing the much venerated Church of Nazareth, and remained predominantly Christian under Arab rule.
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