MadabaMadaba (مادبا; Biblical Hebrew: Mēḏəḇāʾ; Μήδαβα) is the capital city of Madaba Governorate in central Jordan, with a population of about 60,000. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of the Holy Land. Madaba is located south-west of the capital Amman. Madaba dates from the Middle Bronze Age. The town of Madaba was once a Moabite border city, mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 21:30 and Joshua 13:9.
OultrejordainThe Lordship of Oultrejordain or Oultrejourdain (Old French for "beyond the Jordan", also called Lordship of Montreal) was the name used during the Crusades for an extensive and partly undefined region to the east of the Jordan River, an area known in ancient times as Edom and Moab. It was also referred to as Transjordan. Oultrejordain extended southwards through the Negev to the Gulf of Aqaba (Ile de Graye, now Pharaoh's Island).
BaybarsAl-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī) (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (أبو الفتوح, 'Father of Conquests'), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Bahri dynasty, succeeding Qutuz. He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France.
JordanJordan (الأردن al.ʔur.dunː), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in West Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the northeast, Syria to the north, and the Palestinian West Bank and Israel to the west. The Dead Sea is located along its western border and the country has a coastline in its southwest on the Gulf of Aqaba's Red Sea, which separates Jordan from Egypt.
PetraPetra (Al-Batraʾ; Πέτρα, "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō (Nabataean: *Raqēmō), is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom as early as the 4th century BC.
MoabMoab (ˈmoʊæb) is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in the modern state of Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by numerous archaeological findings, most notably the Mesha Stele, which describes the Moabite victory over an unnamed son of King Omri of Israel, an episode also noted in 2 Kings 3. The Moabite capital was Dibon.
Ayyubid dynastyThe Ayyubid dynasty (الأيوبيون al-Ayyūbīyūn; ئەیووبیەکان, Eyûbiyan), also known as the Ayyubid Empire, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin had originally served Nur ad-Din of Syria, leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt, where he was made Vizier.
SyriaSyria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. Cyprus lies to the west across the Mediterranean Sea. It is a unitary republic that consists of 14 governorates (subdivisions).
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, was a Crusader state that was established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 until the siege of Acre in 1291. Its history is divided into two periods with a brief interruption in its existence, beginning with its collapse after the siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and its restoration after the Third Crusade in 1192.
Crusader statesThe Crusader states, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political intrigue. The four states were the County of Edessa (10981150), the Principality of Antioch (10981287), the County of Tripoli (11021289), and the Kingdom of Jerusalem (10991291). The Kingdom of Jerusalem covered what is now Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and adjacent areas.
