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Karak is the most important town of southern Jordan. A
small busy town at the top of an isolated hill which
boats one of the best- preserved castles in the Middle
East which occupies the southern tip of the hill, second
only to Syria's
Crac des Chevaliers for explorability.
Variously known throughout history as
 Qir Heres, Qir
Moab, and Hareseth, Karak has been a prized possession
of a number of civilizations. The Arabic name al-Karak
is derived from Aramaic karka "the walled town, city.
The name of the site in the Hellenistic-Roman-Byzantine
periods was Karakmoba "the fortress-city of Moab."
But it was not until the arrival of the Crusaders in the
12th century that Karak reached its full splendor. It is
recorded that the Crusader King Baldwin I of Jerusalem
had the castle built in 1132 CE. With its location
midway between Shobak and Jerusalem, Karak formed part
of a great line of Crusader castles stretching from
Aqaba to Turkey.
Karak commands a magnificent view of the Dead Sea. The
city today is home to around 170,000 people and
continues to boast a number of restored 19th century
Ottoman buildings, restaurants, places to stay, and the
like. But it is undoubtedly Karak Castle which
dominates.
The history of Kerak goes back before Christ. It was on
the routes of the ancient caravans more than 2,000 years
ago,
 it played a role in Greek and Roman history, and
was known as Kir, Characmoba, and other names, also in
the Bible. Actually, al-Karak is derived from karka,
which is Aramaic for "the walled town or city". The
Crusaders rediscovered the strategically importance of
the town, and in 1132AD the castle was built. Several
battles and decades passed before Saladin conquered the
castle in 1188. Instead of destroying the castle, the
Mamluks recognized its importance and decided to
strengthen it instead. Even though the castle was
damaged by earthquake and neglected for some time, it
can still be seen now that different parts were built in
different times. |
