Petra, originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or 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. Archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC, by which time Petra had become their capital. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the incense trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.
The Jordan River or River Jordan, also known as Nahr Al Sharieat, is a 251-kilometre-long (156 mi) river in the Middle East that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and on to the Dead Sea. Jordan and the Golan Heights border the river to the east, while the West Bank and Israel lie to its west. Both Jordan and the West Bank take their names from the river.
The Arava, Arabah or Araba is a loosely defined geographic area south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east.
Beth-Nimrah, also called Nimrin and Bethennabris, was an ancient city in Transjordan, which features prominently the history of ancient Israel and Judah. Tell Nimrin has been identified by Nelson Glueck as the last of three sites successively occupied by the ancient city.
Cherith, Kerith, or sometimes Chorath, is the name of a wadi, or intermittent seasonal stream mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The prophet Elijah hid himself on the banks of the Cherith and was fed by ravens during the early part of the three years' drought which he announced to King Ahab.
Haplography, also known as lipography, is a scribal or typographical error where a letter or group of letters that should be written twice is written once. It is not to be confused with haplology, where a phoneme is omitted to prevent two similar sounds from occurring consecutively: the former is a textual error, while the latter is a phonological process.
Wadi al-Hasa, known from the Hebrew Bible as the valley and brook of Zered, is a wadi in western Jordan. It is located between the Karak and Tafilah governorates.
The Stations of the Exodus are the locations visited by the Israelites following their exodus from Egypt, according to the Hebrew Bible. In the itinerary given in Numbers 33, forty-two stations are listed, although this list differs slightly from the narrative account of the journey found in Exodus and Deuteronomy.
Numeira is an archaeological site in Jordan near the southern Dead Sea. The site has substantial Early Bronze Age remains.
Abila was an ancient city east of the Jordan River in Moab, later Peraea, near Livias, about twelve km northeast of the north shore of the Dead Sea. The site is identified with modern Khirbet el-Kafrayn, Jordan and identified on the Madaba Map as an unnamed icon. There is a widely supported theory that in the Hebrew Bible, it is referred to as Abel-Shittim, as well as in the shorter forms Shittim and Ha-Shittim.
Wadi Mujib, also known as Arnon Stream, is a river in Jordan. The river empties into the Dead Sea circa 420 metres (1,380 ft) below sea level. Today, Wadi Mujib is fed by seven tributaries. The western part of the river is the site of the Mujib Biosphere Reserve, popular for hikes & canyoning amid dramatic rock formations.
Jordan is a sovereign Arab state in the Middle East. The capital, Amman, is Jordan's most populous city as well as the country's economic, political and cultural centre.
The Besor is a wadi in southern Israel. The stream begins at Mount Boker, and spills into the Mediterranean Sea near Al-Zahra in the Gaza Strip, where it is called Wadi Ghazzeh, also spelled Wadi Ghazza, 'Azza or Gaza. Further upstream it is marked as Wadi esh-Shallaleh on the 1878 Survey of Western Palestine map. There are several important archaeological sites located in this area.
Nelson Glueck was an American rabbi, academic and archaeologist. He served as president of Hebrew Union College from 1947 until his death, and his pioneering work in biblical archaeology resulted in the discovery of 1,500 ancient sites.
The Zarqa River is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmouk River. It is the third largest river in the region by annual discharge and its watershed encompasses the most densely populated areas east of the Jordan River. It rises in springs near Amman, and flows through a deep and broad valley into the Jordan, at an elevation 1,090 metres (3,580 ft) lower.
Nahal Hever or Wadi al-Khabat (Arabic) is an intermittent stream (wadi) in the Judean Desert, that flows through the West Bank and Israel, from the area of Yatta to the Dead Sea. The Hebrew name is derived from "Hevron", the Hebrew name of the city of Hebron. The stream has a few waterfalls, the tallest one having a drop of over 140 metres (460 ft).
Jawa is the site of the oldest proto-urban development in Jordan, dating from the late 4th millennium BC. It is located in one of the driest areas of the Black Desert of Eastern Jordan.
Little Petra, also known as Siq al-Barid is an archaeological site located north of Petra and the town of Wadi Musa in the Ma'an Governorate of Jordan. Like Petra, it is a Nabataean site, with buildings carved into the walls of the sandstone canyons. As its name suggests, it is much smaller, consisting of three wider open areas connected by a 450-metre (1,480 ft) canyon. It is part of the Petra Archeological Park, though accessed separately, and included in Petra's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is often visited by tourists in conjunction with Petra itself, since it is free and usually less crowded.
Tell el-Hammam is an archaeological site in Jordan, in the eastern part of the lower Jordan Valley close to the mouth of the Jordan River. The site has substantial remains from the Chalcolithic, Early, Intermediate and Middle Bronze Age, and from Iron Age II. There are different attempts at identifying the site with a biblical city.
The Plains of Moab, Arboth Mo'ab in Hebrew, are mentioned in three books of the Hebrew Bible as an area in Transjordan, stretching along the Jordan "across from Jericho", and more specifically "from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim". Here is the last Station of the Exodus and the place from which Moses climbs up on Mount Nebo "to the top of Pisgah", where he dies.
In the Siq
Wadi Numeira In the Valley
Wadi Numeira Siq
Starting Point of the Gorge
Wadi Numeira in the Siq
