Historic Echoes from the Past: Crusader Castle in Jordan

Echoes from the Past

The Crown Jewel of all the castles built in Jordan during the Crusade times. The Castle has 16 towers, with the biggest being the tower of Baybars. Kerak Castle is an interesting place to visit, but it is far from its greatness. The sieges and ages throughout it stood, heavily damaged it.

Walking through the dusty halls and walls of Kerak Castle, I couldn’t help myself but wonder how did it feel looking at vast Saladin armies during the sieges. These highly religious people were been speaking to God constantly. It was not only a matter of Life & Death but a matter of acting in the way of the only true God. Both sides saw each other as heretics.

Everything is visible from al-Karak Castle. Photo by Alis Monte [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Connecting the Dots

Even more interestingly, maybe on this dramatic spot, after a victorious battle against the Israelites, King Mesha rallied his troops:

King of Moab, Mesha:

Listen, today we fought bravely and we liberated our homeland from the sons of Abraham. But never forget that alone we couldn’t do so. We must thank all-mighty Chemosh for he stood with us again and praise him as our Father and Mothers taught us so. Never again we will let the sons of Abraham command unto these lands for they don’t know the power of Chemosh. They haven’t seen it as we did. Never again we will anger Chemosh!

We will not look back, we will not let it repeat! Here on this rock, we’ll set our victory into stone, here on this hill we will build the temple to all-powerful Chemosh. We, the sons of Lot, are the rightful rulers of Moab! Long live Moab! Long live Chemosh! Let He bring us fish as he brought destruction to the sons of Abraham!

The ruins of palace in al-Karak castle. Photo by Alis Monte [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Connecting the Dots

Name Meaning of Kerak Castle

The name of the castle comes from the town it was built in, al Karak, Karak is taken from ancient times when Arameans been here, in Aramaic word Kharkha means town. It was often called by the Crusaders and in history books as Karak of Moab.

Israelites knew al-Karak as Kerak. Further on I’ll use the local name from the castle and the settlement.

Al-Karak Castle was fortified so many times what it was made almost impenetrable. Photo by Alis Monte [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Connecting the Dots

History of al-Karak

While the history of al-Karak castle itself dates to 1142 AD when the crusaders built it, the point where it stands dates almost to the very edges of known history of the humankind. After all, Jordan is among the countries where the known human history began.

Mesha Stele and the Bible are among very narrow list of Moab records in history. Photo by Louvre Museum / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Moabites in al-Karak

Before the al-Karak Castle, this area was controlled by Moabites, people who lived in the Eastern region to the Dead Sea. Karak was mentioned in the Bible several times in various names as Moabites were often in rivalry with their neighbor Israelites to the west of the Dead Sea...

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Even though currently our movement is heavily restricted it is a great thing that we are gifted with limitless imagination. Our brains are capable of simulating entire universe without connection to the outside world during our sleep. Just a small fraction for this is required to travel to the lands far far away, long long time ago.

I invite you to travel together to the edges of human history. On the hill, where crusaders build a castle, once stood the temple, dedicated to their ancient God - Chemosh. The God of Moabites, an ancient people, descendants of Lot, Abrahamn's nephew. #travel #photography #blog #travel #history