Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

That was one of the follow up questions I wanted to ask. Who does the King
refer to? I've seen a map tracing the route of this road from Egypt to Eilat
on the Gulf of Aqaba and then up North through lands we associate with the
Edom, Moab and Ammon of the  day of the Moses  presented in the Torah.
Although, it's not entirely clear what 'evidence' these depictions of the
road are built on. If there was such a road in the day of Moses could it be
called the 'King's' road because of the importance of the Egyptian empire?
Could it have been a designated route to the King (Pharoah) or have been
'built' (marked out) by the Pharoah for trade routes?

In terms of actual evidence what do we have? If the road was never built
what archeological evidence do we actually have of such a trade route? Apart
from the references in the Torah what ancient sources do we have that talk
about the road that we can get any clues from? Also, wouldn't the clues in
the Torah suggest a single road with a particular route rather than two
separate roads? And even if they were two different roads with a designation
for public passage through a country wouldn't it make sense that they
connect with each other in some way?

thanks
James Christian

2010/2/11 Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

> Hi James,
>
> The term "derekh hammelekh" is a legal one, meaning "the public road", as
> opposed to private property. Exactly the same term, "harran sharri", occurs
> in Akkadian. Its two occurrences in the Bible in fact refer to two
> different
> roads: in Num. 20:19 Moses is at Kadesh-barnea and wishes to go east across
> what is now called "the Negev Highlands" towards what is now called the
> Arava into Edom. In 21:22 he's already in Transjordan and wishes to cross
> the Arnon northward through the Mishor, which was ruled by Sihon.
>
> At some point in the early 20th century, someone (maybe it was Kurt
> Galling)
> decided that "derekh hammelekh" is the proper name of the main north-south
> route on the Transjordanian plateau. The road itself is well known
> throughout history and is still one of the major highways of Jordan today.
> Roughly, it goes from Damascus to Der'a (Edrei) to Amman to Madeba to
> Hisban
> to Diban to Bazrah Petra to Aqaba. Its specific route shifted to reflect
> changes in settlement over the ages. Remember that before the Roman period,
> roads were usually not "built" or marked, nor did they have proper names.
> Rather, they were referred to by their destination, depending on the
> perspective of the speaker.
>
> The same, by-the-way, is true for the famous "Derekh hayyam" or "Via
> Maris".
> While the main route that ran parallel to the Mediterranean coast is well
> known and was very important, it did not have a single permanent name,
> nore,
> BTW, did it actually lead to the sea. Isaiah 8:23 (or 9:1 in most English
> versions) does not refer to this road. However both names as commonly used
> today as if they were the ancient designations of these roads.
>
> By the way, I once heard a Jordanian tour guide tell his group that the
> "king's highway" is called that because it was built by King Mesha!
>
>
> Yigal Levin
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James Christian
> Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 12:16 PM
> To: b-hebrew
> Subject: [b-hebrew] The King's road
>
> Hi,
>
> does anybody know what evidence we actually have for the route of the
> 'King's highway'? The one that Moses evidently asks permission to use in
> his
> plans to cross through Edom (Numbers 20:19) and then also through Ammon
> (Numbers 21:22)?
>
> thanks,
> James Christian
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