Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

There are really three different but related issues here: 

1.      The biblical term "derekh hammelekh" and which road does it refer
to. 
2.      The Transjordanian highway through history.
3.      How do we know about ancient roads in general?

 

I'll begin with the third. As I wrote before, "building" roads, setting up
milestones etc. only began with the Romans. Before the Romans, we have very
little direct archaeological evidence, and most of what we do have is
inferred. There really were no "roads", mostly routes that people took to
get from point A to point B. We can reconstruct the route by looking at the
geography and seeing what the most logical route would be, but if the roads
were not really marked, not everyone would take the exact same paths, and
such changing factors as villages, fields, farms as so on would cause
changes in the specific path. The exception is in hilly or rocky terrain
where stones would be removed from the road to its sides, forming a
"mesilah", or at the fords of major streams (of which there are not many in
Israel), where a very specific place would be used by everyone. There is
also circumstantial evidence, such as remains of caravanserai or "roadside
fortresses", but these are often difficult to identify. So most of what we
really know is based on mapping out the towns that a road system would
serve, understanding the terrain and matching that with written (biblical
and other) references which happen to mention someone taking this or that
road.

 

The main Transjordanian road which is often known as "The King's Highway" is
well documented. Since there are a series of major towns along the center of
the Transjordanian plateau, we can trace the most logical route between
them, try to understand the relationship between towns and roads, and use
the many references to people travelling along all or part of this route
(including Gen. 14:5-6, whether this be historical or fictional, the writer
did know something of the geography of the area). Plus, there is actual
physical evidence from later periods and since the geography is the same, it
makes sense that the road is too. It probably is the road assumed in Num.
21:22, but as I've written, I don't think that "derekh hammelekh" is a
proper name for this particular road, but rather a type of road - the "royal
(meaning public) road" - as opposed to private property which Moses promised
not to enter. Which means that it was not named for any particular king, but
rather for the office.

 

Yigal Levin

 

 

  _____  

From: James Christian [mailto:jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 4:14 PM
To: Yigal Levin
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The King's road

 

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