About a century before the
Exodus, Transjordan was settled again by the
Ammonites,
Moabites, and
Edomites, who formed a strong chain of kingdoms, with extensive areas under cultivation and a system of efficient border fortresses. Probably in the early 13th century, Moab was attacked from the north by Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, who wrested the area north of the Arnon from it. The Israelites, coming from the wilderness, found it extremely difficult to cross Transjordan; finally they passed east of the settled area of Moab and Edom; their victory over
Sihon gave them the entire Jordan Valley, the Gilead, and part of Moab. This area was allotted to the
tribes of
Reuben (from the Arnon to the Nimrīn Valley),
Gad (from southern Gilead to the Jabbok and the Jordan Valley), and half of
Manasseh (from the Jabbok northward).
In the period of the
Judges these tribes were subjected to the kings of Ammon and Moab, until
David eventually conquered all of Transjordan down to the Red Sea. In the time of Solomon, Israelite-controlled Transjordan was organized into the three districts of Ramoth-Gilead, Mahanaim, and southern Gilead (Gad;
I Kings 4:13–14, 19). After the
division of the kingdom, Ammon and Moab fell to Israel and Edom to Judah, but all three soon regained their independence. As is known from the
Mesha stele, Moab was reconquered by Omri; it revolted against Israel in the time of
Ahab, finally gaining its independence in the days of Joram, the last of the Omrid kings (851–842 B.C.E.; cf.
II Kings 3). In later times Israel never succeeded in subduing Moab, which under Mesha had enlarged its boundaries to the edge of the Jordan Valley. However, the
kings of Judah succeeded in ruling large parts of Edom in the ninth century during the days of
Jehoshaphat and
Jehoram, and again in the eighth century in the days of Amaziah and Uzziah.
With the eighth century B.C.E., the settled area of Transjordan began once more to shrink, a process which lasted until the
Hellenistic period. The
Assyrian king
Tiglath-Pileser III deported part of the Israelite population from Gilead in 732 B.C.E. The Ammonites maintained their independence, and the Edomites threw off Judean rule in the time of Ahaz (743–727 B.C.E.). After the fall of
Jerusalem and the deportation of its population by
Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E., the Edomites moved into southern Judea and their place was gradually taken over by the Nabateans, a people known for outstanding achievements in agriculture, architecture, and art. Their kingdom was composed of sections of Transjordan, Palestine, and Syria, and
Petra was their capital (fourth century B.C.E.). In the
Persian period, Ammon was ruled by the Jewish family of *Tobiads , whose roots in Gilead dated back to the time of the Israelite monarchy.
In Hellenistic times, a new period of prosperity began for Transjordan, lasting until the Arab conquest. The Ptolemies or
Seleucids founded a number of cities in the northern part:
Gadara and Abila to the north, followed by Pella and Gerasa. Rabbath-Ammon became the city of Philadelphia and was separated from the area of the Tobiads, who ruled the region populated by Jews between Philadelphia and the Jordan (the Peraea).
Transjordan passed temporarily from Ptolemaic to Seleucid rule in 218 B.C.E. and permanently in 198 B.C.E. In the course of
Hasmonean expansion, large areas of Transjordan were conquered by Jonathan (the Peraea),
JohnHyrcanus (
Madaba and Heshbon), and
Alexander Yannai (Moab to the Zered, Gerasa, Pella, and Gadara). In 63 B.C.E., Pompey restored the autonomy of the Greek cities, leaving only Peraea to the Jews. To strengthen the Greek element under
Roman rule, he formed the Decapolis league, which included Philadelphia.
For a time,
Herod ruled Gadara, which was restored to Syria after his death. In the
First Jewish War, the Peraea was conquered by the Romans (68 C.E.), but its Jewish population remained. In 97, the city of Capitolias was founded at Belt al-Rās near Pella. In 106 Trajan annexed the Nabatean kingdom; the cities of Madaba, Esbus (Heshbon), Areopolis (Rabbath-Moab), Charachmoba, and Petra became part of the new province of Arabia, into which Philadelphia and Gerasa were incorporated. The cities of the area reached a height of prosperity in the second century C.E. under the Antonines, due to a new paved road (the Via Nova) running from
Elath (Aila) to Bostra throughout the length of Transjordan.
Christianity gained an early foothold in Transjordan, when the Jerusalem community moved to Pella in 70 C.E.In the
Byzantine period southern Transjordan was attached to Palaestina III, the rest to
Arabia. Churches and monasteries were built in all the large cities and the bishops took part in church councils.
In the last centuries of Byzantine rule, Arab influences in the area were marked. The first battle between the Arabs and the Byzantines took place in 629, still in the lifetime of the prophet
Muhammad, in Transjordan (in Mu’ta, near Karak). The final Arab conquest was effected in several stages: southern Transjordan was taken in 630, the mountains of Seir and Moab in 634, and the rest of the region in 635. With the battle on the Yarmuk in 636, Arab rule in the area was established.
In the early Arab period, the area up to Jerash was attached to the Jund al-Urdunn; central Transjordan, including Amman, to the Jund Filasṭīn; and the northern part to the Jund Dimashq (
Damascus). Under Arab rule the northern part of Transjordan together with northern
Palestine constituted an administrative unit called Jund al-Urdun, with Tiberias as its capital. Central and southern Transjordan, with the equivalent parts west of the river Jordan, became Jund Filastīn, administered from Ramleh. The Arab period marked the beginning of a new decline in the population, which became pronounced for centuries after the
Crusades (13th to 19thcenturies).
In the Crusades period, the Jordan Valley, part of the ʿAjlūn, and the mountains of Karak and Shawbak down to the Red Sea were combined into a principality known as Terre D'Outre Jourdain. As the Crusaders, and especially the rulers of the fortress of Montreal (Shawbak), threatened the pilgrims’ route to
Mecca and even the holy cities themselves,
Saladin attacked and reduced the Crusader fortresses before the battle of Ḥiṭṭin.
Under
Mamluk rule Transjordan was divided between Mamlakat Dimashq (the districts (
aʿ
māl) of ʿAjlūn and al-Balqā ʾ) and Mamlakat al-Karak, which included Maʿān, Shawbak, Zughar (Zoar), and Karak. In the time of Baybars it was ruled by the last descendant of the
Ayyubid dynasty.
In
Ottoman times the population of Transjordan reached its lowest level and most of Transjordan was left to the Bedouin, although the sultans kept up a semblance of administration in the western areas. Most of the region was part of the
vilayet of Damascus, divided into the Sanjak of Ḥawrān (to the Jabbok), the Sanjak of
Nablus, which occasionally included the Balqāʾ, and the Sanjak of
al-Karak. The southern sections, Ma’an and Aqaba, were part of the
vilayet of Hijaz. However, Ottoman rule was nominal most of the time. Transjordan was regarded as the backyard of Syria and Palestine and concerned the Ottomans only during the annual pilgrimage, as the main Hajj caravan from Damascus had to cross it en route to Medina. Only in the second half of the 19th century, after the short-lived Egyptian occupation (1831–40) and during the reform period (Tanzimat), under Abdul-Ḥamid II, was resettlement begun. The Ottomans had extended their direct rule over Transjordan. Karak, the capital of its namesake sanjak, was the major city in the area and the jurisdiction of its governor stretched over most of sedentary Transjordan. Local population increased when Circassian refugees from Russian-occupied
Caucasus were encouraged by the Ottomans (in 1861–64, and later after the Turkish-Russian war of 1877–78) to migrate to Palestine and Transjordan. In the latter, they settled in and around Amman, Zarqa, and Jarash.
The 19th century also witnessed growing European interest in Transjordan, mainly for archeological and historical reasons – in 1812 Burckhardt discovered Petra and, in 1806, Seetzen discovered Jarash. In the second half of the 19th century, the interest of the Palestine Exploration Fund as well as of Christian churches and missions in Transjordan yielded, inter alia, the discovery of the Mesha stele and the
Madaba mosaic map. In 1900–08, the Ottomans built the Hijazi railroad from Damascus to Medina. About one third of the 1,200 km. line passed through Transjordan, bringing it closer to the administrative centers of Damascus and
Istanbul, yet also triggering several rebellions in Karak.
For modern period after 1914, see also
Jordan.
(full article online)
and at the same time very 
