[edit]
Main historical sites in the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba
Nearby Chalcolithic sites[edit]
Tall Hujayrat Al-Ghuzlan excavations
Excavations at two tells (archaeological mounds) Tall Hujayrat Al-Ghuzlan and Tall Al-Magass, both a few kilometres north of modern-day Aqaba city, revealed inhabited settlements from c. 4000 BC during the Chalcolithic period, with thriving copper production on a large scale. This period is largely unknown due to the absence of written historical sources. University of Jordan
archaeologists have discovered the sites, where they found[where?] a small building whose walls were inscribed with human and animal drawings, suggesting that the building was used as a religious site. The people who inhabited the site had developed an extensive water system in irrigating their crops which were mostly made up of grapes, olives and wheat. Several different-sized clay pots were also found suggesting that copper production was a major industry in the region, the pots being used in melting the copper and reshaping it. Scientific studies performed on-site revealed that it had undergone two earthquakes, with the latter one leaving the site completely destroyed.
Early history[edit]
Elath[edit]
Further information: Elath
The Edomites, who ruled over Edom just south of the Dead Sea, are believed to have built the first port in Aqaba called Elath around 1500 BC,[citation needed] turning it into a major hub for the trade of copper as the Phoenicians helped them develop their maritime economy. They profited from its strategic location at the junction of trading routes between Asia and Africa.[citation needed]
Tell el-Kheleifeh[edit]
Archaeologists have investigated an Iron Age settlement at Tell el-Kheleifeh, immediately west of Aqaba, inhabited between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE.
Undefined[edit]
Around 735 BC, the city[dubious – discuss] was conquered by the Assyrian empire. Because of the wars the Assyrians were fighting in the east, their trading routes were diverted to the city and the port witnessed relative prosperity. The Babylonians conquered it in 600 BC. During this time, Elath witnessed great economic growth, which is attributed to the business background of its rulers who realized how important the city's location was. The Persian Achaemenid Empire took the city in 539 BC.[unreliable source?][dubious – discuss]
Classical antiquity[edit]
Hellenistic period[edit]
Further information: History of the Romans in Arabia, Arabia Petraea, and Via Traiana NovaThe city continued to grow and prosper which made it a major trading hub by the time of the Greek rule by 300 BC, after the Wars of Alexander the Great, it was described by a Greek historian to be "one of the most important trading cities in the Arab World". The Ptolemaic Greeks called it Berenice.
The Nabatean kingdom had its capital north of the city, at Petra.
Roman period[edit]
Roman milestone that marked the starting point of the Via Nova Traiana
In 64 BC, following the Roman conquest, they[who?] annexed the city and called it Aela (also Haila, Aelana, in Greek rendered Αἴλα Aila).
Both Petra and Aela were under strong Nabatean influence despite the Roman rule.[dubious – discuss] Aela reached its peak during Roman times, the great long-distance road the Via Traiana Nova led south from Bostra through Amman, terminating in Aela, where it connected with a west road leading to the Paralia and Roman Egypt.
Around AD 106 Aela was one of the main ports[clarification needed] for the Romans.[dubious – discuss]
Late Roman and Byzantine periods[edit]
Further information: Aqaba Church and Palaestina Tertia
The Aqaba Church was constructed under Roman rule between 293 and 303 and is considered to be the oldest known purpose-built Christian church in the world. By the time of Eusebius, Aela became the garrison of the Legio X Fretensis, which was moved to Aela from Jerusalem.
Aqaba Church from around AD 300
One of the oldest known texts written in the Arabic alphabet is a late 4th-century inscription found in Jabal Ram 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Aqaba.
The city became a Christian bishopric at an early stage. Its bishop Peter was present at the First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council, in 325. Beryllus was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and Paul at the synod called by Patriarch Peter of Jerusalem in 536 against Patriarch Anthimus I of Alexandria, a council attended by bishops of the Late Roman provinces of Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Tertia, to the last-named of which Aela belonged.
A citadel was also built in the area[where?][when?] that became the focal point of the Roman southern defense system.[clarification needed]
In the 6th century, Procopius of Caesarea mentioned a Jewish population in Eilat and its surroundings which enjoyed autonomy until the time of Justinian I (r. 527–565).[clarification needed]
According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad himself reached Aila during the expedition of Tabuk of 630, and extracted tribute from the city.
During the Late Byzantine or even Early Muslim period, Aila was the origin of what came to be known as the Ayla-Axum amphoras.
Early Muslim Ayla[edit]
Aila fell to the Islamic armies by 629, and the ancient settlement was left to decay, while a new Arab city was established outside its walls under Uthman ibn Affan, known as Ayla (Arabic: آيلا).
The Early Muslim city was excavated in 1986 by a team from the University of Chicago. Artefacts are now on exhibit at Aqaba Archaeological Museum and Jordan Archaeological Museum in Amman.[citation needed] The fortified city was inscribed in a rectangle of 170 by 145 metres (558 ft × 476 ft), with walls 2.6 metres (8 ft 6 in) thick and 4.5 metres (14 ft 9 in) high, surrounding a fortified structure, occupying an area of 35 by 55 metres (115 ft × 180 ft).[dubious – discuss][citation needed] 24 towers defended the city. The city had four gates on all four sides, defining two main lines intersecting at the centre. The intersection of these two thoroughfares was indicated by a tetrapylon (a four-way arch), which was later transformed into a luxury residential building decorated with frescoes dated to the tenth century.[citation needed] This type of urban structure, known as a misr (pl. amsar), is typical of early Islamic fortified settlements.[citation needed]
Early Muslim Ayla
Early Muslim Ayla
The city prospered from 661 to 750 under the Umayyads and beyond under the Abbasids (750–970) and the Fatimids (970–1116). Ayla took advantage of its key position as an important step on the road to India and Arab spices (frankincense, myrrh), between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Peninsula. The city is also mentioned in several stories of the Arabian Nights.[citation needed]
The geographer Shams Eddin Muqaddasi describes Ayla as nearby the ruined ancient city.
The city was mentioned in Medieval[when?] Arabic sources as having a mixed population of Jews and Christians. It subsequently became an important station for pilgrim caravans on the way to Mecca.[clarification needed]
The city was "completely destroyed" by the 1068 Near East earthquake.
Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk periods[edit]
See also: Lordship of Transjordan
The Muslim fortress of Aqaba
Baldwin I of Jerusalem took over the city in 1115 without encountering much resistance. The centre of the city then moved to 500 meters along the coast to the south,[dubious – discuss] and the crusader fortress of Elyn was built, which allowed the Kingdom of Jerusalem to dominate all roads between Damascus, Egypt, and Arabia, protecting the Crusader states from the east and allowing for profitable raids on trade caravans passing through the area. In order to secure this strategic position, Baldwin also built and garrisoned a fortress on Pharaoh's Island[dubious – discuss] (called Île de Graye by the Franks),[dubious – discuss] the modern Jazīrat Fir'aun in Egyptian territorial waters about 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) west of Aqaba.
The garrison of Elyn (now serving primarily as a military outpost) was further strengthened in 1142 by Pagan the Butler, Lord of Oultrejourdain, who pursued an ambitious program of castle building throughout his domain. However, there was no large-scale settlement of Europeans in the area, and the region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba remained mainly inhabited by Bedouins, who were obliged to pay tribute to the Lordship of Oultrejourdain. Despite all efforts to fortify the region, the city was captured in 1170 by a squadron sent by Saladin as he was besieging Gaza; while it was successfully raided by Raynald of Châtillon in 1182, it was never retaken by the Crusaders.
What is known today as Aqaba Fortress was built by Mamluk sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh Al-Ghuri in the early 16th century, possibly on top of the Crusader fort. For the next four centuries, the site was a simple fishing village of little importance.[citation needed]
Modern history[edit]
During World War I, the Ottoman forces were forced to withdraw from Aqaba in 1917 after the Battle of Aqaba, led by T. E. Lawrence and the Arab forces of Auda Abu Tayi and Sherif Nasir. The capture of Aqaba allowed the British to supply the Arab forces. In 1918, the regions of Aqaba and Ma'an were officially incorporated into the Kingdom of the Hejaz. In 1925, Ibn Saud the ruler of Nejd with the help of his Wahhabi Ikhwan troops successfully annexed the Hejaz, but gave up the Ma'an and Aqaba to the British protectorate of Transjordan.
Lawrence of Arabia on a camel in Aqaba in 1917
Aqaba in 1937
1822 area map by Eduard Rüppell, modern borders overlaid. His "Ruines d'Elana" is the site of Tell el-Kheleifeh.
The Jordanian census of 1961 found 8,908 inhabitants in 'Aqaba.
In 1965, King Hussein, through an exchange deal with Saudi Arabia, gave 6,000 square kilometres (2,317 square miles) of desert land in Jordanian territories in exchange for other territories, including 12 kilometres (7 miles) of an extension of prime coastline south of Aqaba, which included the Yamanieh coral reef. Aqaba was a major site for imports of Iraqi goods in the 1980s until the Persian Gulf War.
In 1997, the Aqaba Marine Reserve was established within the southern boundaries of the Gulf of Aqaba.
On 27 June 2022, a port in Aqaba became the scene of a toxic gas leak when a chemical storage container carrying 25 tons of chlorine fell from a crane onto a ship and ruptured. The leak resulted in the deaths of 13 people.
