Hejaz Railway – Built by the Ottoman Empire
Damascus - Medina – a Journey Past Nabatean Temples and Roman Ruins
Mar 29, 2009
Although it was the intention of Sultan Abd Al Hamid to link Damascus to Mecca, the project’s chief engineer, German born Pasha (honorary title) Heinrich Meissner was forced, because of constant harassment of the workforce by Bedouin tribes, to curtail construction at Medina.
The railway, completed in 1908, was almost 900 miles long and is best remembered today not for its construction but its destruction.
Lawrence of Arabia
In the bloody turmoil of World War I, British officer T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) as part of the Arab Revolt, led Bedouin tribes against Turkish forces in the region destroying parts of the southern section of the line.
Winston Churchill said: “The Turkish armies operating against Egypt depended upon the desert railway. This slender steel track ran through hundreds of miles of blistering desert. If it were permanently cut the Turkish armies must perish…”
Nabatean Temples, Roman Ruins and Mamluk Forts
The story of the railway is a fascinating one although relatively well known, but for historians and archaeologists the route taken is itself a journey through history, a magnet for researchers anxious to carry out detailed exploration of the region’s forgotten secrets.
Damascus, Syria
The German built engines set out from Damascus, a Biblical city and later part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires and rattled through a land peppered with Nabatean temples, Roman ruins and Mamluk forts
During the 7th and 8th centuries Damascus was the capital city of the vast Islamic Umayyad Empire that stretched from Spain to the borders of China. Later came the Mamluks and the Ottomans, to name but a few.
The narrow gauge tracks snaked south crossing the volcanic, yet fertile, Hauran region once home to the Nabateans who have generously left considerable archaeological and epigraphic evidence of their lives.
The line continued, passing Dar’a, the region’s main town and only six miles from the Jordanian border, before reaching Amman, the Biblical city of Rabbath-Ammon and site where King David of Israel killed Uriah the Hittite.
Ma’an, Jordan
The line continued to Ma’an the ancient oasis and caravan stop which lies close to the site of the battle of the Yarmuk River where in 636 C E Byzantine forces were defeated by an Arab army.
This southern Jordanian town offers modern travellers the chance to explore the Nabatean and Roman remains and may have been the spot where Moses stopped with the Children of Israel on his way north.
Tabuk and the Red Sea Coast
The railway then crossed into north west Saudi Arabia and the provincial town of Tabuk, site of a seventeenth century Turkish fort. Hugging the warm Red Sea coast it continued onwards to its final stop at Medina.
Medina, Saudi Arabia
Medina, a city that only Muslims can enter, is the second holiest city (after Mecca) in Islam and home to the Masjid al Nabawi, the Mosque of the Prophet. The Mosque stands on the site of an earlier mosque built by the Prophet Muhammad and contains his tomb.
Although part of the line between Amman and Damascus still operates on a limited basis, the southern part remains closed although talks between governments interested in re-establishing the line have taken place on a number of occasions.
Great Arab Revolt Project
From an historical perspective the Great Arab Revolt Project is a dig, in its third season, tasked with revealing the archaeology of T E Lawrence.
Although a considerable number of ‘finds’ relating to the Ottoman and World War I periods have been discovered, other items belonging to a much earlier time have also been found.
The writer of this article has used the modern (2009) geographical names and locations for the convenience of readers.
Sources:
Simon Dar The Nabateans in the Hauran Bar Ilan University
Daniel Da Cruz Pilgrim’s Road Aramco World October 1965
Hejez Railway Nabatea.net
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