Wadi Musa ( ar, وادي موسى, literally "Valley of Musa (AS)) is a town located in the

Ma'an Governorate Ma'an ( ar, معان) is one of the governorates of Jordan, it is located south of Amman, Jordan's capital. Its capital is the city of Ma'an. This governorate is the largest in the kingdom of Jordan by area. History The land of the Governorat ...

in southern

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. It is the administrative center of the Petra Department and the nearest town to the archaeological site of

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

. It hosts many hotels and restaurants for tourists, and the important B'doul settlement of Umm Seyhoun, created after the community's forced displacement in 1985, is approximately from the town.

Etymology

''Wadi Musa'' means "Valley of Moses" in Arabic. It is said that

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

passed through the valley and struck water from the rock for his followers at the site of ''Ain Musa'' ("Moses Spring" or "Moses' Well"). The

Nabateans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern L ...

built channels that carried water from this spring to the city of Petra. Wadi Musa was also nicknamed the "Guardian of Petra". The Tomb of Aaron, the traditional burial site of biblical

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

, the brother of Moses, is on nearby Jebel Harun, a strong candidate for biblical Mount Hor.

History

During the Crusader period, the area was part of the Lordship of Oultrejordain and was defended by the a castle, li Vaux Moysi. During the

Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...

, Turkish forces under the command of Mehmed Djemal Pasha attacked Wadi Musa on 21 Oct. 1917. The Ottoman forces were defeated by forces under the command of

Mawlud Mukhlis Mawlud Mukhlis ( ar, مولود مخلص), born in Mosul in 1886 and died in Beirut, Lebanon in 1951, was an Arab nationalist, soldier and Iraqi politician. He headed the Chamber of Deputies of Iraq from December 1937 to November 1941. Biography ...

, Faisal's '' aide-de-camp''. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 654 inhabitants in Wadi Musa.

Climate

In Wadi Musa, there is a semi-arid climate. Most rain falls in the winter. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BSk. The average annual temperature in Wadi Musa is . About of precipitation falls annually.

Demographics

As of 2009, Wadi Musa's population was 17,085, with a male-to-female sex ratio of 52.1 to 47.9 (8,901 males and 8,184 females), making it the most populous settlement of the Petra Department. As of the 2004 census, Petra Department, which includes Wadi Musa and 18 other villages, had a population of 23,840 inhabitants. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of the town was 2.3 people per

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amou ...

, or , and the population growth rate was 3.2%. Most of the town's population belongs to the Layathnah tribe, whose members play leading roles in the region's economy and politics and dominate the local tourism industry since the 20th century. Almost the entire population is

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Economy

The town is about from

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...

, Jordan's capital, and north of the port city of

Aqaba Aqaba (, also ; ar, العقبة, al-ʿAqaba, al-ʿAgaba, ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative centre of the Aqaba Govern ...

. With more than 50 hotels and many tourist restaurants, its economy is almost entirely tied to tourism. The campus of the College of Archaeology, Tourism & Hotel Management of

Al-Hussein Bin Talal University Al-Hussein Bin Talal University (AHU) (Arabic جامعة الحسين بن طلال) is a public coeducational university located in the heart of the southern region, 210 km from the Capital Amman.about 9 km to the northwest of Ma'an cit ...

is located in Wadi Musa.

Gallery

File:Wadi Musa Valley.jpg, Wadi Musa Valley File:Petra Visitors Center.jpg, Petra Visitors Center File:Wadi Musa, město II.jpg, Townscape File:Wadi Musa houses.jpg, Houses in Wadi Musa File:Wadi_Musa_at_dusk_(12294023723).jpg, Wadi Musa at dusk Wadi Musa-Mosesquelle-02-aussen-2010-gje.jpg, Moses source Wadi Musa-Panoramahotel-02-2010-gje.jpg, Hotel Wadi Musa-Panoramahotel-22-Landschaft-2010-gje.jpg, Mountains

References

Bibliography

External links

Photos of Wadi Musa
at the

American Center of Research The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past and ...

Photos of Wadi Musa
at the

Manar al-Athar Manar al-Athar is a photo archive based at the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford which aims to provide high-quality open-access images of archaeological sites and buildings. The archive's collection focuses on areas of the Roman Em ...

photo archive {{Authority control Populated places in Ma'an Governorate

Musa Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran * Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaija ...