Betthorus was a

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

ary fortress on the Limes Arabicus. It is located in today's (from ''Legio''), Karak Governorate,

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

,Al Lajjun in Mapcarta

north-east of Al Karak. The place is in proximity to the spring , in a

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

of the same name, that flows into Wadi Mujib. The rectangular fortress, measuring by , covers . The outer

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or serves a decorative purpose. There are various types of walls, including border barriers between countries, brick wal ...

was wide, had twenty flanking towers of semi-circular shape, four round corner towers, and a gate at each wall - major ones at north-east and north-west, and minor ones at the other two. A church is dated to 500. It was damaged by earthquakes in 363, 505, and 551. Legio IV Martia was stationed there in the 4th century. The troops were removed around 530, after the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian state, Christian kingdom unde ...

were charged with the defense of the border. In the 1980s Thomas S. Parker excavated the site.

External links

* *
Plan, map and bibliographyPhotos of Lejjun
at the American Center of Research

References

Archaeological sites in Jordan Roman legionary fortresses in Jordan Roman fortifications in Arabia Petraea {{Jordan-geo-stub