At Tafilah

The oldest state formation in Tafilah and South Jordan was the kingdom of Edom, and Tafilah lies on the ruins of the Edomite city of Tophel. The capital of Edom was Bozrah, now known as Busairah, 23 km to the south of Tafilah. Tafilah was later annexed by the Nabatean kingdom, which had its capital at Petra. Following the Roman invasion, it was ruled by the Ghassanids, under Byzantine authority. Tafilah then came under Muslim rule, interrupted for a brief period of time by Crusader rule. A certain Martin, who was a lord of Tafilah during the Crusader period, is mentioned in a text dated 1177. The remains beneath an Ottoman fort in Tafilah appear to belong to a Crusader castle. In 1596 it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of Tafili, situated in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Karak, part of the Sanjak of Ajlun. It had 33 households who were Muslim. …