KARAK, AL-

also spelled Kerak, town, west-central Jordan. It lies along the Wadi al-Karak, 15 miles (24 km) east of the Dead Sea. Built on a small, steep-walled butte, about 3,100 feet (950 m) above sea level, the town is the Kir-hareseth, or Kir-heres, of the Old Testament and was one of the capitals of ancient Moab. Its ancient name means Wall of Potsherds in Hebrew, or City of Potsherds in ancient Moabite. The siege of the ancient Moabite stronghold of Kir-hareseth by the combined forces of Israel, Judah, and Edom, and their subsequent withdrawal after Mesha, king of Moab, offered his heir as a burnt offering on the city wall, is vividly described in the Old Testament (2 Kings 3). Isaiah and Jeremiah, in their prophecies of doom for Moab, also mention the city (Isaiah 15, 16; Jeremiah 48). The natural fortress has evidences of settlement throughout postbiblical times; in the 3rd century AD it was known to the geographer Ptolemy as Characmoba. Subsequently settled by the Byzantines, who had a bishopric there, it is represented as a walled city on the Ma'daba mosaic map, the oldest known map of the Holy Land and environs (6th century AD). Le Krak du Dsert, a heavily fortified crusader citadel, was built on the site of the ancient fortress in 1132; it fell to the Muslims in 1188, the year after the crusaders' defeat at the Battle of Hattin (in Galilee), in which they lost control of Palestine to Saladin. The town's present name is first mentioned in Islamic chronicles of the 13th century. Al-Karak is now a market town for the sparsely settled surrounding countryside. The town also has the remains of several Byzantine churches. Pop. (1990 est.) 49,770.