The Kings Highway winds its way through the different ecological zones of the country, including forested highlands, open farmland plateaus, deep ravines, the edge of the eastern desert, and the warm tropical Gulf of Aqaba
Lining both sides of this 335-kilometre (207-mile) thoroughfare is a rich chain of archaeological sites that reads like an index of ancient history and a biblical gazetteer - prehistoric villages from the Stone Age, biblical towns from the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Edom, Crusader castles, some of the finest early Christian Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East, a Roman-Herodian fortress, several Nabataean temples, two major Roman fortresses, early Islamic towns, and the rock-cut Nabataean capital of Petra. First mentioned by name in the Bible, the Kings Highway was the route that Moses wished to follow as he led his people north through the land of Edom, which today is in southern Jordan.
The name may, however, derive from the even earlier episode recounted in Genesis 14, when an alliance of "four kings from the north" marched their troops along this route to do battle against the five kings of the Cities of the Plain, including the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.