Nearby Chalcolithic sites Excavations at two
tells (archaeological mounds)
Tall Hujayrat Al-Ghuzlan and
Tall Al-Magass, both a few kilometres north of modern-day Aqaba city, revealed inhabited settlements from c. 4000 BC during the
Chalcolithic period, with thriving
copper production on a large scale. This period is largely unknown due to the absence of written historical sources.
Early history Elath The
Edomites, who ruled over
Edom just south of the
Dead Sea, are believed to have built the first port in Aqaba called
Elath around 1500 BC, turning it into a major hub for the trade of copper as the
Phoenicians helped them develop their maritime economy. They profited from its strategic location at the junction of trading routes between Asia and Africa.
Tell el-Kheleifeh Archaeologists have investigated an
Iron Age settlement at
Tell el-Kheleifeh, immediately west of Aqaba, inhabited between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE.
Undefined Around 735 BC, the city was conquered by the
Assyrian empire. Because of the wars the Assyrians were fighting in the east, their trading routes were diverted to the city and the port witnessed relative prosperity. The
Babylonians conquered it in 600 BC. During this time, Elath witnessed great economic growth, which is attributed to the business background of its rulers who realized how important the city's location was. The Persian
Achaemenid Empire took the city in 539 BC.
Classical antiquity Hellenistic period The city continued to grow and prosper which made it a major trading hub by the time of the
Greek rule by 300 BC, after the
Wars of Alexander the Great, it was described by a Greek historian to be "one of the most important trading cities in the Arab World". The
Nabatean kingdom had its capital north of the city, at
Petra.
Roman period milestone that marked the starting point of the
Via Nova Traiana In 64 BC, following the
Roman conquest, they annexed the city and called it
Aela (also
Haila,
Aelana, in Greek rendered Αἴλα
Aila). By the time of
Eusebius, Aela became the garrison of the
Legio X Fretensis, which was moved to Aela from Jerusalem. One of the oldest known texts written in the
Arabic alphabet is a late 4th-century inscription found in
Jabal Ram east of Aqaba. The city became a
Christian bishopric at an early stage. Its bishop Peter was present at the
First Council of Nicaea, the first
ecumenical council, in 325. Beryllus was at the
Council of Chalcedon in 451, and Paul at
the synod called by
Patriarch Peter of Jerusalem in 536 against
Patriarch Anthimus I of Alexandria, a council attended by bishops of the Late
Roman provinces of
Palaestina Prima,
Palaestina Secunda and
Palaestina Tertia, to the last-named of which Aela belonged. A citadel was also built in the area that became the focal point of the Roman southern defense system. In the 6th century,
Procopius of Caesarea mentioned a Jewish population in Eilat and its surroundings which enjoyed autonomy until the time of
Justinian I (). According to
Ibn Ishaq,
Muhammad himself reached Aila during the
expedition of Tabuk of 630, and extracted tribute from the city. During the Late Byzantine or even Early Muslim period, Aila was the origin of what came to be known as the
Ayla-Axum amphoras.
Early Muslim Ayla Aila fell to the
Islamic armies by 629, and the ancient settlement was left to decay, while a new Arab city was established outside its walls under
Uthman ibn Affan, known as
Ayla (). The Early Muslim city was excavated in 1986 by a team from the
University of Chicago. Artefacts are now on exhibit at
Aqaba Archaeological Museum and
Jordan Archaeological Museum in
Amman. The fortified city was inscribed in a rectangle of , with walls thick and high, surrounding a fortified structure, occupying an area of . 24 towers defended the city. The city had four gates on all four sides, defining two main lines intersecting at the centre. The intersection of these two thoroughfares was indicated by a
tetrapylon (a four-way arch), which was later transformed into a luxury residential building decorated with frescoes dated to the tenth century. This type of urban structure, known as a
misr (pl.
amsar), is typical of early Islamic fortified settlements. File:Ayla02.jpg|Early Muslim Ayla File:Ayla01.jpg|Early Muslim Ayla The city prospered from 661 to 750 under the
Umayyads and beyond under the
Abbasids (750–970) and the
Fatimids (970–1116). Ayla took advantage of its key position as an important step on the road to
India and Arab spices (frankincense, myrrh), between the
Mediterranean Sea and the
Arabian Peninsula. The city is also mentioned in several stories of the
Arabian Nights. The geographer
Shams Eddin Muqaddasi describes Ayla as nearby the ruined ancient city. The city was mentioned in Medieval Arabic sources as having a mixed population of Jews and Christians. It subsequently became an important station for pilgrim caravans on the way to
Mecca. The city was "completely destroyed" by the
1068 Near East earthquake.
Crusader/Ayyubid and Mamluk periods Baldwin I of Jerusalem took over the city in 1115 without encountering much resistance. The centre of the city then moved to 500 meters along the coast to the south, and the crusader fortress of
Elyn was built, which allowed the
Kingdom of Jerusalem to dominate all roads between
Damascus,
Egypt, and
Arabia, protecting the
Crusader states from the east and allowing for profitable raids on trade caravans passing through the area. In order to secure this strategic position, Baldwin also built and garrisoned a fortress on
Pharaoh's Island (called
Île de Graye by the Franks), the modern ''Jazīrat Fir'aun'' in
Egyptian territorial waters about west of Aqaba. Despite all efforts to fortify the region, the city was captured in 1170 by a squadron sent by
Saladin as he was besieging
Gaza; while it was successfully raided by
Raynald of Châtillon in 1182, it was never retaken by the Crusaders. What is known today as
Aqaba Fortress was built by
Mamluk sultan
Al-Ashraf Qansuh Al-Ghuri in the early 16th century, possibly on top of the Crusader fort. For the next four centuries, the site was a simple fishing village of little importance.
Modern history During World War I, the Ottoman forces were forced to withdraw from Aqaba in 1917 after the
Battle of Aqaba, led by
T. E. Lawrence and the Arab forces of
Auda Abu Tayi and
Sherif Nasir. The capture of Aqaba allowed the British to supply the Arab forces. File:Lcamel.jpg|
Lawrence of Arabia on a camel in Aqaba in 1917 File:Air films (1937). Akkaba. Closer view LOC matpc.17054.jpg|Aqaba in 1937 File:1822 Rüppell map of the Gulf of Aqaba with modern borders.jpg|1822 area map by
Eduard Rüppell, modern borders overlaid. His "Ruines d'Elana" is the site of
Tell el-Kheleifeh. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 8,908 inhabitants in 'Aqaba. In 1965,
King Hussein, through an exchange deal with
Saudi Arabia, gave of desert land in Jordanian territories in exchange for other territories, including of an extension of prime coastline south of Aqaba, which included the Yamanieh
coral reef. Aqaba was a major site for imports of
Iraqi goods in the 1980s until the
Persian Gulf War. In 1997, the
Aqaba Marine Reserve was established within the southern boundaries of the
Gulf of Aqaba. On 27 June 2022, a port in Aqaba became the scene of a
toxic gas leak when a chemical storage container carrying 25 tons of chlorine fell from a crane onto a ship and ruptured. The leak resulted in the deaths of 13 people. ==Geography==