Transjordan, also known as the East Bank[1] or the Transjordanian Highlands (Arabic: شرق الأردن, romanized: Sharq al ʾUrdun, lit.

In 1946, the emirate achieved independence from the British and in 1949 the country changed its name to the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan", after the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

'beyond the Jordan towards the sunrise',[2] is translated in the Septuagint[3] to Ancient Greek: πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου,, romanized: translit.

[4] Whereas the term "East" as in "towards the sunrise" is used in Arabic: شرق الأردن, romanized: Sharq al ʾUrdun, lit.

The Egyptian geographical term Retjenu is traditionally identified as an area covering Sinai and Canaan south of Lebanon,[5] with the regions of Amurru and Apu to the north.

[6] As such, parts of Canaan and southwestern Syria became tributary to the pharaohs of ancient Egypt before the Late Bronze Age collapse.

During the Late Bronze Age collapse the Amorites of Syria disappeared after being displaced or absorbed by a new wave of semi-nomadic West Semitic-speaking peoples known collectively as the Ahlamu.

Over time, the Arameans emerged as the dominant tribe amongst the Ahlamu;[citation needed] with the destruction of the Hittites and the decline of Assyria in the late 11th century BCE, they gained control over much of Syria and Transjordan.

Since Og's territory was not on the route to Canaan, it was "more naturally part of the Promised Land", and so the Manassites' status is less problematic than that of the Reubenites or Gadites.

In Joshua 22, the Transjordanian tribes returned and built a massive altar called the Witness by the Jordan River.

Per the settlement of the Israelite tribes east of the Jordan, Burton MacDonald notes; There are various traditions behind the Books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1 Chronicles' assignment of tribal territories and towns to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Attacks by the Ammonites on Israelite communities east of the Jordan were the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul (1 Samuel 11:1–15).

[20] And he enumerates the cities; Cosmas, Libias, Callirhoe, Gazorus, Epicaeros—as being in this district—east of the Jordan, that Josephus et al. called Perea.

[21][22][23][24] Jerash was a prominent central community for the surrounding region during the Neolithic period[25] and was also inhabited during the Bronze Age.

Ancient Greek inscriptions from the city, and the literary works of Iamblichus and the Etymologicum Magnum indicate that the city was founded as "Gerasa" by Alexander the Great or his general Perdiccas, for the purpose of settling retired Macedonian soldiers (γῆρας—gēras—means "old age" in Ancient Greek).

The soil of this volcanic plateau made it a fertile region for the cultivation of domesticated cereals during the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution.

Control of the city was later transferred to Herod the Great and his heirs until 106 CE, when Bosra was incorporated into the new Roman province of Arabia Petraea.

The Herodian kingdom of Judaea was a client state of the Roman Republic from 37 BCE, and included Samaria and Perea.

The Incense Route comprised a network of major ancient land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with Eastern and Southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Northeastern Africa and Arabia to India and beyond.