Dhiban: Land of Treasures.

Dhiban, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Amman, has a history going back more than 3.000 years. It was there that King Mesh's fabled capital of Moab once stood. The debris of the area spans three millennia, and encompasses remnats of all the Middle East's major civilizations from Nabatean to Roman, biblical to Arab, with each community built on the remain of the previous one.

Sightseeing:

Sections of the town's Ancient City wall can still be seen. Iron Age and Byzantine tombe are just some of the relics at Dhiban.

But the town's most famous antiquity is probably the fabled Mesh Stele, the memorial to the exploits and achievements of King Mesh found by a missionary, Dr Kleen in 1865. It was recounted the battles between the Moabites and the Israelites around 850 BC. But the find was all the more important as the inscription on the stone, at the time, was the earliest example of Hebrew script.

It was fashioned from sheer black basalt 115 centimeters (45 inches) high, etched with 35 lines of script. Dr Kleen took the stele to Jerusalem where he informed Charles Clermont-Ganneau, an official at the French consulate, of his find. Clermont-Ganneau inspected the stone, made a mould of it, and returned to Jerusalem to raise the 60 for he had undertaken to pay the locals for the treasure.

It was then that disaster struck. For while the Frenchman was collecting the necessary funds, the locals argued over who would get payment.

In the ensuing hubbub a small fire was kindled beneath the Mesh Stone, after which water was poured on it. The result: a pile of shattered fragments.

The splinters were gathered up and taken to Paris where they were reassembled as well as possible. The Stone is now on view at the Louver in Paris. There are numerous copies, including one at the Karak Museum and another in Amman's Archaeological Museum.