KERAK  , a

town in eastern Palestine, 10 m . E. of the southern angle of the Lisan promontory of the Dead Sea, on the top of a rocky hill about 3000 ft. above sea-level . It stands on a platform forming an irregular triangle with sides about 3000 ft. in length, and separated by deep ravines from the ranges around on all sides but one . The population is estimated at 6000 Moslems and 1800 Orthodox Greek Christians . Kerak is identified with the Moabite town of Kir-Hareseth (destroyed by the Hebrew-Edomite coalition, 2 Kings iii . 25), and denounced by Isaiah under the name Kir of Moab (xv . 1), Kir-Hareseth (xvi . 7) or Kir-Heres (xvi . II): Jeremiah also refers to` it by the last name (xxxix . 31, 36) . The modern name, in the form Xapa, appears in 2 Mace. xii . 17 .

Later, Kerak was the' seat of the

archbishop of Petra . The Latin kings of Jerusalem, recognizing its importance as the key of the E . Jordan region, fortified it in 1142: from 1183 it was attacked desperately by Saladin, to whom at last it yielded in r,88 . The Arabian Ayyubite princes fortified the town, as did the Egyptian Mameluke sultans . The fortifications were repaired by Bibars in the 13th century . For a long time after the Turkish occupation of Palestine and Egypt it enjoyed a semi-independence, but in 1893 a Turkish governor with a strong garrison was established there, which has greatly contributed to secure the safety of travellers and the general quiet of the district . The town is an irregular congeries of flat mud-roofed houses . In the Christian quarter is the church of St George; the mosque also is a building of Christian origin . The town is surrounded by a wall with five towers; entrance now is obtained through bleaches in the wall, but formerly it was accessible only by means of tunnels cut in the rocky substratum . The castle, now used as the headquarters of the garrison and closed to visitors, is a remarkably fine example of a crusaders' fortress . (R . A .

S .