Wadi Rum is a unique desert valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southwest Jordan. The name consists of Arabic word for valley ('wadi') and Rum is assumed to come from an Aramaic root meaning 'high' or 'elevated'. It is the largest wadi in the country .
Geologists think that this wadi resulted from a great crack in the surface of the Earth caused by an enormous upheaval which shattered giant pieces of granite and sandstone ridges from the mountains of the Afro-Arabian shield. Some of the ridges are 1000 feet high and topped with domes worn smooth by the desert winds.
Wadi Rum has been inhabited by many human cultures since prehistoric times, all of them leaving their mark in the form of rock paintings, graffiti, and temples. In the pre-Islamic era the area served as the gathering place for the tribes of Ad, Thamud, Lihyan and Main. Fresh water springs made Rum a meeting center for caravans heading towards Syria and Palestine from Arabia. Throughout the valley there are scattered slabs of rocks with inscriptions in early Thamudic writing, recording the names of travelers who passed through centuries ago.
The Nabataeans, however, surpassed those early tribes in trade activities and monumental achievements. On a hill at the foot of Jabal Rum lies the temple of Allat (pre-Islamic Arabian goddess), originally built by the Ad tribe and remodeled by the Nabataeans in the 1st century BC. The temple was taken over by Thamudic tribes and Thamudic graffiti covers earlier Nabataean inscriptions, walls and columns. An excavation in Disi (8.5 kms east of Wadi Rum) uncovered an early Nabataean site, which was occupied before the Nabataeans moved to the rose-red city of Petra. Nowadays, several Bedouin tribes inhabit Rum and the surrounding area.
During Word War I, Wadi Rum was the headquarters of Emir Faisal bin Al-Hussein and T. E. Lawrence who fought in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence became a legendary figure for his key role in the fight for the Arab cause. He made his home in this magical area. Ain Asshallaleh, also known as Lawrence's Spring is just a short walk up the hillside from the Nabataean temple. The mountain aptly known as the Seven Pillars of Wisdom was named by Lawrence and was the inspiration for the title of his book of the same name.