Lawrence and Wadi Rum

Lawrence and Wadi Rum

The British army officer and writer T.E. Lawrence made Wadi Rum famous among westerners. He found the area very beautiful and visited it on several occasions in 1916 and 1917. Yet modern mythologies tend to overstate the Lawrence connection at Wadi Rum. In reality, Lawrence’s road to Aqaba did not cross Wadi Rum but followed the route of what is now the modern road to Aqaba. None of Wadi Rum’s mountains inspired the title of his literary account of the Great Arab Revolt, seven pillars of Wisdom. Rather, modern tourists named the mountain after the book. Similarly, many other places have been erroneously connected to the British writer, such as “Lawrence’s spring” or “Lawrence’s castle”, which in fact is an ottoman ruin. Nevertheless, these place names have become part of the story and the magic of Wadi Rum. In 1962, Wadi Rum provided the setting for most of David lean’s film, Lawrence of Arabia.



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