seaport of Solomon and the later kings of Judah, located at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is now Maʿān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Jordan. The site was found independently by archaeologists Fritz Frank and Nelson Glueck. Glueck's excavations (1938–40) proved that the site had been a fortified settlement surrounded by strong walls from the 10th to the 4th century BC. It was almost certainly founded about 950 BC by Solomon, who used it both as a port for his trade with Ophir and as a large-scale copper refinery.