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Petra

Petra (Greek “πέτρα” (petra), meaning rock; Arabic: , Al-Batrāʾ) is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian
governorate of Ma’an that is known for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system.
Established sometime around the 6th century BCE as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it
is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourism attraction. It lies
on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the
eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to
the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.
The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by
Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was described as “a rose-red city half as old
as time” in a Newdigate Prize-winning sonnet by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it
as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage. Petra was chosen
by the BBC as one of “the 40 places you have to see before you
die..

GeographyGeography

Pliny the Elder and other writers identify Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans and
the center of their caravan trade. Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a perennial
stream, Petra not only possessed the advantages of a fortress, but controlled the main commercial
routes which passed through it to Gaza in the west, to Bosra and Damascus in
the north, to Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert
to the Persian Gulf.
Excavations have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the water
supply that led to the rise of the desert city, creating an artificial oasis. The
area is visited by flash floods and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled these floods
by the use of dams, cisterns and water conduits. These innovations stored water for prolonged
periods of drought, and enabled the city to prosper from its sale.

Although in ancient times Petra might have been approached from the south on a track
leading around Jabal Haroun (“Aaron’s Mountain”), across the plain of Petra, or possibly from the
high plateau to the north, most modern visitors approach the site from the east. The
impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge (in places only 3–4
m (9.8–13 ft) wide) called the Siq (“the shaft”), a natural geological feature formed from a deep
split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. At
the end of the narrow gorge stands Petra’s most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh (popularly known
as “the Treasury”), hewn into the sandstone cliff.
A little further from the Treasury, at the foot of the mountain called en-Nejr, is a
massive theatre, so placed as to bring the greatest number of tombs within view. At
the point where the valley opens out into the plain, the site of the city
is revealed with striking effect. The amphitheatre has been cut into the hillside and into
several of the tombs during its construction. Rectangular gaps in the seating are still visible.
Almost enclosing it on three sides are rose-coloured mountain walls, divided into groups by deep
fissures, and lined with knobs cut from the rock in the form of towers.

Byzantine mosaic in the Byzantine Church of Petra
Evidence suggests that settlements had begun in and around Petra in the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1550-1292
BCE). It is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts and the Amarna lettersas Pel, Sela or Seir.
Though the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary existed there since very ancient times.
Stations 19 through 26 of the stations list of Exodus are places associated with Petra. This part of the
country was Biblically assigned to the Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites. The habits of the original natives may
have influenced the Nabataean custom of burying the dead and offering worship in half-excavated caves.
Although Petra is usually identified with Sela which means a rock, the Biblical references refer to it as “the
cleft in the rock”, referring to its entrance. The second book of Kings xiv. 7 seems to
be more specific. In the parallel passage, however, Sela is understood to mean simply “the
rock” (2 Chronicles xxv. 12, see LXX).
On the authority of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews iv. 7, 1~ 4, 7) Eusebius and Jerome (Onom. sacr. 286, 71. 145, 9;
228, 55. 287, 94) assert that Rekem was the native name andRekem appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls as a
prominent Edom site most closely describing Petra and associated with Mount Seir. But in the Aramaic versions Rekem
is the name of Kadesh, implying that Josephus may have confused the two places. Sometimes the
Aramaic versions give the form Rekem-Geya which recalls the name of the village El-ji, southeast of Petra.[citation
needed] The Semitic name of the city, if not Sela, remains unknown. The passage in Diodorus Siculus (xix. 94–97) which
describes the expeditions which Antigonus sent against the Nabataeans in 312 BCE is understood to throw some
light upon the history of Petra, but the “petra” referred to as a natural fortress
and place of refuge cannot be a proper name and the description implies that the
town was not yet in existence.
The only place in Petra where the name “Rekem” occurs was in the rock wall
of the Wadi Musa opposite the entrance to the Siq. About twenty years ago the
Jordanians built a bridge over the wadi and this inscription was buried beneath tons of
concrete.
More satisfactory evidence of the date of the earliest Nabataean settlement may be obtained from
an examination of the tombs. Two types have been distinguished: the Nabataean and the Greco-Roman. The
Nabataean type starts from the simple pylon-tomb with a door set in a tower crowned by a
parapet ornament, in imitation of the front of a dwelling-house. Then, after passing through various
stages, the full Nabataean type is reached, retaining all the native features and at the
same time exhibiting characteristics which are partly Egyptian and partly Greek. Of this type there exist close parallels
in the tomb-towers at el-I~ejr in north Arabia, which bear long Nabataean inscriptions and supply
a date for the corresponding monuments at Petra. Then comes a series of tombfronts which
terminate in a semicircular arch, a feature derived from north Syria. Finally come the elaborate façades
copied from the front of a Roman temple; however, all traces of native style have vanished.
The exact dates of the stages in this development cannot be fixed. Strangely, few inscriptions
of any length have been found at Petra, perhaps because they have perished with the stucco or
cement which was used upon many of the buildings. The simple pylon-tombs which belong to
the pre-Hellenic age serve as evidence for the earliest period. It is not known how
far back in this stage the Nabataean settlement goes, but it does not go back
farther than the 6th century BCE.

Urn Tomb
A period follows in which the dominant civilization combines Greek, Egyptian and Syrian elements, clearly
pointing to the age of the Ptolemies. Towards the close of the 2nd century BCE, when
the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms were equally depressed, the Nabataean kingdom came to the front. Under Aretas III
Philhellene, (c.85–60 BCE), the royal coins begin. The theatre was probably excavated at that time,
and Petra must have assumed the aspect of a Hellenistic city. In the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris,
(9 BCE–40 CE), the fine tombs of the el-I~ejr [?] type may be dated, and
perhaps also the great High-place.