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History The descriptions of Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and other writers identify Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans, Arabic-speaking Semites, and the centre of their caravan trade. Walled in 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. Recent excavations have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabateans to control the water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, in effect creating an artificial oasis. The area is visited by flash floods and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabateans controlled these floods by the use of dams, cisterns and water conduits. Thus, stored water could be employed even during prolonged periods of drought, and the city prospered from the sale of same.** Although in ancient times Petra might have been approached from the south (via Wadi Araba on a track leading around Jabal Haroun, Aaron's Mountain, on across the plain of Petra), or possibly from the high plateau to the north, most modern visitors approach the ancient site from the east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark and narrow gorge (in places only 3-4 metres 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 (the Treasury) hewn directly out of the sandstone cliff. A little farther 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; and at the point where the valley opens out into the plain the site of the city is revealed with striking effect. Almost enclosing it on three sides are rose-coloured mountain walls, divided into groups by deep fissures, and lined with tombs cut from the rock in the form of towers. It is thought that a position of such natural strength must have been occupied early, but we have no means of telling exactly when the history of Petra began. The evidence seems to show that the city was of relatively late foundation, though a sanctuary (see below) may have existed there from very ancient times. This part of the country was assigned by tradition to the Horites, i.e. probably cave-dwellers, the predecessors of the Edomites (Genesis xiv. 6, xxxvi. 20-30; Deut. ii. 12); the habits of the original natives may have influenced the Nabataean custom of burying the dead and offering worship in half-excavated caves. But that Petra itself is mentioned in the Old Testament cannot be affirmed with certainty; for though Petra is usually identified with Sela which also means a rock, the Biblical references (Judges i. 36; Isaiah xvi. i, xlii. 11; Obad. 3) are far from clear. 2 Kings xiv. 7 seems to be more explicit; in the parallel passage, however, Sela is understood to mean simply "the rock" (2 Chr. xxv. 12, see LXX). Hence many authorities doubt whether any town named Sela is mentioned in the Old Testament. What, then, did the Semitic inhabitants call their city? Eusebius and Jerome (Onom. sacr. 286, 71. 145, 9; 228, 55. 287, 94), apparently on the authority of Josephus (Antiquities iv. 7, 1~ 4, 7), assert that Rekem was the native name, and Rekem certainly appears in the dead sea scrolls as a prominent Edom cite most closely describing Petra. But in the Aramaic versions Rekem is the name of Kadesh; 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, south-east of Petra; the capital, however, would hardly be defined by the name of a neighbouring village. The Semitic name of the city, if it was not Sela, must remain unknown. The passage in Diodorus Siculus (xix. 94-97) which describes the expeditions which Antigonus sent against the Nabataeans in 312 BC is generally understood to throw some light upon the history of Petra, though it must be admitted that the petra referred to as a natural fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name, and the description at any rate implies that the town was not yet in existence. Brünnow thinks that "the rock" in question was the sacred mountain en-Nejr (above); but Buhl suggests a conspicuous height about 16 miles north of Petra, Shobak, the Mont-royal of the Crusaders. More satisfactory evidence of the date at which the earliest Nabataean settlement began is to be obtained from an examination of the tombs. Two types may be distinguished broadly, the Nabataean and the Graeco-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 so 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, and finally the elaborate façades, from which all trace of native style has vanished, copied from the front of a Roman temple. The exact dates of the stages in this development cannot be fixed, for strangely enough 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. We have, then, as evidence for the earliest period, the simple pylon-tombs, which belong to the pre-Hellenic age; how far back in this stage the Nabataean settlement goes we do not know, but not farther than the 6th century BC. 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 BC, when the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms were equally depressed, the Nabataean kingdom came to the front; under Aretas III Philhellene, (c.85 - 60 BC), the royal coins begin; at this time probably the theatre was excavated, and Petra must have assumed the aspect of a Hellenistic city. In the long and prosperous reign of Aretas IV Philopatris, (9 BC - AD 40), the fine tombs of the el-I~ejr ? type may be dated, and perhaps also the great High-place. Roman rule In 106, when Cornelius Palma was governor of Syria, that part of Arabia under the rule of Petra was absorbed into the Roman Empire as part of Arabia Petraea, and the native dynasty came to an end. But the city continued to flourish. A century later, in the time of Alexander Severus, when the city was at the height of its splendour, the issue of coinage comes to an end, and there is no more building of sumptuous tombs, owing apparently to some sudden catastrophe, such as an invasion by the neo-Persian power under the Sassanid dynasty. Meanwhile as Palmyra (fl. 130 - 270) grew in importance and attracted the Arabian trade away from Petra, the latter declined; it seems, however, to have lingered on as a religious centre; for we are told by Epiphanius of Cyprus (c.315 - 403) that in his time a feast was held there on December 25 in honour of the virgin Chaabou and her offspring Dusares (Haer. 51). Religion Christianity found its way into Petra in early times; Athanasius mentions a bishop of Petra (Anhioch. 10) named Asterius; at least one of the tombs (the "tomb with the urn?") was used as a church; an inscription in red paint records its consecration "in the time of the most holy bishop Jason" (447). The Christianity of Petra, as of north Arabia, was swept away by the Islamic conquest of 629 - 632. During the First Crusade Petra was occupied by Baldwin I of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and formed the second fief of the barony of Kerak (in the Lordship of Oultrejordain) with the title Château de la Valée de Moyse or Sela. It remained in the hands of the Franks untill 1189. Fragments of the Crusaders' citadel are still standing near the High-place on en-Nejr. The first Byzantine church was discovered by Kenneth Russell, an American archeologist, in 1991 with the assistance of Dakihlallah, a Bedul Bedouin living in Petra. Currently three churches have been excavated in Petra with the assistance of the American Center of Oriental Research and the Jordanian department of Antiquities. According to tradition, Petra is the spot where Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water came forth, and where Moses' sister, Miriam, is buried. Decline Petra's decline came rapidly under Roman rule, in large part due to the revision of sea-based trade routes. But in A.D. 363 an earthquake destroyed buildings and crippled the vital water management system.* The ruins of Petra were an object of curiosity in the Middle Ages and were visited by the Sultan Baibars of Egypt towards the close of the 13th century. The first European to describe them was Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1812). Petra today Petra in movies and popular culture Gallery Image:First Glimpse.jpg|The first glimpse of Petra when exiting the Siq Image:Treasury Urn.jpg|The urn atop the Treasury, rumored to contain a secret treasure Image:Dwellings.jpg|A number of tombs Image:Petra Tombs.jpg|A line of tombs Image:Theater Stage.jpg|The stage of the Roman Theater See also | ||||||||||
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