Petra, Jordan

Petra (Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ; Ancient Greek: Πέτρα), originally known asRaqmu to the Nabataeans, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. The city is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it is carved. 

Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the ArabNabataeans. The Nabateans were nomadic Arabs who benefited from the proximity of Petra to the regional trade routes, in becoming a major trading hub, thus enabling them to gather wealth. The Nabateans are also known for their great ability in constructing efficient water collecting methods in the barren deserts and their talent in carving structures into solid rocks. 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" 

Jordan’s incomparable city in stone is a mute monument to the powerful civilization that blossomed 2,000 years ago in this remote desert locale surrounded by rocky mountains, gorges, and cliffs. Petra earned fame as an exotic backdrop in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but its real history is as incredible as anything Hollywood could create for the silver screen. And many new stories are still waiting to be told—archaeologists have explored only about 15 percent of the sprawling site.

Petra (“rock” in Greek) was a bustling caravan hub situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea. The Nabataeans thrived here for about a thousand years, and their metropolis peaked in the centuries just before and after A.D. 1, when caravan routes from the Levant (Syria-Phoenicia), Arabia, and Egypt found their way to Petra’s gates.

Historical information on the Nabataeans themselves is sparse, but these Arab peoples excelled at trading. It was by commercial acumen, not force of arms, that they became a wealthy and formidable regional power. The Nabataeans controlled lands stretching from today’s Israel and Jordan into the northern Arabian Peninsula; later they became a part of the Roman Empire. Petra’s past wealth is lavishly displayed in its arts and architecture, nowhere more dramatically than in elaborate buildings, such as the Treasury, which were carved directly into the soft sandstone cliffs.

The Nabataean capital was also a remarkable feat of urban planning. Some 30,000 people once lived in this dry desert location, quenching their thirsts by a channel-and-cistern system that harvested and stored winter rains for future use. The scheme worked well enough to accommodate many gardens. Petra’s decline began when trade routes shifted and moved seaward, and it accelerated after a devastating A.D. 363 earthquake. The city survived into the seventh century A.D.—even constructing a fifth-century Christian basilica—then lapsed into obscurity and remained largely unknown to the world at large until the 19th century. Today Petra is Jordan’s top tourist attraction, one of 2007’s New Seven Wonders of the World, and a must-see standout even among its World Heritage List peers.

Picture Source: Collected from Internet