Lost City of Petra

"Match me such a marvel save in Eastern Clime

A rose-red city half as old as time"              

 -Dean Burgon

Petra is one of the great archaeological treasures of the world and as far as I can tell one of the only reasons to visit this part of Jordan.  I am going to tell you that our pictures cannot do justice to the incredible rock formations and carvings.

The Nabataeans were ancient Arab tribes that existed more than 2200 years ago.  They were masters of trade routes that carried frankincense, myrrh, spices, silks, and African ivory and animal hides.  They used their profits to establish a powerful kingdom that covered a huge area.  Culturally, they were a wonderful melting pot that is reflected in their carvings and architecture of dwellings.  They were finally overtaken by the Roman Empire in about 106AD.  At the height of its popularity there were probably about 20,000-30,000 people living in Petra.  It was gradually abandoned and sometime after the 14th century it was completely lost to the West.  In 1812 it was rediscovered by a Swiss traveller named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.  There were some people who lived in the caves until about the 1980's until the Jordan Government evicted them from the caves.

The photo below is the first you see on the way into Petra.  It is Obelisk tomb and you can see the mix of styles in this one tomb.

The Nabataeans used the aquaduct system to get water down into the main city.  These water troughs run the whole way into the city and have filtering holes every so often where sediment in the water could be filtered out.  Very ingenious.

This is the ancient main entrance called As-Siq.  It is a naturally made gorge that is about 3/4 of a mile long and the cliffs are almost 300 ft tall.  You can see the aquaduct (water channel) on the left hand side of the photo below.

We finally got the first peak of the Treasury through this narrow crack at the end of the As-Siq.  The Treasury or Al-Khazneh is the most beautiful monument in the Ancient City of Petra.  It was carved in the 1st Century BC a a tomb of an important Nabatean King.  It might also have been used as a temple after the Romans invaded.

You can see in the picture below how the people are dwarfed by the Treasury.  It is truly breathtaking and it must have been even more incredible before erosion wore away most of the beautiful carvings decorating the front of the Treasury.

These are the tombs that common people were buried in and on the other side (not pictured) were the royal tombs that are much more ornate.  The people were not buried with treasures as in other cultures and were only buried with an oil lamp and usually the tomb had stairs so they could walk to heaven.

This is an example of a cave dwelling used by the Nabataeans.  This one belonged to a very prominent family because of how large it is.  The ceiling looked like it was marble but it just the coloring of the stone layers.

This is a photo of Jeanna enjoying our walk through Petra.  It was FREEZING today!  We had a vest, a down jacket, and a gore-tex outerlayer. . .plus gloves and we were still cold.  Jeanna is sporting a new scarf bought to help keep her warm.  It was a shock to our systems because we have been in relatively warm climates since Turkey!  We did see some people with shorts and sandals ( inappropriate footwear for sure!) and they must have been frostbite.  The wind was very strong and in some places we were getting a free exfoliation of all exposed surfaces!

This is the Urn Tomb, one of the largest Royal Tombs, carved around 70 AD.  They think is was altered around the middle of the 5th century and served as a Byzantine Church.

I am standing in the entrance of one of the caves used for housing.

This excavation was just finished by the students and faculty at Brown University within the past couple of years.  It is believed that about 85% of the city is still uncovered, but they do not have the resources to uncover the rest.

This was a wonderful place to end our Experiences of a Lifetime even though in our short visit we did not get to explore as much as we could have.  We walked back in the afternoon sun and enjoyed the changing light on the rock walls.  We marveled at the carvings made by people so long ago and beauty of the gorge that nature made so long ago.  In the midst of our musings we also realized that we had walked downhill the whole way into Petra and now we had a long climb back to our hotel.  There were donkeys, carts, camels, and horses offered to us as we walked the uphill path. . .we like the option of staying on our own two feet!

Tonight we are off to the nearby historic town of Taybet Zaman for a "festive dinner" with Bedouin entertainment.  We will take our cameras and let you know how festive it really was!