The Lost City of Petra

[Wednesday, February 11]

Petra, which means “rock” in Greek, was a stop on the caravan trade between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.  The Nabataeans built the city complex beginning more than 2000 years ago, and their metropolis peaked around the 1^st century AD.  They excelled at trading and at engineering.  They created a sophisticated series of cisterns, pipes and channels to provide water to the more than 30,000 people living in their metropolis.

The  Nabataean culture was contemporary with Greece and eventually the Romans.  Petra’s decline occurred when the trade routes shifted closer to the sea and the last Nabataean King was conquered by the Romans.

The lost city of Petra was “rediscovered” by an Englishman in the early 1800s.  He was looking for the mosque for Harran (Aaron, brother of Moses and prophet of Islam). He heard about a hidden city and asked to be taken there.  He made sketches of Petra and published them when he returned to Europe.

Obelisk Tomb

Our tour began with large block monoliths that were likely made for tombs.  We walked through what was called the city of the dead – more examples of tombs.  There is not as much known about the culture that created Petra – the Nabataeans, but clearly they believed in an afterlife and worshiped deities.  They were wealthy enough that even middle class families had tombs build for their dead.

Channel that lines the canyon; used for piping water into the city complex

As we walked along, you could see the channel for the water pipes that traveled along both sides of the slot canyon known as the Siq – the entrance to the ancient city.  The Siq was majestic – towering sandstone cliffs overhead with magnificent colors.  Despite a fair amount of traffic, including horse drawn carts, it was often very quiet and tranquil, as the twists and turns of the canyon isolated the sounds from other locations.  It was quite cold – in the mid 30s.  But the Siq blocked the wind that’s been blowing strongly since we arrived yesterday.  

The Siq

There is a magic moment as you make the last turn walking in the Siq and when you look up, you see the massive carved walls of the Treasury in front of you, framed by the sandstone cliffs.  It’s stunning.

The Treasury - named for the hope of finding some in this location

Inspiring colors of sandstone

Many tombs for the dead; these memorials were probably affordable to middle or upper level administrators

We also stopped at some shops – a bought a book and 2 bracelets from a woman names Margaurite van Geldermalsen.  She is the author of a book called Married to a Bedouin; she came to Petra from New Zealand in the 1970s.  She said her husband had been dead for some time; now she designs and sells jewelry based on the architectural motifs from Petra.

                                   Paved streets of the market complex                                                                                                                                  

Temple, still standing without restoration, after a millennia of wind, water and earthquakes

The monastery complex