Petra

Petra is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. This article is about the Jordanian city, and for other uses, see Petra (disambiguation). The name Petra comes from the Ancient Greek word Πέτρα, which means 'Rock' (lit.). In Arabic it is called ٱلْبَتْراء, or romanized as al-Batrāʾ. Its inhabitants originally knew it as Raqmu, a name written in Nabataean Aramaic.

Petra is famous for its rock-cut architecture and its water systems. It is called the "Rose City" because of the colour of the sandstone it is carved from. The city is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

People have lived in the area around Petra since as early as 7000 BC. In the 4th century BC, the Nabataeans, a nomadic Arab people, settled there. In the second century BC, Petra became the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom. The Nabataeans grew rich by placing the city near the incense trade routes and making it a major regional trading hub. They were able to survive in the desert through rainwater collecting and desert farming.

Petra flourished in the 1st century AD, when its Al-Khazneh structure was built, possibly as the mausoleum of Nabataean king Aretas IV. Its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 people. In 106 AD, Nabataea fell to the Romans, who renamed it Arabia Petraea. Petra's importance declined as sea trade routes emerged, and an earthquake in 363 destroyed many structures. Later, during the Byzantine era, several churches were built, but the city kept declining. By the early Islamic era, it had been abandoned except for a few nomads. It remained unknown to the western world until 1812, when Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it.

UNESCO has described Petra as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage." It is a symbol of Jordan and the country's most-visited tourist attraction, with close to a million tourists visiting every year.

History

By 7000 BC, some of the earliest recorded farmers had settled in Beidha, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement just north of Petra. Petra appears in Egyptian campaign accounts and the Amarna letters under names such as Pel, Sela, or Seir. The Iron Age lasted from 1200 to 600 BC, and the Edomites lived in the Petra area then. Its mountains held a reservoir of water, which made Petra a stopping point for merchants and a good place for trade. Wines, olive oil, and wood were among the goods traded. The Edomites were at first joined by Nomads, who later left. The Nabataeans were one of several nomadic Bedouin tribes that roamed the Arabian Desert. Many modern scholars reject the idea that they had Aramean roots, and evidence shows they were a northern Arabian tribe. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Midianites lived in the region at the time of Moses. Josephus wrote that Arabs in his time still called the city Rekeme.

See also: Sela (Edom) § Confusion with Petra

In 106, when Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus was governor of Roman Syria, the area became part of the Roman Empire as Arabia Petraea. The city kept flourishing under Roman rule. Between 111 and 114, Trajan built the Via Traiana Nova, which ran through Petra and helped revive trade in the peaceful Pax Romana. In 130, Hadrian visited the city. Later, Palmyra grew in importance and drew trade away from Petra, which declined but remained a religious center. In 363, an earthquake destroyed many buildings and damaged the city's water system. In the 12th century, the Crusaders built fortresses such as the Alwaeira Castle but had to leave Petra, and its location was lost until the 19th century. The first European to describe Petra was the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who visited in 1812. In 1929, a team of archaeologists and scholars excavated and surveyed the site. In the 1980s, the Bedul Bedouin, once inhabitants of Petra, were moved by the Jordanian government to the nearby settlement of Umm Sayhoun. In December 2022, Petra was hit by heavy flooding.

Further information: History of the Romans in Arabia

Layout

Petra sits next to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains. These mountains form the eastern side of the Arabah valley, which runs from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Digs have shown that the Nabataeans built the desert city by controlling its water supply, which created an artificial oasis. The area is visited by flash floods, but the Nabataeans controlled them with dams, cisterns, and water conduits. These stored water through long periods of drought and let the city prosper from its sale. In ancient times, visitors may have come from the south, around Jabal Haroun ("Aaron's Mountain"), the location of the Tomb of Aaron, said to be the burial place of Aaron, brother of Moses. Today, most visitors enter from the east through the Siq ("shaft"), a narrow gorge only 3–4 m (10–13 ft) wide in places. It was formed by a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serves as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa.

Petra is known mainly for its Hellenistic architecture. Many tomb facades show this style, reflecting the different cultures the Nabataeans traded with, which were all influenced by Greek culture. The best example is the Treasury, which has a central tholos and two obelisks at the top. Near its bottom are the twin Greek gods Castor and Pollux, who protect travellers. A female figure on the tholos is believed to be Isis and Tyche, the Egyptian and Greek goddesses of good fortune. The Monastery, Petra's largest monument, is also carved into the rock and has a similar broken pediment and central tholos. In the Byzantine period it was a place of Christian worship, and it is now a holy site for pilgrims.

At the end of the Siq stands Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al-Khazneh ("the Treasury"), which is hundreds of bullet holes marked by local Bedouin tribes who hoped to find riches once rumoured to be hidden inside. A little farther on is a massive theatre, built to bring the greatest number of tombs into view. It was said to hold around 8,500 people, who watched poetry readings and dramas, and Gladiator fights also drew large crowds. The theatre was damaged by the 363 Galilee earthquake, along with many other structures in Petra. The Petra Pool and Garden Complex was once thought to be a market, but excavations show it was an elaborate Nabataean garden with a large swimming pool, an island-pavilion, and a complex water system. Nearby, a semi-circle nymphaeum once stood on the Colonnaded street, which was narrowed and given 72 columns on each side after the Romans took control of the city.

The High Place of Sacrifice sits atop Jebel Madbah Mountain, about an 800-step hike from the theatre. Rituals there included libation and the burning of frankincense. Animals were also sacrificed there, including a goat each year, because it is believed that the tomb of the Prophet Aaron is in Petra, a sacred site for Muslims. The Royal Tombs in the southern part of the city are also in the Nabataean version of Hellenistic architecture, though their facades have worn with time. One of them, the Palace Tomb, is thought to be the tomb of the kings of Petra. In 2016, archaeologists using satellite imagery and drones discovered a very large, previously unknown structure outside the main city. It has a huge platform with a monumental staircase, and it is second in size only to the Monastery complex. Its purpose is still unknown.

Geostrategic importance

Pliny the Elder and other writers describe Petra as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom and the centre of its caravan trade. Surrounded by tall rocks and watered by a perennial stream, Petra was protected like a fortress. It also controlled the main trade routes that passed through it. These routes led west to Gaza, north to Bosra and Damascus, to Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf.

Religious importance

Further information: Nabataean religion

The Nabataeans worshipped Arab gods and goddesses during the pre-Islamic era, along with some of their deified kings. Obodas I was deified after his death in 85 BC. Dushara was the main male god, with three goddesses: Al-‘Uzzā, Allat and Manāt. Many statues carved into the rock show these gods and goddesses. New evidence suggests that Edomite and Nabataean beliefs had strong links to the Earth and Sun, which can be seen in how many Petra buildings line up with equinox and solstice sunrises and sunsets. The Monastery, Petra's largest monument, dates from the 1st century BC and was dedicated to Obodas I. The Temple of the Winged Lions was built during the reign of King Aretas IV (9 BC–40 AD) in Petra's Sacred Quarter, near the Qasr al-Bint.

Christianity reached Petra in the 4th century AD, nearly 500 years after the city became a trade centre. The city was gradually converted over that century, and possibly into the early 5th century. The first Christian emperor of Rome, Constantine I, took power in 330 AD. Together with Licinius, he issued a decree of tolerance that stopped the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Athanasius mentions a bishop of Petra named Asterius. After the Muslim conquest of 629–632, Christianity gave way to Islam in Petra, as in most of Arabia. In the wake of the First Crusade, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem conquered part of Transjordan, including Petra, which became the second fief of the barony of Krak in the lordship of Oultrejordain. It stayed in the hands of the Franks until 1189. According to a tradition, Petra is where Moses struck a rock with his staff and water came forth, and where Moses' brother, Aaron, is buried at Mount Hor. Placing Aaron's death on a mountain peak near Petra dates back to at least the time of Josephus. Petra is still a titular see of the Catholic Church, see Archbishop of Petra and List of Catholic titular sees, and a shrine of Moses' sister Miriam was shown to pilgrims at the time of Jerome in the 4th century.

Climate

Petra has a semi-arid climate, which means it is dry. Most of its rain falls in the winter. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification for Petra is BSk. The average temperature there is 15.5 °C (59.9 °F) each year, and about 193 mm (7.60 in) of precipitation falls each year.

Conservation

See also: List of World Heritage Sites in Jordan

In 1985, the Jordanian government moved the Bedul (Petra Bedouin) from their cave homes in Petra to Umm Sayhoun, before the site was named a World Heritage Site on December 6, 1985. They were given block houses with a sewage and drainage system. The Bedoul belong to a Bedouin tribe whose traditional skills were added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2005 and inscribed in 2008. In 2011, a Strategic Master Plan was published to guide the planned development of the Petra Region over the next 20 years. In a 2007 popular poll, Petra was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Petra is a special place where natural and cultural heritage meet, forming a unique cultural landscape. Ever since Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, also known as Sheikh Ibrahim, rediscovered the ruined city in 1812, people interested in the culture of the Nabataeans have visited. Archaeologists began studying the ruins systematically in the late 19th century.

Petra faces many threats, including collapsing structures, erosion from flooding, weathering from salt, poor restoration work, and tourism that is not sustainable. Tourism grew a lot after the site received media coverage during the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign in 2007, and Petra had 1.2 million visitors in 2019. To help protect the site, the Petra National Trust was set up in 1989. Many conservation projects have been carried out since then. These include restoring the Al-Khazneh, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, and work on the Winged Lions Temple with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Other projects include a Great Temple project funded by Brown University, restoring the Siq with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and the World Monuments Fund, and wall painting preservation with the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Another project was funded by the German Research Foundation. In 2018, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a video showing working animals being mistreated in Petra, and the Jordanian authority responded by proposing a veterinary clinic.

Popular culture

In 1845, British poet John William Burgon won Oxford University's Newdigate Prize for his poem "Petra," which described it as "...a rose-red city half as old as time." In 1977, the Lebanese Rahbani brothers wrote the musical Petra as a response to the Lebanese Civil War. Petra appears in novels such as Bartleby, Left Behind Series, Appointment with Death, The Eagle in the Sand, The Red Sea Sharks (the nineteenth book in the The Adventures of Tintin series), and Kingsbury's The Moon Goddess and the Son. It plays a major role in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery Last Act in Palmyra, and it is the setting of Agatha Christie's Appointment with Death. In Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer, the character Petra Andalee is named after the site. The playwright John Yarbrough's tragicomedy Petra debuted in 2014 and later won awards at the Hudson Guild in New York.

The site has appeared in films such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Arabian Nights, Passion in the Desert, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Mummy Returns, Krrish 3, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Samsara, and Kajraare. An episode of Time Scanners, made for National Geographic, laser scanned six ancient structures, including Petra, and the 3D models showed how Petra was built. An American PBS Nova special, "Petra: Lost City of Stone," premiered in 2015. Netflix's Jinn, its first Arabic original series, is set in Petra and follows young people dealing with the djinn. Petra also appeared in a Lego set featuring Wonders of the World, in the video game Overwatch as a fictionalized arena, and in every Civilization game since Civilization V. Israeli youth hikes across the region, pioneered by Meir Har-Zion, often went to Petra, and Haim Hefer wrote the lyrics for the 1958 ballad HaSela haAdom ("The Red Rock") about one such trip.