البتراء - Petra

Petra

Geography
Pliny
the Elder and other writers identify Petra as the capital of the
Nabataeans, Aramaic-speaking Semites, and the centre of their caravan
trade. Enclosed 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.

Excavations have
demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the
water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, creating an
artificial oasis. The area is visited by flash floods and
archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled these
floods by the use of dams, cisterns and water conduits. These
innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought, and enabled
the city to prosper from its sale.
The Theatre
The narrow passage (Siq) that leads to Petra
Petra is known as the Rose-Red City for the colour of the rocks in which Petra is carved

Although
in ancient times Petra might have been approached from the south via
Saudi Arabia on a track leading around Jabal Haroun ("Aaron's
Mountain"), across the plain of Petra, or possibly from the high
plateau to the north, most modern visitors approach the site from the
east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a
dark, narrow gorge (in places only 3–4 m (9.8–13 ft) 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 (popularly known as "the Treasury"), hewn into the
sandstone cliff.
El Deir ("The Monastery")

A little further
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. At the point where the valley opens out into the plain,
the site of the city is revealed with striking effect. The amphitheatre
has been cut into the hillside and into several of the tombs during its
construction. Rectangular gaps in the seating are still visible. Almost
enclosing it on three sides are rose-coloured mountain walls, divided
into groups by deep fissures, and lined with knobs cut from the rock in
the form of towers.

History

Evidence
suggests that settlements had begun in and around Petra in the
eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1550-1292 BCE). It is listed in Egyptian
campaign accounts and the Amarna letters as Pel, Sela or Seir. Though
the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary existed there since
very ancient times. Stations 19 through 26 of the stations list of
Exodus are places associated with Petra. This part of the country was
Biblically assigned to the Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites.
The habits of the original natives may have influenced the Nabataean
custom of burying the dead and offering worship in half-excavated
caves. Although Petra is usually identified with Sela which means a
rock, the Biblical referencesThe only place in Petra where the name
"Rekem" occurs was in the rock wall of the Wadi Musa opposite the
entrance to the Siq. About twenty years ago the Jordanians built a
bridge over the wadi and this inscription was buried beneath tons of
concrete.

More satisfactory evidence of the date of the earliest
Nabataean settlement may be obtained from an examination of the tombs.
Two types have been distinguished: the Nabataean and the Greco-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 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. Finally come the
elaborate façades copied from the front of a Roman temple; however, all
traces of native style have vanished. The exact dates of the stages in
this development cannot be fixed. Strangely, 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.
The simple pylon-tombs which belong to the pre-Hellenic age serve as
evidence for the earliest period. It is not known how far back in this
stage the Nabataean settlement goes, but it does not go back farther
than the 6th century BCE.

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 BCE, when the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms were equally
depressed, the Nabataean kingdom came to the front. Under Aretas III
Philhellene, (c.85–60 BCE), the royal coins begin. The theatre was
probably excavated at that time, and Petra must have assumed the aspect
of a Hellenistic city. In the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris, (9 BCE–40
CE), the fine tombs of the el-I~ejr [?] type may be dated, and perhaps
also the great High-place. refer to it as "the cleft in the rock",
referring to its entrance. 2 Kings xiv. 7 seems to be more specific. In
the parallel passage, however, Sela is understood to mean simply "the
rock" (2 Chr. xxv. 12, see LXX).

On the authority of Josephus
(Antiquities of the Jews iv. 7, 1~ 4, 7) Eusebius and Jerome (Onom.
sacr. 286, 71. 145, 9; 228, 55. 287, 94) assert that Rekem was the
native name and Rekem appears in the Dead Sea scrolls as a prominent
Edom site most closely describing Petra and associated with Mount Seir.
But in the Aramaic versions Rekem is the name of Kadesh, implying that
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, southeast of Petra.[citation needed] The Semitic name of the
city, if not Sela, remains unknown. The passage in Diodorus Siculus
(xix. 94–97) which describes the expeditions which Antigonus sent
against the Nabataeans in 312 BCE is understood to throw some light
upon the history of Petra, but the "petra" referred to as a natural
fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name and the
description implies that the town was not yet in existence.

Roman rule
In
106 CE, 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, becoming capital. 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 splendor, the
issue of coinage comes to an end. 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 Empire.
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. A Roman road was
constructed at the site. Epiphanius of Salamis (c.315–403) writes that
in his time a feast was held there on December 25 in honor of the
virgin Khaabou (Chaabou) and her offspring Dushara (Haer. 51).

Religion

The
Nabataeans worshipped the Arab gods and goddesses of the pre-Islamic
times as well as few of their deified kings. One, Obodas I, was deified
after his death. Dushara was the main male god accompanied by his
female trinity: Al-‘Uzzá, Allat and Manāt. Many statues carved in the
rock depict these gods and goddesses.

The Monastery, Petra's
largest monument, dates from the 1st century BCE. It was dedicated to
Obodas I and is believed to be the symposium of Obodas the god. This
information is inscribed on the ruins of the Monastery (the name is the
translation of the Arabic "Ad-Deir").

Christianity found its way
to Petra in the 4th century CE, nearly 500 years after the
establishment of Petra as a trade center. 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). After the Islamic conquest of 629–632 Christianity in Petra, as
of most of Arabia, gave way to Islam. During the First Crusade Petra
was occupied by Baldwin I of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and formed the
second fief of the barony of Al Karak (in the lordship of
Oultrejordain) with the title Château de la Valée de Moyse or Sela. It
remained in the hands of the Franks until 1189. It is still a titular
see of the Catholic Church.

According to Arab tradition, Petra
is the spot where Moses struck a rock with his staff and water came
forth, and where Moses' brother, Aaron, is buried, at Mount Hor, known
today as Jabal Haroun or Mount Aaron. The Wadi Musa or "Wadi of Moses"
is the Arab name for the narrow valley at the head of which Petra is
sited. A mountaintop shrine of Moses' sister Miriam was still shown to
pilgrims at the time of Jerome in the 4th century, but its location has
not been identified since.

Decline

Petra
declined rapidly under Roman rule, in large part due to the revision of
sea-based trade routes. In 363 an earthquake destroyed many 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 Sultan
Baibars of Egypt towards the end of the 13th century. The first
European to describe them was Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812.

Because the structures weakened with age, many of the tombs became vulnerable to thieves, and many treasures were stolen.

Threats to Petra

The
site suffers from a host of threats, including collapse of ancient
structures, erosion due to flooding and improper rainwater drainage,
weathering from salt upwelling, improper restoration of ancient
structures, and unsustainable tourism. The latter has increased
substantially ever since the site received widespread media coverage in
2007 during the controversial New Seven Wonders of the World Internet
and cell phone campaign, started by a private corporation.

Petra today
On December 6, 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.

In
2006 the design of a Visitor Centre began. The Jordan Times reported in
December 2006 that 59,000 people visited in the two months October and
November 2006, 25% fewer than the same period in the previous year.

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