Petra: The Rose City

INTRODUCTION

Do you know what is Petra? Most of you are unaware of Petra but it is a world heritage site of course also one of the seven wonders of the world. UNESCO has described Petra as ‘ one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage’. It was also chosen as one of the 28 places you should visit before you die. So let’s know about its interesting history and facts.

ABOUT

Petra is one of the seven wonders of the world. The city of Petra is the capital of the Nabataean Arabs. It is located 120km north of the red sea town of Aqaba and 240km south of the capital Amman. It is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water system. It is also called Rose city because it is built in red stone. On December 6, 1985, Petra has designated a world heritage site. It was also chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 28 places you should visit before you die. This is one of the most popular tourist cities in Jordan.

HISTORY

A Nomadic Tribe called the Nabataeans migrated from Arabia in the 6th century and built the city. They used it for cultural and commercial purposes.

It was built in red sandstone and it took 500 years to build this city.

Petra was known as Raqmu and it was the empire of Bedouin tribes, who settled in this place.

Petra became part of the Roman Empire when the Nabataeans were defeated by the Romans in 106 CE and continued to prosper until an earthquake destroyed much of the city. The earthquake led to the downfall of the city which was ultimately abandoned.

John Lewis Burckhardt, an explorer discovered Petra in 1812 when he was sent by the African government to find resources of the Nile River from Cairo to Sahara.

THE EMERGENCE OF PETRA

The Nabataeans were one of the nomadic Bedouin tribes that roamed the Arabian Desert and moved with their herds to wherever they could find the pasture and water.

Nabataeans were initially embedded in Aramaic culture but modern scholars have rejected the fact that they have Aramean roots.

Archaeological, religious, and linguistic evidence has confirmed that they were a northern tribe.

Current evidence proved that the Nabataean name for Petra was Raqemo.

PETRA AS “REKEM”

Historian Josephus writes that the region was inhabited by the Midianites during the time of Moses and ruled by five kings, one of whom was Rekem.

He mentioned that the city was called Petra by the Greeks which means “ranks highest in the land of the Arabs” and was still called Rekeme by all Arabs of his time.

The name Rekem was inscribed on the rock wall of the Wadi Musa opposite the entrance to the Siq.

Jordan built a bridge over the Wadi and buried that inscription under the tons of concrete.

PETRA AS “SELA”

An old story told that Petra was identified by a place called Sela in the Hebrew Bible.

The passage in Diodorus Siculus (an ancient Greek historian) describes the expeditions which were sent by the Antigonus against the Nabataeans in 312 BCE

It was understood by some researchers to lighten the history of Petra but the Petra referred to as a natural fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name.

The entire description implies that there was no town at that time.

ROMAN PERIOD

In AD 106, when Cornelius Palma was governor of Syria, the part of Arabia was absorbed into the Roman Empir as a part of Arabia Petraea and Petra became its capital.

The native dynasty came to end around the time when Petra Roman Road was constructed.

A century later, the city was at the height of its splendor in the time of Alexander Severus, the issue of coinage came to end.

Epiphanius of Salamis writes that in his time a feast was held there on December 25 in honor of the virgin Khaabou ( a goddess who gave birth to the god Dusares) and her offspring Dushara (Dusares)

Dushara and al-Uzza were two of the main deities of the city which included many idols from other Nabataean deities such as Allat and Manat.

Between 111 and 114, Trajan built the Via Traiana Nova, running from the Syrian border to the Red Sea through Petra. This route revived the trade between Arabia, Syria, and Mediterranean harbors.

BYZANTINE PERIOD

In 363, an earthquake destroyed many buildings and crippled the vital water management systems which lead to the excavation of various churches in and around Petra in the Byzantine period when Petra was the capital of the Byzantine.

In one of the Byzantine churches, 140 papyri were discovered which contained mainly buildings dated from 530s to 590s.

The Byzantine Church is a prime example of the monumental architecture in Byzantine Petra.

The last reference to Byzantine Petra comes from the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, written in the first decades of the 7th century.

19th AND 20th CENTURIES

The first European to describe them was Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt during his travels in 1812.

Leon de Laborde and Louis-Maurice-Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds made the first accurate drawings of Petra in 1828.

The Scottish painter David Roberts visited Petra in 1839 and returned to England with sketches and stories of the encounter with local tribes in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia.

Frederic Edwin Church, the leading American landscape painter of the 19th century, visited Petra in 1868, and the resulting painting El Khasne, Petra is among his most important and well-documented.

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