"A rose-red city, half as old as time" - "Petra" by Dean burgen.
Petra, in western Jordan, is a enchanting ancient city about 80 kilometres south of the Dead Sea, which was half-build, half-carved into stone, that stands beautiful testimony to Eastern and Hellenistic architecture.
Petra, in western Jordan, is a enchanting ancient city about 80 kilometres south of the Dead Sea, which was half-build, half-carved into stone, that stands beautiful testimony to Eastern and Hellenistic architecture.
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| Petra, Jordan, by Candlelight. If the gorgeous rock colors are dazzling during the day, imagine more than 1,500 candles flickering in the ancient city, through the Siq to the Treasury where Bedouin music is playing. Photo by Paul Stocker |
With its giant red mountains and vast mausoleums, Petra is testament of the greatest wonders ever wrought by Nature and Man. It is already often described as the eighth wonder of the ancient world because this vast and unique city is completely carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans more than 2000 years ago.
Petra is sometimes called the "Lost City". Petra means ‘rock’ in Latin and it is also said that Roman emperor Hadrian named it Hadriane Petra, after his own name. In spite of its being such an important city in antiquity, after the 14th century AD, Petra was completely lost to the western world. It was rediscovered in 1812 by the Swiss traveller, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who tricked his way into the fiercely guarded site by pretending to be an Arab from India wishing to make a sacrifice at the tomb of the Prophet Aaron.
Located between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, Petra was once an important centre of trade and commerce and was an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. It is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into a sophisticated system of water conservation and dams that provided water to the arid region. This was as remarkable achievement of the Nabataeans as was their skill in carving this city out of sheer rock face more than 2000 years ago!
Besides these two outstanding features of Petra that deservingly cast it among the Seven Wonders of the World to survive since ancient times, there are other aspects of this desert city that make it a tourist attraction. Petra also boasts elaborate tomb and temple architecture, sites that are of religious significance to different religions, remains of copper mines, churches and other buildings.
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| The Hadrien Gate and the Cardo Maximum in Petra. The city quickly fell into a decline under Roman rule. Photo by Jean Housen |
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| Great Temple of Petra was built in the 1st century BC. The two-level structure is on of the largest complexes in Petra. Photo by Bernard Gagnon |
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| Path to Petra |
Among the rock-cut temples and tombs showing traces of both Hellenistic and Nabataean architectural are ‘royal tombs’, including the Khasneh, the Urn Tomb, the Palace Tomb and the Corinthian Tomb, and the Deir (monastery), while sacrificial and other religious high places can be found on Jebels Madbah, M’eisrah, Khubtha, Habis and Al Madras. High above, on Jabal Harun, is said to be the tomb of Aaron, the brother of Prophet Moses.
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| Urn Tomb at Petra |
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| Petra – Jordan Tombs. According to the Petra Scrolls, Petra was once a very crowded place to live with possibly as many as 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants which works out to at least 10 people living in each rock-cut dwelling. Photo by Dennis Jarvis |
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| Sandstone Rock-cut tombs in Petra. Photo by Etan J. Tal |
Credits: www.lovethesepics.com , www.visitjordan.com
Petra, the world wonder, is without a doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. Although much has been written about Petra, nothing really prepares you for this amazing place. It has to be seen to be believed.
Petra, the world wonder, is without a doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. Although much has been written about Petra, nothing really prepares you for this amazing place. It has to be seen to be believed.
