Welcome to my page on Petra the "Red Rose City" in Jordan , Whether you are staying at the Dead Sea in either Israel or Jordan a visit to this site is an absolute must, I will try to give you a brief history of the region in laymans terms and include some pictures I took on my visit in October 2005.
There are many Myths and assumptions about how Petra evolved and who occupied it, but the truth is nothing from the earliest days were ever recorded, so many Historians have put their views as being correct But basically it is generally thought the site dates back to the 6th century B.C. first inhabited by the Nabataean Arabs, It is thought it remained in Nabataean control until around 100 A.D. when the Romans invaded and took over, It is not recorded exactly how long they stayed but they did abandon the site and the Crusaders took over and constructed a fort there in or about the 12th century, they soon withdrew and left Petra again to the Locals, Nothing is known from then till around 1820 when Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt came accross Petra.
Petra consists of mainly sandstone which is a very soft stone which allowed the Nabataean workers to carve these edifices out of the rock face, but this must not detract from the wonderful sculpted edifices they left behind.
The Siq or Entrance
Petra is accessed from the 'Siq'or Passageway which is 2 Kilometers long and requires good walking shoes, people with walking disabilities can hire a horse driven 'Buggy' to take you down this passageway but you will miss a lot of the history that can be seen on foot etched into the passageway walls,and the areas still visable where the the Romans laid stone for the first roads for their transport, ruts can be seen where the wheels have worn away sections of the stone through constant use. Also you will see where the water ducts have been created to allow water to enter Petra from the vast storage Cisterns cut out of the rock at the entrance to the Siq, In the museum they actually have clay pipes not disimilar to the ones used today in modern water and sewage supply systems, these Allegedly were used to run the water from the cisterns down the 'Siq' to Petra, although attributed to the 'Nabataean's my feelings these were Roman installations.
You are now in a narrow area of the 'Siq' which is quite dark, Suddenly you round a corner and you are confronted by the Khazneh or Treasury a sight you will alway's remember as you go from a dark passage to a glow of reddish pink and there in front of you is The Khazneh the first of many wonderful monuments.
You now see the Khazneh in all It's glory possibly the best momument you see in Petra.
The Khazneh
The Khazneh is some 40 Meters High and is carved from sandstone, It has suffered virtually no erosion possible because of It's position in the site, Although sometimes called "The Treasury" it is almost certainly a tomb like all the other momuments in Petra, It is thought that the area in front of the tomb was used as a gathering place for the selling and exchange of goods hence possibly the name link.The inside of the Khazneh is a complete opposite of the exterior with plain walls cut from the stone in a neat and square fashion, there are no adornments whatsoever and the floor is of sand.
Unfortunately if the site in front of the Khazneh was used as an area for selling and exchanging goods modernity has caught up in Petra and History has come full circle as directly opposite is the first of many souvenir shops that have now sprung up in the general area,
The Royal Tombs
We now move on to the general area which widens out with many more tombs which just appear as holes in the rock, but
restoration has taken place on the next tomb "The Palace Tomb" you now enter the main area of Petra and the open ground of the Wadi Musa there are many momuments to see including an Amphitheatre a temple called "Qasr al-Bint Firaun" this has been restored recently.
There is so much more to describe I could not possibly cover all in this short description but I hope this small insight to Petra has given you some idea of It's great historic interest.
One thing I must touch upon is the Myth that was born from the film " Indiana Jones and the last Crusade" Harrison Ford rode down the Siq on Horseback and entered the Khaznah to retrieve the 'Holy Grail' nothing could be further from the truth....
Photographs top from top : The main facade of the Khaznah, El Deir. the Monastry, the Royal tombs at sunset and a general map of the area.
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