| Introduction | The History | Architecture | Interesting Facts | Reference |
Petra was first established around the 6th century Before Christ. Petra was built by a nomadic tribe who settled in the area, the Nabatean Arabs. There were the one who laid the foundations of a commercial empire which had extended into Syria. Petra is situated on the edges of the mountainous desert of the Wadi Araba and is surrounded by towering hills of rust-coloured sandstone which gave the city some natural protection against invaders.
Petra was found by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 19th century. The history behind this amazing creation is the Romans. Petra remained in Nabataean hands until around 100AD when the Seleucid King Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey and Herod The Great brought Petra under control of their respective empires. It was still inhabited by the Romans until the Byzantine period, where the Romans abandoned Petra. It was because the former Roman empire had moved its focus to enlarge their empire to the East of Constantinople. The Romans also had constructed a fort near to Petra but soon withdrew.
Since the site is semi arid, the friable sandstone allows the Nabataeans to carve their temples and tombs into the rock easily to sand. The colour of the rock ranges from pale yellow to white and from rich reds to the darker brown of more resistant rocks. The contorted strata of different-coloured rock form whorls and waves of colour in the rock face, which the Nabataeans exploited in their architecture.
Petra has 3 different interesting places in the city namely:
The Siq
The Khazneh
The El-Deir
The Siq is an important and a principle route into The Petra city. The route was built by the Nabateans. The walls of the Siq are lined with channels ( originally fitted with chamfered clay pipes ) to carry drinking water to the city. Further inside, The Siq narrows to not more than five metres in width while the walls tower up hundreds of metres at both side and the floor is fully covered with soft sand.
After the Siq, we can see the best-known monuments at Petra, The Khazneh. The façade which was carved out from the sandstone of the cliff wall is 40m high and it is well-preserved. It was probably because of the confined space in which it was built has protected it from being eroded. The name Khazneh, which means 'treasury', comes from the legend that it was used as a hiding place for treasure.
Next is the amazing monastery, the El-Deir. It is also same as the Khazneh where it has been carved out of the rocks face. The doorway is around 8 metres tall and the façade was approximately 55 metres wide by 45 tall! Can you imagine how the builders create this wonders?
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/Petra/
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/Petra/excavations/history.html
Done By: Ahmad Farhan (Wonders crew)