City of the Dead Jordan.

Fishing rod Petra is the main attraction of modern Jordan, it is ancient city And former capital

Idumea or Edom, and later, the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The remains of the city are located at an altitude of almost a kilometer above sea level and 660 meters above the Arava Valley, and located in the narrow Siq canyon. The passage to the valley where the ancient city is located lies through gorges located on the southern and northern sides of the mountain, and on the eastern and western sides, the rocks form natural walls up to 60 meters in height. The first to find the city, after many centuries of loneliness in the desert, was Johann Ludwig Burckhardt from Switzerland in 1812. In 2007, the city of Petra became one of the new “Seven Wonders of the World”. Indeed, this is one of the great miracles ever created by man and nature. Not far from the city and above it are the tomb of Aaron and the rock temple of Ad-Dair. As history tells us, the city was the center of two important trade routes: one of them connected Damascus with the Red Sea, and the other connected the most populated province of Gaza with the Persian Gulf, which ran along the coast. Mediterranean Sea

. These roads connected India, China and the southern Arab countries with ancient Egypt, Greece, Syria and Rome. Caravans carrying the finest silk, various spices, and precious stones passed here. Columns of loaded camels and the merchants accompanying them, departing from the Persian Gulf, laden with goods brought from overseas countries, moved for weeks through the harsh Arabian desert, and when they, exhausted, reached the narrow Siq canyon, the travelers found water, food and lodging here.

The entrance to the city stretches through a narrow gorge one kilometer long. The gateway to Petra is the long and winding Siq gorge. Petra is located among red sandstones, which are well suited for construction, which allowed the then residents of those places to quickly build living quarters. Using terracotta pipes, the architects of Petra created a complex water supply system and despite the arid climate, the city's residents never needed water. Around two hundred reservoirs were placed throughout the city, collecting and storing rainwater for some time. In addition to connecting the reservoirs, terracotta pipes collected water from all sources within a radius of 25 kilometers. The most famous buildings these days are: Al-Khazna, which means treasury or treasury; jewelry, gold and everything valuable that was in the city were stored there and eventually became the tomb for one of the rulers of the city. Al-Khazna is one of the best preserved structures of the first century. Al-Khazna can be seen directly from the entrance to the rock city. The massive façade is 30 meters wide and 43 meters high, carved into a solid dark pink rock, everything around seems to be made of coral, creating unforgettable experience. The construction of the Al-Khazna temple was carried out in the former river bed. To build this structure, the architects changed the river bed. A tunnel was cut into the rock to divert the flow of water and a series of dams were built. In addition to this famous building, there are many colorful buildings for different purposes. Place of sacrifice, Roman amphitheater for 3000 spectators. Temples, obelisks, colonnades, holy sacrificial altars and the majestic, famous Ad Deir Monastery, which is reached by 800 steps carved into the rock.

The city of Petra has two museums - the Archaeological Museum of Petra and the Nabataean Museum of Petra. The exhibits that can be seen here are archaeological finds from the outskirts of Petra, they provide an opportunity to better understand the history of the ancient city.

The list of attractions and monuments of Petra is very large; it will take several hours to list everything; in total there are more than eight hundred historical sites. The most popular and visited: Sakhrij (“Blocks of the Jinn”), Mugar An-Nasara (“Caves of Christians”), sacred mountain Jebel Al-Madbah ("Mountain of Sacrifice"), the Byzantine church behind the ruins of the Nymphaeum, Qasr Al-Bint ("Palace of the Pharaoh's Daughter"), Mount Jebel Haroun (Mount of Aaron) and the Temple of Ad-Dair.

Today Petra is the most visited place in Jordan. Local traders sell souvenirs and offer tourists camel rides.

The Arab Middle Eastern state of Jordan is small in area and does not have its own natural resources, therefore, largely depends on the help of other countries, in particular the United States. The country lies on the coast Dead Sea, which it shares with Israel and Palestine, and partly on the coast of the Gulf of Akkaba. Not far from the capital of Jordan, Amman, stands the ancient rock city of Petra, recognized as one of the seven wonders of the world. Petra, carved into the pink rock, is a priceless treasure that glorified the Kingdom of Jordan throughout the planet. UNESCO included Petra in the list of masterpieces of world human heritage.

The city where Moses drew water from the rock

Pink Petra delights with its rare color - the color of the rock, from the stone flesh of which buildings and tombs are skillfully carved. To preserve the unique attraction, the entire infrastructure is not located in Petra, but at the entrance, in the village of Wadi Musa, which spoils the anticipation of meeting the beautiful with its shops, markets and hotels.

Petra was created by Arabic ancient tribe Nabataeans, who inhabited Jordan two thousand years ago. From inaccessible cliffs, warlike aborigines controlled, for a small fee, trade caravans traveling along the ancient Arabian “road of incense” and protected them from raids. Slow processions with expensive fabrics and rare spices, skins of wild animals, gold and precious ivory continuously flowed from India and Arabia to the west. Using the proceeds, the Nabateans tirelessly improved their Petra. In those centuries, it was a highly developed technological city with dams and canals, an absolute masterpiece of architecture.

The Temple of Petra in Jordan is even mentioned in the Bible - it was here that Moses extracted water from the rock and, with his staff, made a road through the Siq gorge, where tourists now go to see the city.

Road to Petra

TO ancient settlement there is a rocky road carved near the Siq gorge, the length more than a kilometer. The path is laid along a strange, anomalous-looking plateau consisting of sandstone of different shades. On both sides there are 80-meter cliffs. The shrine is located at an altitude of 660 m above the Arava Valley, and you can approach it only by passing through the gorge, which is an adventure in itself, full of anticipation. The view of magnificent Petra at the end of a dark passage leaves travelers speechless. Rocks of pinkish shades and a majestic necropolis are ingenious creations created by nature and an ancient tribe.

The Arabs are making money from their shrine with all their might, every step is paid. Entrance to the Siq gorge is also paid, and if you haven’t enjoyed Petra in a day, you’ll have to pay again the next day. Enterprising local residents They offer live transport for passage through the corridor - horses, mules, donkeys and even camels. Until recently, the fee for the opportunity to see the seventh wonder of the world, Petra, was 20 euros. But it is much more interesting to travel the entire kilometer-long journey on foot, lagging behind the group - the traveler finds himself in a fantasy world. Overhanging blocks of sandstone, a path, sometimes extremely narrow, sometimes unexpectedly wide, like an avenue. And only high above your head you can barely see the blue sky between the almost closed stones. In ancient times, Petra was unapproachable, because the Nabataeans hid their city well. Below you can see how Petra is located on the map.

Treasures of the ancient city

Unfortunately, not all of Petra has been preserved; many sights and masterpieces have not reached us, especially free-standing buildings. But the Treasury and the High Altar, carved into the rock, still look beautiful today.

Treasury

Each traveler, approaching Petra along a winding corridor cut into the rock, experiences a cultural shock from the unexpectedly opened city, pink, glowing from within. It is impossible to forget this. The ancient capital is forever shackled by a rock, from whose shackles it seems to be trying to free itself. And the first thing that the tourist, numb with amazement, looks at is the “Treasury” monument. Its facade, famous throughout the world thanks to the Indiana Jones film, rose into the brilliant blue of the Jordanian sky.

The portico of the Treasury is crowned with a 4-meter urn; according to legend, the jewels of the pharaohs are hidden in it. The urn is dotted with bullet marks; in previous centuries barbarians tried to get what was hidden in it from human eyes. Modern scholars have approximated the age of the building and determined that it was carved during the reign of Aretas IV, who died in 40 AD. Architectural style The treasury can be described as a kind of fusion, since it combines Corinthian, Egyptian and Alexandrian motifs. Historians are inclined to believe that foreign workers, possibly slaves, and not just Nabateans, were involved in the construction. In contrast to the elaborate facade with its snakes, dancing Amazons and sphinxes, the inside of the building is completely empty and ascetic.

Tombs of Petra

But the Treasury is only one of the amazing wonders of ancient Petra. Upon approaching the city, travelers will see many magnificent tombs, 107 to be exact, which are carved directly into the rocks and intricately decorated with exquisite carvings. Tombs are designed to protect the deceased in their afterlife. Inside some of them there were benches preserved; apparently, people ate and even slept in them.

Amphitheater and High Altar

The Roman Amphitheater is another majestic landmark of Petra. It accommodated 3,000 Nabateans and its arena is well preserved. The ancient city of Petra in Jordan is full of shrines. One of them is located 200 m from the Treasury. This is the high Altar, sacred place Nabataeans Here, on a high rock, an altar was built, and grooves were cut on the sides to drain the blood of animals sacrificed to the gods. The picture below shows a long staircase along which the priests led doomed animals to the altar.

Practical information

Petra is open to visitors all daylight hours, although officially it is from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The most comfortable months for the tour are from March to May and from September to November, since it is very hot and dusty in summer and cold in winter. If possible, it is better to choose a beautiful weekday for a meeting; on weekends and holidays there is crowds, 3,000 people a day are considered the norm. Mostly tourists come to one day excursion organized group. To fully enjoy Petra, you can stay for a couple of days in Wadi Musa, in one of the small hotels.

How to get to Petra

Pink Petra is located 260 km from the capital of Jordan – Amman. There are two highways leading to it: Royal (6 hours drive) and Desert (3.5 hours drive). You can take an organized tour on the Jetta bus, which leaves Amman at 6 am and arrives back at 3:30 pm. The price of the excursion includes lunch in Petra, other expenses are at the expense of the tourist.

How to prepare for your trip

Jordan is very hot country, where desert winds almost always blow, spreading sand, so the correct selection of clothing and especially shoes is extremely important:

• to protect from the aggressive sun, it would be wise to wear a thin T-shirt with sleeves and long pants;
• you will have to walk a lot on hot stones and various unevenness of the mountain, so put on high socks on your feet that will protect your ankle from impacts on sharp stones, and light, breathable sneakers with a special thickened sole;
• Be sure to take a small backpack with you, in which you put a bottle of water and sunburn cream with a high degree of ultraviolet protection;
• to reinforce your strength during the hike, buy light but nutritious food - nuts, energy bars, fruits;
• change money and change will also come in handy.

You can go to the meeting, Petra is waiting for you, the city map will help you navigate the area.

Video about the rock city of Petra

In this short article, the beautiful Petra appears before you, short description its main shrines and a little history. We will be glad if you, dear reader, share your impressions of visiting the capital ancient people Nabataeans in Jordan, after all real reviews tourists are priceless. They say that Petra is the city of the dead. But it has been living for many centuries, sheltered from centuries-old dust by the reliable protection of the pink rock.

Ancient city of Petra. Treasure of Jordan

The ancient city of Petra is rightfully considered the main attraction of Jordan, glorifying this eastern country for the whole Earth, and one of the 7 new wonders of the world!

Maybe someone remembers the old film about Indiana Jones, in which he was looking for the Grail - there was a huge temple carved into the rock =) It turns out that this was not scenery, but such a miracle really exists - in Petra!

The ancient Nabatean city was founded in these rocks about 4 thousand years ago (according to other sources - 2 millennia), back in the era of the Edomites - then a small but well-defended fortress was built in the rocks. Later, these lands came into the possession of the Nabatean kingdom, which was just at that time experiencing its heyday. Petra, which served as the capital of the kingdom, gradually acquired enormous influence and unprecedented popularity. The emergence of a city in such a hard-to-reach place became possible thanks to the ability of the Nabateans to control the flow of water, because in essence Petra is nothing more than an artificial oasis! Flash floods are common in this area, and the Nabataeans successfully controlled them using dams, cisterns and aqueducts, which allowed them not only to survive long periods of drought, but also to successfully trade water

In addition to the fact that the Nabateans knew how to skillfully collect water, they also learned how to skillfully process stone. The name “Petra” literally translates as “Rock”, and it is not surprising - after all, the entire ancient city consists entirely of stone!

However, the Nabatean kingdom fell under the onslaught of the Roman emperor Trajan, and then the Roman Empire itself disappeared into oblivion... Since the 16th century AD, only the wind has “walked” here, and then infrequently. This pearl among the rocks was forgotten for more than 2 centuries - until the moment in 1812, the Swiss traveler-adventurer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt decided to find in these lands a lost city, about which there were many legends, but which, despite this, no one never saw. As a result, the Swiss finally found the legendary lost city, carefully protected by sands and rocks!

All the buildings of Petra were built mainly in three periods: under the Edomites (XVIII-II centuries BC), the Nabateans (II century BC - 106 BC) and the Romans (106-395 AD). .). In the 12th century, the ancient city was ruled by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. Monuments built here after the 6th century AD have practically not reached us. Therefore, the appearance of Petra, which is revealed to the eyes of tourists today, is the ancient capital of the Nabataean kingdom

An interesting fact is that the territory of Petra is currently only 15% studied, so it is possible that soon the mysteries of the ancient city may amaze the whole world! Now imagine that this 15% is about 800 (!) different historical sites on the territory of Petra!

Due to such a huge number of centuries-old attractions, even tickets here are sold for a three-day period - after all, in a day you can only briefly examine all the famous this moment“treasures” of Petra, but even a month is not enough to get acquainted with all its architectural elements in detail!

Petra makes an impression on all tourists who come here - even the most sophisticated ones, and I think this is connected to a greater extent not so much with the ancient city itself, but with the road that leads to it - after all, the city is “hidden” in the very center of the rock! In order to get to Petra, you need to go down into a deep gorge called “Sik” (“Mine”), formed as a result of a prehistoric shift of the earth’s crust, and walk for quite a long time along a narrow path (in some places only 3-4 meters wide) on at its bottom, between steep 80-meter cliffs, on which here and there there are ancient inscriptions carved in stone and even entire niches carved into the limestone for rest. At some point, it begins to seem that you will have to walk along this gorge forever, but suddenly it ends abruptly and the enormous Treasury of Pharaoh (the Arabic name is El-Khazneh, from which the word “Treasury” later came) opens to your eyes - one of the most famous monuments ancient Petra, in front of which the ant-people froze in surprise...

Gradually, the state of numbness recedes and is replaced by surprise and disbelief that such a huge thing can be carved into the rock. The purpose of Al-Khazneh, carved into the rock around the 2nd century AD, is still unclear, but many historians and archaeologists believe that it was originally a temple to the goddess Isis

In any case, the Treasury is an example of the greatest skill of ancient architects. After all, even today such a structure would be very difficult to create, not to mention how accurate the calculations must be and how it was hollowed out of stone in the first place, if there is not a single tree for scaffolding around for hundreds of kilometers!

It is also surprising that after thousands of years, the facade of the Treasury turned out to be practically untouched - see for yourself!

Monument to the Pyramids at the entrance to the Siq gorge

Before entering Petra you can purchase detailed map city ​​and decide for yourself whether to wander through the most mysterious nooks and crannies in splendid isolation or hire a guide

Map of the ancient city

The map shows: 1 - Entrance; 2 - Al-Wuheira; 3 - Beginning of the Siq gorge; 4 — “Treasury of the Pharaohs”; 5 - Place of sacrifices; 6 - Theater; 7 – Urn Tomb or “Cathedral”; 8 - Tomb of Sextus Florentinus; 9 — “Nymphaeum”; 10 - Church; 11 – Temple of Winged Lions; 12 - Great Temple; 13 – Temple of Uzza; 14 - Archaeological Museum; 15 - Lion Triclinium (Roman dining room); 16 – El Deir Monastery

The ancient city stretches for several kilometers. From east to west it is laid the main street, decorated on the sides with a colonnade. At its eastern end there is a three-span triumphal arch, and at the western end there is a large temple

Early necropolis of the Nabateans

One of the main architectural elements of Petra, along with the Treasury, is an ancient theater for 6000 spectators, entirely carved out of the rock and located so that from there one can see the most important tombs, including the “Cathedral”, the Palace Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb, the Urn Tomb and Silk Tomb

The theater was built in Petra at the beginning of the 1st century AD, almost at the same time with the majestic bulk of the El Deir monastery carved into the rock at the top of the cliff - a huge building about 50 m wide and more than 45 m high, which, judging by the carvings on the walls crosses, for some time served as a Christian church. It may seem familiar to many - most likely this is due to the fact that one of the scenes of the second Transformers film was filmed here =)

Maybe it’s more recognizable this way)

From the slope next to El Deir you can see Mount Jebel Harun with a white mosque on top - this relatively small and modestly decorated tomb of Aaron, the brother of Moses, was built by the Mamluk Sultan in the 13th century. According to Arab legends, this is exactly the place where Moses hit the stone with his staff and water flowed from it.

To the right of the Theater is the entrance to the “Cathedral”. The inscription indicates that Bishop Jason converted the Doric Tomb into a Eucharistic Hall. The same inscription dates this transformation to 447 AD

Plan of the Church of Papyrus in the western part of the city

1 - Atrium; 2 - Baptistery; 3 - Basilica; 4 - Department; 5 - Altar; 6 - Papyrus's room

View of the church from the altar

In the 90s during excavations. carried out by the American Center for Oriental Research, a vast building was discovered, decorated with beautiful mosaics. A number of administrative records written on papyrus and dating back to the sixth century AD were also discovered. The papyri are part of a private archive including contracts, leases, exchanges, wills, and various kinds of agreements. In the photo there is a medallion with an image of Neptune

The floors of the nave and chancel are made of multi-colored marble tiles. Both passages are decorated with mosaics. The mosaic style belongs to the Gaza School, which is very different from the school of the Madaba School, mosaic examples of which were found in previous days. The photo shows the atrium of the church. The basilica was divided into three parts by two rows of columns

The Baptistery is located in a room adjacent to the atrium of the Church

Interior of the Temple of the Winged Lions

A Roman inscription from 114 AD on this monumental gate praises Emperor Trajan. The gate leads to the large courtyard of the Temple of Uzza (Qazr al-Bint)

Inner courtyard of the Great Temple of Petra. The floor is made of hexagonal marble slabs

Panoramic view of Qazr al-Bint and Umm al-Biyara peak. The Temple of Uzza was built at the beginning of the 2nd century AD

Arch in the facade of Qazr al-Bint

The Lion Triclinium got its name from the lions “guarding” the entrance

It is also worth paying attention to the monumental tombstone structure in the Roman style, which received the simple name of the Tombstone Palace. One more interesting place is the Archaeological Museum of Petra, which contains the shadow of the history of the development, formation and decline of these lands. In the photo there are a couple of exhibits from the museum - a fragment of a capital carved in the shape of an elephant found in the Great Temple, and the head of an eagle

And this is one of the reddish rocks with many shades, because of which Petra was often called the “Red City” or “City of Roses”

On December 6, 1985, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List - the ancient city was called “one of the most precious elements cultural heritage of humanity,” and on July 7, 2007, Petra was named one of the “Seven New Wonders of the World”

Petra (Arabic: البتراء read “Al-Batra”) is an ancient city located in the southwest of Jordan, the former capital of Idumea, and later of the Nabataean kingdom. Located at an altitude of more than 900 m above sea level in the narrow Siq canyon. The capital of Jordan, Amman, is 236 km away.

The ancient city of Petra is one of the new wonders of the world, and is also included in the list World Heritage UNESCO. Millions of tourists flock here to see the rock city with their own eyes. The spectacle is truly impressive, as it is impossible to believe that this was created several thousand years ago.

Petra - history of the city

The history of the city of Petra in Jordan began in the 18th century. BC, when the Edomites were the owners here (XVIII - II centuries BC), they laid the foundation for many buildings. Next were the Nabataeans (II century BC - 106 AD), then the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs. And in the XII century. AD the city belonged to the crusaders.

Who built Petra and why?

The name of the city of Petra is translated from Greek as “rock”, and it is not surprising - after all, the entire ancient city consists entirely of stone. It is also called the “pink” city, because at sunrise and sunset the rocks actually glow scarlet and pink.

The rock city of Petra arose due to the fact that the Nabataeans - Arab nomads - were able to control the flow of water, which was important for the area. When there were flash floods here, people used cisterns and aqueducts - this not only made it possible to survive the drought, but also provided income from selling water to travelers.

While great city Petra had an advantageous location, being at the crossroads of strategically important trade routes. One of them connected Persian Gulf and Gaza, and the other - the Red Sea and Damascus. Caravans loaded with spices endured the drought of the Arabian Desert for weeks. And then the secluded Siq canyon awaited them, which led to Petra.

For several hundred years, the spice trade brought huge income to the city. But after the Romans opened sea routes to the East, land caravans gradually lost the meaning of their existence and Petra became lost city, wrapped in sand.

It is unknown whether we would have known about the existence dead city, if in 1812 the traveler from Switzerland Johann Ludwig Burckhardt would not have discovered and described it.

Sights of the city of Petra

Temples, tombs, baths, colonnades - stone city boasts more than 800 ancient monuments, which are evidence that hardworking and talented people lived here.

To see this wonder of the world, you need to travel several kilometers through the Siq gorge. And this will need to be done on foot. Already here you will be impressed by the sheer cliffs that form the walls of the dark corridor. Coming out of here, the first thing a tourist sees is Al-Khazneh Palace.

El Khazneh Palace is one of the main attractions of Petra; it is the tomb of one of the kings of the Nabataean kingdom. The building is carved into a huge rock, has an elegant pediment and towering columns. To this day, it remains a mystery how the builders in those days managed to create such a structure - without scaffolding (there are no trees in this area) and special equipment. There is a version that the Al-Khazneh Palace was the temple of the goddess Isis.

Walking around the rock in which the palace is carved, you can see many buildings carved in stone - these are former residential buildings, staircases, arches, and even a Roman amphitheater, which once could accommodate about 4,000 spectators.

There are two in the city archaeological museum, many monuments of the biblical chronicles - Mount Aaron, on which the high priest, according to legend, died; Wadi Musa valley; source of Ain-Musa (Moses). Also here you can see Qazr al-Bint - main temple Nabatean kingdom.

Another attraction that amazes with its beauty is the Ed-Deir Monastery, which is located on the top of a cliff. The height of the building is about 45 meters and the width is 50 meters. The monastery has only one room and a staircase that leads to a niche. The square in front of Ed-Deir once had columns and various religious ceremonies were held here. Opposite the monastery, a cafe was organized for tourists so that they could hide in the shade and enjoy the beauty of antiquity with a cool drink.

Excursions to the city of Petra

You can go to Petra on your own or take a tour. To thoroughly explore all the sights, one day may not be enough, so we recommend staying at a hotel in neighboring city Wadi Musa. That's where everything is concentrated tourism infrastructure. are not numerous - there are about 40 hotel properties in the city, prices start from $16, the average cost per day is $70.

What to bring from your trip:

• souvenirs with colored sand;
• figurines with landmarks;
• jewelry.

How to get there

From Amman to Petra it is a 3 hour drive if you follow the Desert Highway. You can also go along the “Royal Road”, but then it will take 5 hours.

By bus

A bus runs daily from Abdali bus station in Aman to Petra; it leaves in the morning at 06:30, travel time is 3.5 hours. The bus leaves back to Aman at 17:00. The one-way fare is 10 Jordanian dinars (approximately $14).

By minibus

There is also a Wihdat bus station in Aman, from where minibuses depart several times a day. The fare is 5 Jordanian dinars (about $7). Travel time - 3 hours.

From other countries

If you are vacationing in Egypt or Israel, then you also have the opportunity to visit Petra. Almost everything travel agencies resorts organize tours to Jordan.

Entrance fees:

• for 1 day - 50 Jordanian dinars ($70);
• for 2 days - 55 Jordanian dinars ($77);
• for those arriving in Jordan for just a day, entrance to Petra will cost 90 Jordanian dinars ($127);
• guide - 50 Jordanian dinars ($70);
• night excursion (from 20:30 to 22:00) - 17 Jordanian dinars ($24).

106 km from Petra there is another interesting attraction of Jordan - the nature reserve, or Valley of the Moon.

The city of Petra, built thousands of years ago in the desert of Jordan, its majestic facade hidden behind huge rocks still holds all the magic and mystery that its builders left behind.
, the reason for the emergence of a city in such a place, began with water - the most necessary component in the desert. With only six inches of rainfall per year, the builders of this strange city managed to harness the water with expertly designed technical pipelines that supplied water to 20,000 people and, in addition, was capable of supplying water to any modern city, with a population of hundreds of thousands of people.

Water was collected in pools, cisterns and waterways, distributing water throughout the city. How could the nomadic tribe that built this city, which was the richest city of its time, cope with such a difficult task? Today there is no clear answer to this question, but each new study of the city gradually brings archaeologists closer to the answer.

Petra means "stone" in Greek and also comes from the Arabic word "Al-Batra".

The city of Petra, located 250 km from the capital of Jordan, Amman, was the capital of the Nabataea Empire from 400 BC. — 106g. BC. Being at the crossroads of two important trade routes from Western Asia, and the other north of South Arabia, it provided great opportunities for rulers to collect taxes, as well as the opportunity to develop and improve trade. They traded textiles, incense, precious metals, ivory and spices in wagons, on land and even at sea with the help of ancient sea ​​vessels, known as flat-bottomed boats.

This was also possible due to the fact that Petra offered passing merchants and caravans the opportunity to rest and replenish their water supplies, of course for a certain fee.

By 100g. BC. Petra reached its peak by driving the Arab frankincense trade and its location on important trade routes, making Petra one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Petra was first discovered in 1812 by Swiss geographer Johannes L. Burckhardt, but the mystery of the origins of the Nabatean people remains unsolved to this day. Before they came to this area, it was inhabited by Edomites, but those who carved and built the city in the rock were people of the Nabatean people.

These nomads, who came from southern Arabia, were just like the gypsy traders who roamed the rest of the world. So how did they manage to build such a beautiful city carved out of solid rock? Besides, how did they become such excellent city planners, engineers and skilled masons? Where did the knowledge of how to carve niches and doorways into solid rocks, and create spectacular sculptures, come from ordinary nomadic people?

To date, no answers to these questions have been found. The reason for this is that these mysterious people did not leave written evidence of their time, which is a really strange thing, because according to researchers, most of the advanced ancient civilizations left some kind of written evidence of their culture, such as Sumerian stone tablets, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and etc. But nothing of the sort was left behind by Nabatean.

An even more puzzling fact is that these people were capable of writing, according to anthropologists and archaeologists, as established by numerous inscriptions and bas-reliefs on the walls. So, why not leave some written evidence of your fame or some record of your origins?

2000 years is a long time to make definite assumptions. But we know that they were an advanced people. The biggest proof is the way they built their city. Big capital, built in a small hole in the rocks, 1200 meters long and only three to four meters wide, surrounded by high gorges stretching upward as far as the eye could see.

The majestic empire was shaken by several earthquakes, which led to its decline. And then, suddenly, this nomadic people disappeared from the pages of history, without any apparent reason there is no more mention of them, where they came from, and where they went, leaving such a large structure, remains another mystery today.

The ancient name of Petra was Rekiem, which is also mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. But the builders kept their secrets and all other information about themselves, leaving them a mystery to the rest of the world.

Another mystery of the Nabatean people is their most magnificent structure, which appears before the eyes as soon as one emerges from the small entrance through the mountain gap. It is a ‘Treasury’, (so called) because no other use could be found for it. There are no graves or burials near it, nor is there any evidence that caravans or carriages passed near it, or that any records were kept here, and if there were any, none were found.

So what was this cleverly designed architectural structure made for? This question is still awaiting an answer. Perhaps a line from a poem by John William Burgon is the right way to describe this mysterious city: “red as a rose, a city as ancient as time itself.”