The capital of the Nabataeans, who grew rich taxing the incense caravans
Frankincense and myrrh from Arabia passed through on the way to the Mediterranean
Geography · Landmarks & wonders
Petra
flourished 1st century BC – 1st century AD
Jordan — the Ma'an governorate, south of the Dead Sea
The rock-cut capital of the Nabataeans, carved from rose-coloured sandstone in the desert of southern Jordan and grown rich on the incense trade. Annexed by Rome in AD 106 and left to a handful of nomads after earthquake and shifting trade routes, it was unknown to Europe until a Swiss traveller talked his way in disguised as a pilgrim in 1812. It is Jordan's national symbol and one of the New7Wonders.
How to spot them
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Nabataean', 'Al-Khazneh', 'the Siq', 'Aretas IV', 'Burckhardt'
- ▸A rose-red city cut into sandstone cliffs, reached through a narrow gorge
- ▸Its inhabitants knew it as Raqmu; the Greek name simply means 'rock'
- ▸The setting of the climax of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Key facts
Reached through the Siq, a gorge over a kilometre long and at points only a few metres wide
The cliff-cut facade of Al-Khazneh appears in a slot of light at the far end
Its most photographed facade, the 'Treasury', is probably the mausoleum of King Aretas IV
The name comes from a legend that a pharaoh's treasure was hidden in the urn on its roof — which is why the urn is pocked with bullet holes
A Victorian prize-winning poem called it 'a rose-red city half as old as time' (1845)
John William Burgon won Oxford's Newdigate Prize with it, having never been there
Unknown to Europeans until 1812, when the Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt talked his way in (1812)
He posed as a pilgrim wanting to sacrifice a goat at the tomb of Aaron
Its builders survived the desert by cutting dams, cisterns and channels to harvest flash floods
The water system supported a population estimated at 20,000 at its peak
Steven Spielberg used one of its facades as the resting place of the Holy Grail (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Quick-fire facts
- •Its people called it Raqmu; the familiar name is Greek for 'rock'
- •Rome annexed the Nabataean kingdom in AD 106, making it part of the province of Arabia Petraea
- •The great monastery facade, Ad Deir, is larger than the Treasury and reached by some 800 rock-cut steps
- •A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, and voted one of the New7Wonders of the World in 2007
- •Only a small fraction of the site has been excavated; a large monumental structure was spotted from satellite imagery as recently as 2016
- •Common misconception: the great facades are tombs and temples cut into the cliffs, not houses — most of the population lived in free-standing buildings now largely lost
- •Another misconception: the stone is not uniformly rose-red, but banded in reds, ochres and greys that change with the light
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Petra
- Jane Taylor — Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans