Petra

            On Sunday morning we woke up at 5am in order to eat breakfast and get an early start to our tour of Petra. Of all of the places we were visiting on our trip, this was what I was most excited for. There’s the beauty of the canyon and the architecture, the history of the ancient Nabatean civilization that lived there, and who doesn’t want to pretend to be Indiana Jones searching for the Holy Grail? Thankfully we had a tour guide who spoke to us in English, so I got to learn a lot about the history and layout of Petra, despite his claim that we would need two full days in order to see everything.

            Petra was inhabited and built by the Nabateans, and ancient civilization spanning from the 4^th century BCE until 106 CE when they were conquered by the Roman Empire. Their capital of Petra benefitted from its strategic location at the center of various trade routes crossing the Arabian Peninsula and connecting the East and West. Originally pagans, they later converted to Christianity and then Islam.

            As we walked down the path towards the entrance to the city, the first evidence of their civilization came in the form of three giant stone cubes called the Djinn blocks. Archeologists believe that these were shrines to their gods, which formed a pantheon similar to those of the Greeks. The head god, Dhushara, was akin to Zeus, likely associated with the heavens, and often represented by an eagle.

            Right before the entrance to the canyon we saw a canal and tunnel leading away from the entrance. Because of Petra’s location in a valley, it suffers from occasional flash floods. To prevent this, the Nabateans built a dam at the city’s gate and diverted the water into a canal that surrounded the city. By storing this water, not only did they prevent flooding but they were also able to store water for use throughout the dry summer months. On either side of the canyon are small aqueducts leading into the city, one side for humans and one side for animals. This shows that the Nabateans had a basic understanding of how to prevent the spread of diseases between animals and humans. While we thankfully did not experience any flash floods during our trip, we did get a light drizzle as we were entering.

            The walk from the entrance of the canyon to the treasury takes roughly 20 minutes, but the path is beautiful in its own right. The canyon is naturally occurring due to shifting tectonic plates (the same system that created the Great Rift Valley in Africa). Over the years the gap was widened by erosion and, by the time the Nabateans found it, had become the perfect location to establish a city. The narrow, winding entrance is easy to defend, especially as it is the only easily accessible entrance to the city. The sandstone that makes up the canyon is easy to carve, perfect for building temples and tombs. The walls are also marbled with reds, pinks, and blacks which are the result of different mineral constituents in the stone. Even without the city, Petra would still be a site worth seeing for its natural beauty alone.

            At one point we saw a carving of a caravan being led into the city carved directly into the side of the canyon. Trade was essential to the wealth and prosperity of Petra, particularly the trade of incense such as frankincense. One gram of frankincense was worth two grams of gold in that time because of its centrality in pagan worship rituals. The profit earned from a single camel’s load was roughly $70,000 USD in today’s currency, and a single caravan could be made up of over a hundred camels. Interestingly enough, the Nabatean’s reliance on the trade of frankincense proved to be their downfall as well. With the spread of Christianity and later of Islam, the surrounding areas no longer had much need for incense for their religious ceremonies. As a result, profits plummeted and the influence of the Nabateans diminished until they were eventually subsumed into the Roman Empire. The city was eventually lost to the West until the year 1812, although its existence was known by the local Bedouin tribes throughout that span and its tombs were used for shelter during the winter months.

            The canyon opens directly onto the treasury of Petra and it is a fantastic first view of the city. Through the faces of the canyon you first see a bright light, due to the light-colored stone of the treasury and the sunlight that shines upon it. As you draw near the canyon opens up to reveal a wide-open space dominated by the façade in front of you. The Nabateans were clever in their placement of the treasury, since any visitor wanting to enter the city were forced to witness firsthand the magnificence of the civilization.

            Architecturally, the treasury is fascinating in that it pulls design elements from several surrounding cultures. The columns, pediment, and overall symmetry of the design harkens back to the ancient Greeks, but there are also elements influenced by Egyptian and Mesopotamian symbology. Contrary to the name, the treasury is not actually a treasury but was likely commissioned by one of the kings of Petra as a show of the power of the Nabateans and a tribute to their gods. It is known as the treasury because of a large jar located at the top of its façade which people used to think held gold and treasure, although in reality it is solid stone. The holes in the stone here are due to people shooting their rifles at the far in the hopes of breaking it and retrieving the nonexistent treasure. The holes in the lower part of the façade, however, were made during the Byzantine area when people tried to beautify its façade by covering it in marble. The only part of the treasury that has been restored is the third column from the left in the lower half, which has a distinctly different color; the rest is original. Unfortunately for Indiana Jones fans, there is no inner passage leading to the Holy Grail, just a large empty room (or that’s what they want us to believe, as we weren’t allowed inside to verify for ourselves).

            While the treasury is the most famous part of Petra, there is lots more to see past it! After the treasury the canyon widens considerably as you enter the main part of the city. On either side of the rock face are tombs carved with a varying degree of intricacy. Lower class tombs consist of little more than a flat stone face and a door, while the tombs of the upper class are more intricately decorated. Most tombs feature a double staircase on the top, leading upwards in both directions. The right side was associated with good and represented the path to a heaven-like afterlife, while the left side was associated with evil and represented the path to the underworld. Some archaeologists used to think, due to the plentiful tombs and apparent lack of houses, that Petra was a mortuary city, but this is not the case. The Nabateans chose to build their residential houses rather than carve them, and as a result they were structurally weaker and were mostly destroyed in the earthquakes that occasionally strike the region.

            After the tombs we saw the theater, which is carved directly into the stone. Unlike ancient Greek theaters, there is no apparent division for social classes within the theater, not even a special seat for the king. This suggests that the Nabatean society was one of relative equals (although clearly wealth had a say in how nice their tombs were).

            At this point our guided tour ended and we were given a little time on our own to explore the site before making our way back. Had we continued along the same route we would have walked along the Colonnaded Street, past the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint and up to the Monastery (not actually a monastery), but this would have taken a round-trip of two hours, which we did not have available to us. Instead, we walked over to the side to visit the Byzantine church, a later addition to the city after their conversion to Christianity. While missing walls and a roof, the church features beautiful mosaics adorning the floor as well as an ancient stone baptistery. It also had a friendly cat that walked around saying hi to all of us. After the church we explored some of the royal tombs on our own. These tombs are up high on a cliff overlooking the valley and fancifully adorned with pillar and other carved decorations. The ceilings inside each of them are covered with swirls of color from the naturally occurring minerals in the sandstone.

            Done with our exploring, we made the long, uphill trek back to our hotel and had an hour to recover before convening for lunch then heading out on the buses again. Next stop: Wadi Rum.