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PETRA (Ancient city) JORDAN
II. In Asia. 1. (Petra, Ptol. v. 17. § 5, viii. 20. § 19; Petra or
Petrai, Suid. s. v. Hi'enethlios; the SELA of the Old Testament, 2 Kings, xiv.
7; Isaiah, xvi. 1: respecting its various names see Robinson, Biblical Researches,
vol. ii. Notes and Ill. p. 653), the chief town of Arabia Petraea, once the capital
of the Idumaeans and subsequently of the Nabataei, now, Wady Musa.
Petra was situated in the eastern part of Arabia Petraea, in the district
called under the Christian emperors of Rome Palaestina Tertia (Vet. Rom. Itin.
p. 721, Wessel.; Malala, Chronogr. xvi. p. 400, ed. Bonn). According to the division
of tile ancient geographers, it lay in the northern district, Gebalene; whilst
the modern ones place it in the southern portion, Esh-Sherah, the Seir, or mountain-land,
of the Old Testament (Genesis, xxxvi. 8). It was seated between the Dead Sea and
the Elanitic gulf; being, according to Diodorus Siculus (xix. 98), 300 stadia
S. of the former, whilst the Tab. Peut. places it 98 Roman miles N. of the latter.
Its site is a wilderness overtopped by Mount Hor, and diversified by cliffs, ravines,
plains, and Wadys, or watered valleys, for the most part but ill cultivated. Strabo
(xvi. p. 779) describes it as seated in a plain surrounded with rocks, hemmed
in with barren and streamless deserts, though the plain itself is well watered.
Pliny's description (vi. 32), which states the extent of the plain at rather less
than 2 miles, agrees very nearly with that of Strabo, and both are confirmed by
the reports of modern travellers. It is an area in the bosom of a mountain, swelling
into mounds, and intersected with gullies. (Irby and Mangles, ch. viii.) It must
not, however, be understood to be completely hemmed in with rocks. Towards the
N. and S. the view is open; and from the eastern part of the valley the summit
of Mount Hor is seen over the western cliffs. (Robinson, ii. p. 528.) According
to Pliny (l. c.) Petra was a place of great resort for travellers.
Petra was subdued by A. Cornelius Palma, a lieutenant of Trajan's
(Dion Cass. lxviii. 14), and remained under the Roman dominion a considerable
time, as we hear of the province of Arabia being enlarged by Septimius Severus
A.D. 195 (id. lxxv. 1, 2; Eutrop. viii. 18). It must have been during this period
that those temples and mausoleums were made, the remains of which still arrest
the attention of the traveller; for though the predominant style of the architecture
is Egyptian, it is mixed with florid and over-loaded Roman-Greek specimens, which
clearly indicate their origin. (Robinson, ii. p. 532.)
The valley of Wady Musa, which leads to the town, is about 150 feet
broad at its entrance, and is encircled with cliffs of red sandstone, which gradually
increase from a height of 40 or 50 feet to 200 or 250 feet. Their height has been
greatly exaggerated, having been estimated by some travellers at 700 and even
1000 feet (Irby and Mangles, ch. viii.; Stephens, ii. p. 70; see Robinson, ii.
p. 517 and note). The valley gradually contracts, till at one spot it becomes
only about 12 feet broad, and is so overlapped by the cliffs that the light of
day is almost excluded. The ravine or Sik of Wady Musa extends, with many windings,
for a good English mile. It forms the principal, and was anciently the only avenue
to Petra, the entrance being broken through the wall. (Diod. Sic. ii. 48, xix.
97; Robinson, ii. p. 516; Laborde, p. 55.) This valley contains a wonderful necropolis
hewn in the rocks. The tombs, which adjoin or surmount one another, exhibit now
a front with six Ionic columns, now with four slender pyramids, and by their mixture
of Greek, Roman, and Oriental architecture remind the spectator of the remains
which are found in the valley of Jehoshaphat and in other parts of Palestine.
The further side of the ravine is spanned by a bold arch, perhaps a triumphal
one, with finely-sculptured niches evidently intended for statues. This, like
the other remains of this extraordinary spot, is ascribed by the natives either
to the Pharaohs or to the Jins or evil genii. Along the bottom of the valley,
in which it almost vanishes, winds the stream mentioned by Strabo and Pliny, the
small but charming Wady Musa. In ancient times its bed seems to have been paved,
as many traces still show. Its stream was spanned by frequent bridges, its sides
strengthened with stone walls or quays, and numerous small canals derived from
it supplied the inhabitants with water. But now its banks are overspread with
hyacinths, oleanders, and other flowers and shrubs, and overshadowed by lofty
trees.
Opposite to where the Sik terminates, in a second ravine-like but
broader valley, another monument, the finest one at Petra, and perhaps in all
Syria, strikes the eye of the traveller. This is the Khuzneh,--well preserved,
considering its age and site, and still exhibiting its delicate chiselled work
and all the freshness and beauty of its colouring. It has two rows of six columns
over one another, with statues between, with capitals and sculptured pediments,
the upper one of which is divided by a little round temple crowned with an urn.
The Arabs imagine that the urn contains a treasure, - El Khuzneh, whence the name,
- which they ascribe to Pharaoh (Robinson, ii. p. 519). The interior does not
correspond with the magnificence of the facade, being a plain lofty hall, with
a chamber adjoining each of its three sides. It was either a mausoleum, or, more
probably, a temple.
From this spot the cliffs on both sides the Wady are pierced with
numerous excavations, the chambers of which are usually small, though the facades
are occasionally of some size and magnificence; all, however, so various that
scarce two are exactly alike. After a gentle curve the Wady expands, and here
on its left side lies the theatre, entirely hewn out of the rock. Its diameter
at the bottom is 120 feet (Irby and Mangles, p. 428), and it has thirty-three,
or, according to another account, thirty-eight, rows of seats, capable of accommodating
at least 3000 spectators. Strangely enough, it is entirely surrounded with tombs.
One of these is inscribed with the name of Q. Praefectus Florentinus (Laborde,
p. 59), probably the governor of Arabia Petraea under Hadrian or Antoninus Pius.
Another has a Greek inscription, not yet deciphered. A striking effect is produced
by the bright and lively tints of the variegated stone, out of which springs the
wild fig and tamarisk, while creeping plants overspread the walls, and thorns
and brambles cover the pedestals and cornices (Isaiah, xxxiv. 13). Travellers
are agreed that these excavations were mostly tombs, though some think they may
originally have served as dwellings. A few were, doubtless, temples for the worship
of Baal, but subsequently converted into Christian churches.
Proceeding down the stream, at about 150 paces from the theatre, the
cliffs begin to expand, and soon vanish altogether, to give place to a small plain,
about a mile square, surrounded with gentle eminences. The brook, which now turns
to the W., traverses the middle of this plain till it reaches a ledge of sandstone
cliffs, at a distance of rather more than a mile. This was the site of Petra,
and is still covered with heaps of hewn stones, traces of paved streets, and foundations
of houses. There are remains of several larger and smaller temples, of a bridge,
of a triumphal arch of degenerate architecture, and of the walls of a great public
building--Kusr Faron, or the palace of Pharaoh.
On an eminence south of this is a single column (Zub Faron, i. e.
hasta virilis Pharaonis), connected with the foundation-walls of a temple whose
pillars lie scattered around in broken fragments. Laborde (p. 59) thinks that
the Acropolis occupied an isolated hill on the W. At the NW. extremity of the
cliffs is the Deir, or cloister, hewn in the rock. A ravine, like the Sik, with
many windings, leads to it, and the approach is partly by a path 5 or 6 feet broad,
with steps cut in the rock with inexpressible labour. Its facade is larger than
that of the Khuzneh; but, as in that building, the interior does not answer to
it, consisting of a large square chamber, with a recess resembling the niche for
the altar in Greek ecclesiastical architecture, and bearing evident signs of having
been converted from a heathen into a Christian temple. The destruction of Petra,
so frequently prophesied in Scripture, was at length wrought by the Mahometans.
From that time it remained unvisited, except by some crusading kings of Jerusalem;
and perhaps by the single European traveller, Thetmar, at the beginning of the
13th century. It was discovered by Burckhardt, whose account of it still continues
to be the best. (Robinson, ii. p. 527.) Laborde's work is chiefly valuable for
the engravings.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The Catholic Encyclopedia
In the mountains of Idumaea 300 km S of Amman, Petra was the capital
of the kingdom of Nabataea and a flourishing caravan city. It was annexed by Trajan
in A.D. 106 and visited by Hadrian in 130. The Moslem conquest in the 4th c. brought
decline and oblivion.
The site, rediscovered in 1812, is a basin shut in by cliffs of brightly
colored sandstone into which many monuments were cut. The monuments are often
baroque in their variety of form and richness of decoration. The only access is
by the Siq, a narrow defile 2 km long cut by the wadi Musa, whose waters were
diverted by an ancient tunnel. A rock-cut necropolis at the entry to the Siq has
nefesh (obelisks or stelai symbolizing the soul of the deceased) and, farther
along, baetyls (aniconical representations of the divinity).
The most famous of Petra's monuments, the Khazne or treasury, rises
in the middle of the Siq. Its pink sandstone facade, more than 40 m high, is exotically
decorated, suggesting a Corinthian temple topped by a tholos in a courtyard with
porticos. Its interior is a vast cross-shaped chamber. The monument may be a mausoleum
of King Aretas IV, who died in A.D. 40.
At the exit of the Siq is a large theater cut into the rock in the
2d c. A.D. There is also a small theater, more recent in date, at a bend of the
wadi Musa. A paved street, the cardo, ran along the wadi and was the town's main
axis. To N and S the town rose tier on tier over fairly steep slopes. It was larger
in circumference in the 1st c. B.C. than in the 2d c. A.D. First one sees the
hemicycle enclosing the basin of a public fountain or nymphaeum, then the ruins
which, to the S, may be markets and a large temple, and to the N a palace and
a gymnasium. To the W the cardo reaches a monumental arch with three bays, which
gives access to a sacred area of the 1st c. A.D. The area contains the base of
a monumental altar and a square cella with stucco decoration. These are remains
of the main temple, known as Qasr Firaun, consecrated to Dusares. According to
Suidas, its gold-covered baetyl would have been enthroned in the axial chapel.
The cliff of el-Habis, which dominates the Qasr to the W, was covered with Nabataean
houses.
The E cliff has extraordinary funerary facades. To the S, at the exit
of the Siq, are tiers of tombs crowned with merlons or steps. Farther to the left
is the tall Doric urn tomb of the middle of the 1st c. A.D., which was turned
into a cathedral in A.D. 446. Then come the Corinthian Tomb, which imitates the
Khazne, and the Palace Tomb, resembling the long facade of a Parthian palace;
both are the burial places of princes and princesses of the last Nabataean dynasty.
The narrow and overburdened facade of the tomb of Sextus Florentinus (legate in
Arabia ca. A.D. 127) stands 300 m farther N cut into a rocky spur.
There are many High Places on the neighboring plateaus, with enclosing
walls, sacrificial areas, altars, bases for baetyls, triclinia cut in the rock,
and basins. On the ed-Deir plateau, the main one is dedicated to the god Dushara.
There is also a theater in the gorge of the wadi es-Sabrah.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 75 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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