Jordan Trip Update: Petra

Petra is about an hour and a half south of Amman, and it turned out that we had perfect weather for the trip. The sky was mostly sunny and it was about 55 degrees. We spent four or five hours exploring the ancient rose-colored city carved into the sandstone cliff faces. The city was created in part because of the ability of the Nabateans, the pre-islamic civilization of the area, to capture water and channel it into cisterns for sale to trade caravans. Over time, it became the city’s primary resource, allowing the city to become home to over 20,000 residents and craftsmen.

This is the most familiar landmark in Petra due to it being used as the entrance to the temple where the Holy Grail was kept in Indiana Jones.  It is actually called “the Treasury” although I don’t think it was used for banking or finance.  Inside are some dark rooms about 20 feet deep.

Sadly, current generations don’t appreciate the antiquity of the ancient city.  Many have carved their names into the pillars of the Treasury.

Hundreds of caves, used for both housing and burial were scattered throughout the region, even in places not frequented by regular tourists.  The interior rooms may be as small as a half-bath in a modern home or as big as a living room.  Steps were carved everywhere for ease of access to higher tiers.

This amphitheater was built by the Nabateans in the first century AD to reflect the trends of Roman theater building.  It seated about 7000 at capacity, and guessing that those were for men only, it would put a max population of the area at about 20,000 including women and children and various slaves.

This is a very large royal tomb, which centuries later served as a Byzantine church.  From the top level you can hop across to other tombs on the cliff face.

There are the ruins of a very large temple in Petra, and the road the visitors are walking upon was original marble from the first century.  This was also the location of the Nymphaeum, a large grotto and the destination of the collections of water from dams, canals and slurries.