Petra the Gingery Legend of the Desert

I have desired to see Petra from that day when I first read about this breathtaking historical and architectural monument. At that moment its description as The Rose City caught my mind very deeply. Later I have discovered new names like: City Frozen in Time, The Pearl of Multicolored Cliffs and The Residence of the Dead.

All of them electrified my imagination, fueled my curiosity and encouraged to know as much as possible about this stone carved masterpiece.

The gates to Petra opened more widely when this Jordan’s miracle was recognized as one of the seven wonders of the new world. And finally I found an opportunity to admire this gingery legend of the desert.

Petra is stunning

The blend of landscape’s beauty and architectural mastery is astonishing! Massive relief mountains with canyons, rifts and cliffs stretch for many kilometers. Vivid colors alternate with each other on their stones. Red stripes alternate with white, or a yellow, purple, blue or black color interrupts them.

The overall color of the cliffs is ginger. Some of the cliffs are so steep and having a very strange shape as if they were touched by sculptor’s hand. It is most likely that these formations of nature inspired ideas to many builders of the famous Muslim mosques.

"The Lost" city

It is said that it is best to visit Petra, the ancient city engraved in the cliffs, which was mentioned the first time in the VII century B.C, in early morning. The most astonishing view is when the treasury building is perfused by light in sunrise, but it only lasts for 15 minutes.

Consequently most of the tourists wake up with the dark and rush to the entrance to the rift valley, leading to the city hidden in the mountains. Yes, to the entrance, not to the driveway, though the road among cliffs ranges for more than a kilometer. The cars don’t drive here...

Rumors about ancient city, lost among cliffs and dunes, excited minds of European people more than a one century. And its inaccessibility burned the imagination further more. However the entire efforts to locate this city were fruitless. Fading in time, Petra gained more and more features of unreality, till finally in August of 1812 it was located.

The founder of it is a Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Hoping to find the lost city, this man went on a trip only with one caravan from Damascus to Cairo. By the way, during the expedition he had to pretend being a Muslim, who wanted to make a sacrifice on prophet’s Aaron tomb in Petra. The discovery of J.L.Burkhardt

Mountains, where one of the Bedouins brought the scientist seemed impassable from the distance. Most suddenly a narrow passage to the deep rift appeared before the eyes of the travelers. In the bottom of this meandrous canyon the ruins of the lost Nabatean capital Petra were found. J.L.Burkhardt was the first European in the last 600 years, who was lucky to see this marvelous architectural masterpiece.

As it turned out later, Petra was considered a lost city with no reason. It wasn’t lost, besides it is hardly believable that the residents of it would have wanted to hide from the other nations of the world by such strange reason. The fact is that accidentally (or perhaps with purpose) Muslim geographers pointed out the location of it not very accurately in the maps.

Back in XVIII century, when the works of Flavius Josephus were about to be released, the location of Petra was still precise. However, the later inaccuracies in various maps and descriptions had led to the perverted idea of Petra’s location, consequently J.L.Burkhardt’s discovery become a sensation immediately.

The mysterious capital of Nabatean people

Petra was the capital of Nabatean tribes, which ruled the south of Jordan in VII century B.C.. There is not much known about Nabateans, except that they were nomads and settled in Petra just because of it’s geographical location. The most important caravan routes linking China, India and Arabia with Egypt and Mediterranean region were going through the rifts of Petra. Nabateans had enough water, while the impassable cliffs guarded the city from the onslaughts of the enemies.

In the first century A.D. the treasures of Petra aroused the grudge of the Roman Empire and the Nabatean land became part of their empire. Romans fetched in architectural novelties, but this didn’t bring the prosperity to the Nabatean land. The caravans went on different routes and Petra started losing its influence.

Later in the VI century, the city became the part of the Christian Byzantine. However, because of the frequent earthquakes its residents began leaving the city. The last constructions here were held in XII century, during the times of the Crusades. Consequently after a short period of time only the local Bedouins lived in the caves, mosques and mausoleums of the city. The entire remaining world forgot Petra.

In the year 1984 the government of Jordan evicted Bedouins from Petra’s caves and buildings and the city became the most important place of sightseeing in the whole country. The tourists are swarming Petra from all over the world. The evicted and accommodated in the civilized premises Bedouins also were not left behind. They quickly realized that tourists may provide as much benefits as the grown goats and sharply overloaded Petra with booths of souvenirs. Rugs, knives, books, postcards, jewelry, phials with colorful sand, stone articles, "the real Bedouinian tea" made from salvias are just a small part of what is offered for the exotic-thirsty tourists.

The tourists also can use the facilities of the local transport. If you don’t want to fatigue your legs – sit on the camel spruced with colorful blanket or on the back of the donkey and ride enjoying the outstanding views.

Far before the entrance to the rift Bedouins await tourists with horses and wagonettes. If you sit in, it will bring you straight to the most important Petra’s buildings - the so called treasury house. And bring you back at the appointed time. Some people from the same group as I was, surrendered to the temptation to ride that wagonette (it is not very easy to walk about eight hours for some people). However, later they had to admit that it can confuse your stomach quite much as the road is cobbly and the horse runs as fast as he wants.

Signatures of the century on the stones

Even in the I century B.C a famous historian Strabo described Nabateans by exalting their civilization. Later it was also proved by archeological findings. A part of them we are able to see in the museum inside the Petra itself, the other part is kept at the national museum in Amman.

The traces of Greek or Egyptian culture could be seen in the art of Nabatean people. However, the Nabateans also had influence on the art of the other countries. The people of this ancient country spoke the language of their own and their alphabet was similar to one of Jews and Aramaeans. Their religion also derived from the same Arabian Peninsula, reasoned with the faith of many Gods.

The most important Nabatean deity was Dusharres, coined on most of the Nabatean coins. This major deity was mostly figured with the shape of bull, eagle, lion or snake. We were able to see many of these shapes cut in stone in various places of Petra.

You can wander in Petra for many days, because there are so much unique architectural monuments. One of the most famous buildings is Chaznat-el- Farun, also known as the treasury house. However, it is most likely that Chaznat-el-Farun was built as a resting-place for Nabatean king Areth III in the first century B.C.

These places are also closely connected with the Bible’s prophet Moses. One of the legends says that exactly from the cliff located in Petra’s vicinity Moses had gathered water to quench the thirst of his compatriots.

Nabateans had built many shrines in Petra, which unlike the necropolis, are not cut in cliffs, but stands like separate buildings. By this day there are about 800 outstanding architectural monuments remaining in Petra. However, local residents didn’t make exceptional importance to the living premises, a small and humble shelter was enough for them.

When Nabatean capital lost it’s significance the city turned into necropolis. It is the same now as it was at that time. A real monument to the diligent and creative ancient people.