Petra
The Nabataean City Carved From Rock
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The book traces Petra's rise from Iron Age Edom through its Roman period, Byzantine influence, and later Crusader and Mamluk occupations. Chapters cover the city's sophisticated water management systems, Hellenistic architecture, and religious practices including early Christianity and later Islamic connections. The work also examines Petra's geostrategic importance and its rediscovery by Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt in 1812.
Anyone interested in ancient Middle Eastern civilizations will find this comprehensive guide rewarding, especially those seeking to understand how desert cities could flourish through trade, engineering, and cultural adaptation.
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During the Iron Age, which lasted from 1200 to 600 BC, the area around Petra was home to the Edomites. The region’s mountainous layout created a natural water reservoir, giving the Edomites a key advantage. This made Petra a popular resting place for traveling merchants. Trade flourished there, with goods like wines, olive oil, and wood being exchanged.
The Edomites were not alone in the region; they came with nomads who eventually left, but the Edomites chose to stay and leave their own mark on what would later become known as Petra. Before the Nabataeans arrived, the Edomites had already made their presence felt. There is a story that tells of 10,000 men being thrown from the mountain Umm el-Biyara, though scholars have questioned the truth of this account.
At the site of Umm el-Biyara mountain in Edom, archaeologists discovered evidence of a settlement established no earlier than the seventh century BC. This location, known as Petra, marks an important moment in the region's history during the Iron II period. The findings show that this area was inhabited and developed during this time, reflecting the growing influence and activity of the Edomites. The seventh century BC stands as a key date in understanding how the land was used and shaped by people living there. This site helps trace the development of communities in ancient Edom, especially during this specific era. It's a reminder that even before the rise of major empires, people were already building and organizing life in places like Petra. The timeline places this settlement firmly within the broader context of Iron Age history.
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The Nabataeans were one of several Bedouin tribes that moved through the Arabian Desert with their herds, following water and pasture. At first, they were part of Aramaic culture, but many modern scholars now say they were actually from northern Arabia. Archaeological, religious, and language evidence supports this. The Nabataeans called Petra by the name Raqēmō, which appears in old inscriptions as rqmw or rqm.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the region was home to the Midianites during Moses's time, and they were ruled by five kings, one of whom was named Rekem. Later, the historian Josephus wrote that a city called Petra by the Greeks "ranks highest in the land of the Arabs," and it was still known as Rekeme by the Arabs of his era, after its royal founder. The Onomasticon of Eusebius also identified Rekem as Petra. The Arabic word raqama means "to mark" or "to decorate," so Rekeme may have been a Nabataean term referring to the city's famous carved rock facades. In 1964, workers clearing rubble at the cliff entrance to the gorge discovered funerary inscriptions in Nabatean script. One was to a man named Petraios, who was born in Raqmu—also known as Rekem—and buried in Garshu, which is Jerash.
There was once a theory that Petra might be the same place as Sela, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The Encyclopædia Britannica from 1911 noted that if the city’s name wasn’t Sela, it might remain unknown to us. Still, it pointed out that Sela simply means “rock” in Hebrew, and that doesn’t necessarily connect it to a specific city named in the biblical text, like the one in the book of Obadiah. The city could have been part of the nation of Edom.
Diodorus Siculus, writing in the late first century BCE, described the Nabataeans as a nomadic group living a mobile life in the desert. At that time, they moved with their herds, and their way of life was shaped by the belief that ownership brought vulnerability to those who possessed it. This understanding of power and possession would not remain constant, for as the centuries passed, the Nabataeans would transform dramatically. Their early beliefs about wealth and control would give way to a new reality, one where they grew in influence and prosperity, eventually carving a great city from the very rock itself.
In 312 BC, Antigonus sent expeditions against the Nabataeans, and some researchers have looked to those events to understand Petra's early history. The term "petra," meaning rock in Greek, was used to describe a natural fortress and place of refuge, but it cannot be taken as the name of a town. The description suggests that no permanent settlement existed there at the time.
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In 106, when Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus governed Roman Syria, Petra became part of the Roman Empire as Arabia Petraea. The native dynasty ended, but the city kept growing under Roman rule. Around that time, the Petra Roman Road was built. A hundred years later, during Severus Alexander’s reign, the city reached its peak. That’s when coinage stopped being made, and no more grand tombs were constructed, likely due to a sudden disaster like a Sasanian invasion.
While Palmyra grew in importance between 130 and 270, drawing trade away from Petra, the city still functioned as a religious center. A new Roman road was built at the site. Epiphanius of Salamis, who lived around 315 to 403, wrote that people celebrated a feast on December 25 in honor of the virgin Khaabou and her child Dushara. Dushara and al-Uzza were among the main gods worshipped there, along with other deities like Allat and Manat, reflecting the diverse religious practices of the Nabataean city.
Between 111 and 114, Trajan commissioned the Via Traiana Nova, a road stretching from the Syrian border to the Red Sea through Petra, following ancient Nabataean caravan routes. Under the Pax Romana, this path reinvigorated trade between Arabia, Syria, and Mediterranean ports. In 125 AD, one of Emperor Hadrian’s administrators left traces in Petra, noted in documents discovered at the Dead Sea. Then in 130, Hadrian himself visited the former Nabataean capital, renaming it Hadriānī Petra Metropolis and marking the occasion on his coins. His visit did not spark major construction like it did in Jerash. Instead, the province’s governor Sextius Florentinus built a grand mausoleum for his son near the end of the al-Hubta tombs, a site that had been reserved for Nabataean royalty.
Roman emperors continued to value Petra well into the third century, as shown by an inscription dedicated to Liber Pater, a god worshipped by Emperor Septimius Severus, found in the temple of Qasr al-Bint. Silver coins bearing the emperor’s image and pottery from his time were also discovered in Nabataean tombs. Later, in the late third century, Emperor Elagabalus made Petra a Roman colony as he reorganized the empire. The region stretching from Petra to Wadi Mujib, the Negev, and the Sinai Peninsula was then added to the province of Palaestina Salutaris. A map from Emperor Justinian I’s reign, known as the Madaba Map, does not include Petra at all.
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Petra never fully recovered from its decline under Roman rule, especially after sea-based trade routes shifted away from it. In 363, an earthquake struck the city, destroying many buildings and damaging the crucial water system. By the time the Byzantine period began, Petra was the capital of the province of Palaestina III. Churches were built throughout the area, and in one of them, the Byzantine Church, archaeologists found 140 papyri. These documents, mostly contracts from the 530s to 590s, show that life continued in Petra well into the sixth century. The Byzantine Church stands as a major example of the monumental architecture that survived in the city during this time.
The final trace of Petra under Byzantine control is found in the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, composed in the early 600s. He recounts a story involving the city’s bishop, Athenogenes. Sometime before 687, Petra no longer served as a metropolitan see, its role instead shifting to Areopolis. After that time, the city vanishes from Byzantine documents. It is absent from accounts of the Muslim conquest of the Levant and does not appear in early Islamic writings.
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In the 12th century, the Crusaders built fortresses like the Alwaeira Castle, but they were eventually forced to abandon Petra. After that, the site was lost for centuries until it was rediscovered in the 19th century.
In the Crusader period, two castles stood near Petra: al-Wu'ayra, just north of Wadi Musa, visible from the road to Little Petra. It was seized by a group of Turks with local Muslim help, but the Crusaders reclaimed it after beginning to destroy the olive trees of Wadi Musa. The threat to the locals’ livelihood led them to negotiate its surrender. The second castle was located on the summit of el-Habis, in the center of Petra, accessible from the West side of the Qasr al-Bint.
During the Middle Ages, the ruins of Petra drew curiosity from travelers and rulers alike. One such figure was Baibars, who became one of the first Mamluk sultans of Egypt. He visited Petra toward the end of the 13th century, marking an early chapter in the city’s later history.
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The first person to describe Petra was a Swiss traveler named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who visited in 1812 during his journeys in the region. At that time, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem had a local diocese in al-Karak, which they called Battra, using the Arabic name باطره and the ancient Greek name Πέτρας. The clergy there believed that Kerak was the site of the ancient city of Petra.
James Burckhardt, already fluent in Arabic, was traveling toward the Niger River when reports reached him of a vanished city said to house the tomb of Prophet Aaron. Intrigued, he decided to seek it out. Disguising himself as a local and speaking only Arabic, he carried a goat intended for sacrifice at the site. Just a single day into his search, he felt certain he had discovered the lost city of Petra.
In 1828, Léon de Laborde and Louis-Maurice-Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds produced the first precise drawings of Petra. Ten years later, in 1839, the Scottish artist David Roberts explored the site and returned to Britain with sketches and accounts that were later published in his book The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia. In 1868, the renowned American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church visited Petra and created a painting titled El Khasné, which is considered one of his most significant documented works. Then, in December 1909, missionary Archibald Forder shared photographs of Petra in a National Geographic issue.
In 1929, a team of four began work in Petra, surveying and excavating the ancient site. Among them were British archaeologists Agnes Conway and George Horsfield. Also part of the group was Tawfiq Canaan, a Palestinian physician and expert in folklore. The Danish scholar Ditlef Nielsen completed the team. The structures had grown weak over time, leaving many tombs open to theft, and treasures had been taken. This expedition marked an important effort to study and preserve what remained of the Nabataean city carved from rock.
Philip Hammond, an archaeologist from the University of Utah, spent nearly four decades in Petra. He noted that local stories claim the site was formed by Moses’s staff striking the rock to provide water for the Israelites. Hammond also suggested that the deep channels carved into the walls and ground were once filled with ceramic pipes. These pipes carried water throughout the city, sourced from systems cut into the canyon rim.
In the 1980s, the Bedul Bedouin, who had once called Petra home, were moved by the Jordanian government to a new place called Umm Sayhoun, a process that took twenty years. This relocation was part of larger plans to settle Bedouin groups and boost tourism in Petra. The Bedul, whose name means “the changing ones,” have oral stories about converting to Islam at a later time in their history, possibly connecting them to Jewish or Nabatean roots. Today, they continue traditional activities while also working in local tourism, alongside the more well-known Liyathnah tribe.
In December 1993, archaeologists uncovered a church near the Temple of the Winged Lions in Petra, and inside it, they found several scrolls written in Greek. These scrolls date back to the Byzantine period, long after Petra had fallen from its former glory. The discovery was made during an excavation, and the scrolls themselves offer a glimpse into the religious and cultural life that persisted in this ancient city far into the medieval era. Though much of Petra’s history remains buried beneath the sand, these documents remind us that people continued to live, worship, and leave traces of their existence long after the Nabataeans had vanished.
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Petra sits close to Jabal Al-Madbah, nestled in a basin surrounded by mountains that mark the eastern edge of the Arabah valley. This valley stretches from the Dead Sea all the way down to the Gulf of Aqaba. The city was built into the rock, carved out of the sandstone cliffs that rise around it. Its location in this narrow valley made it both defensible and strategic, controlling trade routes between Arabia and the Mediterranean. The surrounding mountains frame the site like a natural amphitheater, giving Petra its dramatic setting. This geography helped shape not only how the city was built but also how it grew and flourished as a center of commerce. The basin where Petra lies was a key point in ancient trade networks, linking distant lands through this mountain pass.
Excavations show that the Nabataeans built their desert city by mastering water control, turning it into an artificial oasis. Though the area gets flash floods, they managed the flow using dams, cisterns, and conduits. This system stored water during dry times and allowed the city to thrive—selling surplus water was part of their success.
Petra, the ancient Nabataean city carved into sandstone cliffs, could once be reached from the south along a path that crossed the plain of Petra and wound around Jabal Haroun, also known as Aaron’s Mountain, where the Tomb of Aaron is said to lie. Another route may have led from the northern high plateau. Today, most visitors arrive from the east, walking down a dramatic stone passage called the Siq, a narrow gorge only three to four meters wide in places, formed by natural splits in the rock and once used as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa.
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Petra is famous for its Hellenistic architecture, a style that shows up clearly in the tomb facades carved into the rock. These tombs reflect the many cultures the Nabataeans traded with, all shaped by Greek influence. Most of the tombs have small niches where bodies were placed for burial.
The Treasury stands as perhaps the finest example of Hellenistic style, echoing the architecture of Alexandria with its 24-meter width and 37-meter height. Its facade features a broken pediment enclosing a central tholos, while two obelisks seem to grow from the rock above. At the base, the twin Greek gods Castor and Pollux guard travelers on their journeys. Near the top, two victories flank a female figure on the tholos believed to be Isis-Tyche, the Egyptian and Greek goddesses of good fortune.
The Monastery in Petra stands 45 meters tall and 50 meters wide, making it the city’s largest monument, carved directly into the rock face. Its facade includes a broken pediment, like the Treasury, and a central tholos, showing both Greek architectural influence and Nabataean style. The only light comes from its 8-meter-high entrance. A large, flat area outside was used for worship, first by Christians during the Byzantine period and now as a site for pilgrims.
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At the end of the narrow gorge called the Siq stands Petra's most famous ruin, known popularly as Al-Khazneh, or "the Treasury," carved directly into the sandstone cliff. The structure remains in remarkably good condition, though its surface bears hundreds of bullet holes. These were made by local Bedouin tribes who believed that hidden riches once lay inside the monument.
At the base of en-Nejr, not far from the Treasury, a vast theatre was carved into the rock, cutting through several tombs and the hillside itself. From where the valley opens into the plain, the city’s layout is revealed in sharp view. This theatre, built to hold about 8,500 spectators, hosted poetry readings, dramas, and gladiator fights. While gladiatorial contests drew the largest crowds, they rarely led to fame due to the deadly risks involved. The structure was later damaged by the 363 Galilee earthquake. Rectangular gaps in the seating still mark where sections once stood. Rose-colored cliffs rise on three sides, split by deep cracks and topped with towers carved from the stone.
The heart of Petra features a complex of structures known as the Petra Pool and Garden Complex, located right in the city center. At first thought to be a marketplace, further study has revealed it was actually an ornate Nabataean garden. This garden included a large swimming pool, an island pavilion, and a detailed system of water channels that moved water throughout the space.
Before the Petra Pool and Garden Complex, there was a colonnaded street, one of the few parts of Petra built rather than carved from the rock. This street once held a semi-circle nymphaeum, now ruined by flash floods, and a single tree, meant to represent the calm the Nabataens had created in their city. When the Romans took over, they narrowed the street to make space for a sidewalk and added 72 columns on each side.
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The High Place of Sacrifice sits high on Jebel Madbah Mountain, reachable by an 800-step climb from Petra’s theatre. Among the rituals performed there was libation, and animal sacrifice was also common. This practice was connected to the belief that the tomb of the Prophet Aaron lies in Petra, making it a sacred place for Muslims. As a result, a goat was sacrificed each year in honor of this site. The area was also used for burning frankincense during other ceremonies.
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The Royal Tombs of Petra showcase the Nabatean adaptation of Hellenistic style, though their facades have faded over time from natural wear. One of these tombs, known as the Palace Tomb, is believed to hold the remains of Petra’s kings. Nearby, the Corinthian Tomb displays the same architectural elements seen at the Treasury. The Silk Tomb and the Urn Tomb are the other two royal tombs, with the latter standing out more due to its large front yard. In 446 AD, the Urn Tomb was converted into a church as Christianity spread.
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In 2016, archaeologists using satellite imagery and drones found a massive, previously unknown structure dating to around 150 BC, the start of the Nabataeans’ public building program. It sits outside the main city area, at the foot of Jabal an-Nmayr, about half a mile south of the center. The site faces east, away from the city, and has no clear connection to it. The structure is built around a huge platform measuring 184 by 161 feet, with a grand staircase on its eastern side. Inside that, there's a smaller enclosed platform, topped by a modest, 28-by-28-foot building also facing east toward the stairs. Only the Monastery complex is larger, and while its purpose remains unclear, researchers have yet to offer a convincing explanation for its ceremonial role.
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Pliny the Elder and other ancient writers identified Petra as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, a city built into towering rock and sustained by a steady stream. This location gave it the strength of a fortress, but also placed it at the heart of important trade routes. Caravans traveling from Gaza in the west, Bosra and Damascus to the north, and Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea all passed through Petra. From there, goods moved across the desert toward the Persian Gulf. The city’s natural defenses and strategic position made it a crucial hub for commerce and control over regional networks.
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The Nabataeans practiced a religion rooted in Arab gods and goddesses before Islam, also honoring a few of their rulers who were made divine after death. One such king was Obodas I, who was deified in 85 BC. Their main god was Dushara, often accompanied by three female deities: Al-‘Uzzā, Allat, and Manāt. Statues of these figures were carved into the rock itself. Recent findings suggest that Nabataean beliefs were connected to Earth-Sun relationships, with important structures in Petra aligned to mark equinoxes and solstices.
The Monastery in Petra, the largest structure there, was built in the 1st century BC. It was dedicated to a god named Obodas I, and it’s thought to have served as the symposium of that deity. The name “Monastery” comes from the Arabic Ad Deir, which is written on the ruins themselves.
The Temple of the Winged Lions stands as a grand complex from the time of King Aretas IV, who ruled from 9 BC until 40 AD. It sits in Petra’s Sacred Quarter, at the end of the main Colonnaded Street. This sacred area includes two impressive temples: the Qasr al-Bint and its counterpart, the Temple of the Winged Lions, which rises on the northern side of Wadi Musa.
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Christianity reached Petra in the 4th century AD, some 500 years after the city had risen as a key trade hub. The spread of the faith took hold over the course of that century and into the early 5th. It began in 330 AD when Constantine I, known as Constantine the Great, became Rome’s first Christian emperor. Alongside Licinius, he issued a decree ending the persecution of Christians across the empire. Athanasius refers to a bishop of Petra named Asterius. One of the tombs, now called the "Urn Tomb," was later adapted for worship. A red-painted inscription commemorates its dedication “in the time of the most holy bishop Jason” (447).
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After the First Crusade, King Baldwin I of Jerusalem took control of part of Transjordan, including Petra, and established it as the second fief of the barony of Krak within the lordship of Oultrejordain. The area was known by the title Château de la Valée de Moyse or Sela, and remained under Frankish rule until 1189. Even today, Petra holds the status of a titular see within the Catholic Church — a historical reminder of its significance in the region.
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According to tradition, Petra is the place where Moses struck a rock with his staff and water flowed forth, and where his brother Aaron is buried on Mount Hor, known in Arabic as Jabal Haroun. This placement of Aaron’s death near Petra goes back at least to the time of Josephus, who wrote about it in his Antiquities IV. 4, 7. A church was later built in the saddle beneath the peak in the 5th century, becoming the center of a monastery visited by pilgrims. One document from the Petra papyri, dated 573, refers to it as “the House of ... High Priest Aaron.” The valley leading to Petra is called Wadi Musa, or “Wadi of Moses,” in Arabic.
A shrine dedicated to Miriam, Moses’ sister, stood on a mountaintop and was still visible to pilgrims in the time of Jerome during the 4th century. At that time, visitors could see the site, but today its exact location has been lost to history. The place was known as a shrine, not just a simple landmark, and it connected people to the biblical figures Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Even though the structure itself is gone, its memory remained for centuries, marking a traditional link between the holy figures and the land where they were said to have lived.
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