- a socio-economic perspective;
- the perspective of Petra Archaeological Park;
- the perspective of Petra’s tourism product;
- a land use perspective;
- an environmental perspective.
Petra (Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ; Ancient Greek: Πέτρα), originally known to the Nabataeans as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological
city in southern Jordan. The city is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system.
Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of
which it is carved. Petra is one of the New7Wonders of the World.
Established
possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Arab Nabataeans, it is a
symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most-visited tourist
attraction. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who took advantage
of Petra's proximity to regional trade routes to establish it as a major
trading hub. The Nabataeans are also known for their great ability in
constructing efficient water-collecting methods in the barren deserts and
their talent in carving structures into solid rocks. Petra lies on the
slope of Jebel
al-Madhbah(identified by some as the biblical Mount Hor) in a basin among
the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the
large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It has
been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since
1985.
The
site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced
by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig
Burckhardt. It was described as "a rose-red city half as old as
time" in a Newdigate
Prize-winning poem by John William Burgon.
UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties
of man's cultural heritage". Petra was named amongst the New7Wonders
of the World in 2007 and was also chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the
"28 Places to See Before You Die".
Geography
Pliny the Elder and
other writers identify Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans and the center
of their caravan trade.
Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a perennial stream,
Petra not only possessed the advantages of a fortress, but controlled the main
commercial routes which passed through it to Gaza in the west,
to Bosra and Damascus in the north,
to Aqaba and Leuce
Come on the Red
Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf.
Excavations
have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the
water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, creating an
artificial oasis. The
area is visited by flash
floods, and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled
these floods by the use of dams, cisterns and water
conduits. These innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought and enabled the
city to prosper from its sale.
In
ancient times, Petra might have been approached from the south on a track
leading across the plain of Petra, around Jabal Haroun ("Aaron's
Mountain"), the location of the Tomb of Aaron, said to
be the burial-place of Aaron,
brother of Moses.
Another approach was possibly from the high plateau to the north. Today, most
modern visitors approach the site from the east. The impressive eastern
entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge (in places only
3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft) wide) called the Siq ("the
shaft"), a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in
the sandstone rocks
and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. At the end of
the narrow gorge stands Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh (popularly
known as and meaning "the Treasury"), hewn into the sandstone cliff.
While remaining in remarkably preserved condition, the face of the structure
is marked by hundreds of bullet holes made by the local Bedouin tribes that
hoped to dislodge riches that were once rumored to be hidden within it.
A
little farther from the Treasury, at the foot of the mountain called en-Nejr, is a massive theatre, positioned so
as to bring the greatest number of tombs within view. At the
point where the valley opens out into the plain, the site of the city is
revealed with striking effect. The amphitheatre has
been cut into the hillside and into several of the tombs during its
construction. Rectangular gaps in the seating are still visible. Almost
enclosing it on three sides are rose-colored mountain walls, divided into
groups by deep fissures and lined with knobs cut from the rock in the form of
towers.
History
Indigenous rule
By
2010 BC, some of the earliest recorded farmers had settled in Beidha, a pre-pottery
settlement just north of Petra.Petra is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts
and the Amarna
letters as Pel, Sela or Seir. Though the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary
has existed there since very ancient times. The Jewish historian, Josephus (ca. 37–100),
describes the region as inhabited by the Madianite nation as early as 1340 BC,
and that the nation was governed by five kings, whom he names: "Rekem;
the city which bears his name ranks highest in the land of the Arabs and to
this day is called by the whole Arabian nation, after the name of its royal
founder, Rekeme: called Petra by the Greeks." The famed architecture
of Petra, and other Nabataean sites, was built during indigenous rule in early
antiquity.
The Semitic name
of the city, if not Sela, remains unknown. The passage in Diodorus Siculus (xix.
94–97) which describes the expeditions which Antigonus sent
against the Nabataeans in 312 BC is understood to throw some light upon the
history of Petra, but the "petra" (rock) referred to as a natural
fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name and the description
implies that the metropolis was not yet in existence, although its place was
used by Arabians.
The
name "Rekem" was inscribed in
the rock wall of the Wadi Musa opposite the entrance to the Siq. However,
Jordan built a bridge over the wadi and this inscription was buried beneath
tons of concrete.
Mid-Antiquity[edit]
In AD
106, when Cornelius
Palma was governor of Syria, the part of Arabia under
the rule of Petra was absorbed into the Roman Empire as
part of Arabia Petraea and became its
capital. The native dynasty came to an end but the city continued to flourish
under Roman rule. It was around this time that the Petra Roman Road was
built. A century later, in the time of Alexander Severus,
when the city was at the height of its splendor, the issue of coinage comes to
an end. There is no more building of sumptuous tombs, owing apparently to some
sudden catastrophe, such as an invasion by the neo-Persian power under
the Sassanid
Empire. Meanwhile, as Palmyra (fl. 130–270) grew in
importance and attracted the Arabian trade away from Petra, the latter
declined. It appears, however, to have lingered on as a religious centre.
Another Roman
road was constructed at the site. Epiphanius of
Salamis (c.315–403) writes that in his time a feast was held there on
December 25 in honor of the virgin Khaabou (Chaabou) and
her offspring Dushara (Panarion LI, 22:9-12). Dushara and
al-Uzza were two of the main deities of the city, which otherwise included
many idols from other Nabatean deities such as Allat and Manat.
Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages
Petra declined rapidly under Roman rule, in large part
from the revision of sea-based trade routes. In 363 an earthquake destroyed many buildings, and
crippled the vital water management system. The last inhabitants
abandoned the city (further weakened by another major earthquake in 551) when
the Arabs conquered the region in 663. The old city of Petra was the
capital of the Byzantine province of Palaestina III and many churches were excavated
in and around Petra from the Byzantine era. In one of them more than 150 papyri were discovered which
contained mainly contracts. The ruins of Petra were an object of
curiosity during the Middle Ages and were visited by Sultan Baibars of
Egypt towards the end of the 13th century. The first European to describe them
was Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt during his travels in
1812. At that time, the Greek Church of Jerusalem operated a diocese in Al Karak named
Battra (باطره in
Arabic, and Πέτρας in Greek) and it was the opinion
among the clergy of Jerusalem that Kerak was the ancient city of Petra.
Because
the structures weakened with age, many of the tombs became vulnerable to
thieves, and many treasures were stolen. In 1929, a four-person team,
consisting of British archaeologists Agnes Conway and George Horsfield,
Palestinian physician and folklore expert Dr Tawfiq Canaan and
Dr Ditlef Nielsen, a Danish scholar, excavated and surveyed Petra.
Numerous
scrolls in Greek and dating to the Byzantine period were
discovered in an excavated church near the Winged Lion Temple in Petra in
December 1993.
T. E. Lawrence
In
October 1917, as part of a general effort to divert Ottoman military resources
away from the British advance before the Third Battle of Gaza,
a revolt of Arabs in Petra was led by British Army officer T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence
of Arabia) against the Ottoman regime. The Bedouin women living in the
vicinity of Petra and under the leadership of Sheik Khallil's wife were
gathered to fight in the revolt of the city. The rebellions, with the support
of British military, were able to devastate the Ottoman forces.
Late 20th century: World Heritage Site designation
The
Bidoul/ Bidul or Petra Bedouin were forcibly resettled from their cave
dwellings in Petra to Umm Sayhoun/ Um Seihun by the Jordanian government in
1985, prior to the UNESCO designation process. Here, they were provided with
block-built housing with some infrastructure including in particular a sewage
and drainage system. Among the six communities in the Petra Region, Umm
Sayhoun is one of the smaller communities. The village of Wadi Musa is the
largest in the area, inhabited largely by the Layathnah Bedouin, and is now
the closest settlement to the visitor centre, the main entrance via the Siq
and the archaeological site generally. Umm Sayhoun gives access to the 'back
route' into the site, the Wadi Turkmaniyeh pedestrian route.
On
December 6, 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.
The
Bidouls belong to one of the Bedu tribes whose cultural heritage and
traditional skills were proclaimed by UNESCO on the Intangible
Cultural Heritage List in 2005 and inscribed in 2008.
In
2011, following an 11-month project planning phase, the Petra Development and
Tourism Region Authority in Association with DesignWorkshop and JCP s.r.l
published a Strategic Master Plan that guides planned development of the Petra
Region. This is intended to guide planned development of the Petra Region in
an efficient, balanced and sustainable way over the next 20 years for the
benefit of the local population and of Jordan in general. As part of this, a
Strategic Plan was developed for Umm Sayhoun and surrounding areas.
The
process of developing the Strategic Plan considered the area's needs from five
points of view:
Petra today
27
sites in Petra are now available on Google Street View.
In
2016, archaeologists discovered a large, previously unknown monumental
structure buried beneath the sands of Petra using satellite imagery.
Threats
The
site suffers from a host of threats, including collapse of ancient structures,
erosion from flooding and improper rainwater drainage, weathering from salt
upwelling, improper restoration of ancient structures and unsustainable
tourism. The last has increased substantially, especially since the site
received widespread media coverage in 2007 during the New Seven
Wonders of the World Internet and cellphone campaign.
In an
attempt to reduce the impact of these threats, the Petra National Trust (PNT)
was established in 1989. It has worked with numerous local and international
organizations on projects that promote the protection, conservation, and
preservation of the Petra site. Moreover, UNESCO and ICOMOS recently
collaborated to publish their first book on human and natural threats to the
sensitive World Heritage sites. They chose Petra as its first and the most
important example of threatened landscapes. A book released in 2012, Tourism and Archaeological Heritage Management at
Petra: Driver to Development or Destruction?, was the first in a series
of important books to address the very nature of these deteriorating
buildings, cities, sites, and regions. The next books in the series of
deteriorating UNESCO World Heritage Sites will include Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and Pompeii.