Petra – World Wonder of Valuable Treasure

Petra is derived from the Latin word `petrae’ which means `rock’, and lies in a rift valley east of Wadi Araba, in Jordon which is about 80 km south of the Dead Sea. It was inhabited since prehistoric times and this city was the principal city of ancient Nabataea situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and became famous for trade and its hydraulic engineering systems which were locally autonomous till the reign of Trajan though it flourished during the Roman rule.

Petra is a world wonder with valuable treasure and has been drawing many tourists to its destination. It is a unique city carved into rock face by the Nabataeans who were industrial Arab people and had settled there, more than 2000 years ago and who had turned this destination into an important junction for silk, spice as well as other trade routes which linked India, China and southern Arabia with Egypt, Greece, Rome and Syria.

 It was first discovered by the Cincinnati Art Museum in 1994 and joined with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in a long attempt toretrieve the 200 unique objects for exhibition.

Petra Half Built/Carved

Petra is half built and carved into the rock, surrounded by mountains with mysterious passages and gorges and is also one of the most famous archaeological sites blending ancient Eastern traditions with Hellenistic architecture.

The easiest entrance to the city is through the Siq, which is a narrow winding cleft in the rock that ranges between 5 to 200 meters wide and its awesome state of preservation is due to the fact that all of its hundreds of building have been carved out of solid rock with only a few free standing buildings in the city. Many of these caves were the homes of the local Bedouins till 1984.

To preserve the monument, the government had outlawed this and had directed the Bedouins to houses near the town adjacent to Wadi Mousa. The colour and the formation of these rocks were dazzling and as one reaches the end of the Siq one will get the first glimpse of Al-Khazneh – Treasury which is 30m wide and 43m high, carved out of the dusky pink rock face, overlooking everything that surrounds it. This had been carved during the 1st century as the tomb of an important king of Nabataean which portrays the engineering skills of the people belonging to this period.

The Treasury – Roman Style Theatre – Ad-Dier Monastery

The Treasury is one of the many wonders which make Petra very appealing and worth exploring which takes at least four to five days to explore. When one enters the Petra valley the natural beauty with its outstanding architectural achievements is mind blowing.

The Roman style theatre has a capacity of 3,000 people and has obelisks, temples, sacrificial altars accompanied with colonnaded streets while high above is the impressive Ad-Deir Monastery overlooking the valley with a flight of 800 rock cut steps leading the tourist there.

Another most interesting site besides many other places to explore is the High Place of Sacrifice which is one and a half hour trip which is best done in the early hours of morning.