The ancient Nabataean city of Petra (pictured), in the southern part of the Kingdom 160 miles (257km) from Amman, is Jordan’s most famous tourist attraction. Known as the “rose red city”, it was once a fortress, carved out of craggy rocks in an area which was virtually inaccessible. The city was first settled in about 800B.C. by the Nabataean tribe from northern Arabia, the city reached the peak of its fame in the second century, under Roman rule. A succession of habitation, leadership and development followed but, as the caravan routes were slowly displaced by shipping, the city’s importance gradually dwindled; it fell into disuse and was lost to the world for over a thousand years. In 1812 it was re-discovered by the Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt and is now a favourite with tourists from all over the world. The Nabataeans were builders of great skill, carving their city from the living rock. Working from the top down, they sliced off huge slabs of stone, using the two-metre ledge thus formed as scaffolding for the masons to stand on. Entablatures and capitals were carved before another slab was removed in the same way, to make another platform, from which facades and columns were carved and the deep chambers beyond were hollowed out. In this way, the builders were able to descend ten storeys to the valley floor below. Petra is approached through a narrow, deep gorge or siq, which winds for about 1km through a massive wall of rock. This is at some points less than three metres wide and its vertical walls tower to a height of 70 metres, making Petra one of the best-defended cities of all time. At the end of the siq appears the impressive monument of el Khazneh, the Treasury. This is an enormous royal tomb, which was carved out of solid rock in the side of the mountain. Beyond this, a stairway cut in the rock takes the visitor to rock-carved streets lined with hundreds of temples, royal tombs, large and small houses, banqueting halls, water channels and reservoirs, baths, monumental staircases, markets, arched gates, public buildings and paved streets. There is also a gigantic Roman theatre, seating 3,000. Visitors can reach Petra from Amman by the Desert Highway, a journey which takes about three hours. Travelling by the King’s Highway, which is an historic scenic, winding road, takes much longer — a minimum of five hours. From Aqaba, the drive is about 82 miles (133km), but as the highway usually has heavy traffic, visitors should allow plenty of time if using this route.

Some writers have estimated that Petra might have had a population of 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. Interestingly enough, few academic sources substantiate these figures. (originally derived by a journalist). There was a limited amount of room within Petra’s city walls. If we calculated, say, 10 people to a household, this would come to at least 2000 large houses. The problem with this is that there was very little room within the city proper for private housing. The great majority all of the buildings uncovered to date have been public buildings. As an example, consider the market places. For years, part of Petra was deemed as having upper, middle, and lower marketplaces. When archaeologists decided to excavate the lower market in 1998, they discovered a series of public pools, gardens, and waterworks.

According to certain traditions it was in the region of Petra that Miriam, the sister of Moses, died and was buried. Her mountaintop shrine was still shown to pilgrims at the time of St. Jerome in the 4th century AD but its location has not been identified since. Some scholars have suggested that the temple of Al Deir may be the site of her grave but this was certainly not the original or the primary use of the temple.

The splendid ruins of Petra, which were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, have for some years been faced with a worrying threat; salt blown in from the Dead Sea is encrusting the relatively delicate sandstone and slowly weakening the buildings.

Other important sacred places in Petra include Al-Madbah, The High Place of Sacrifice, on the summit of Jabal Madbah; a cult site devoted to the spirit of water on the mountain of Umm al-Biyara; the mountain of el-Barra where stands Aaron’s tomb; and, at the entrance of Petra, three massive Jinn (spirit) stones sacred to the local tribes. Fifty miles north of Petra, on the peak of Jebel Tannur, stands the important Nabataean shrine of Khirbet Tannur.