PETRA THE GREAT TEMPLE,JORDON

KHAZNA
The site of Petra has been inhabited since very ancient times. Remains from the Paleolithic and the Neolithic periods have been discovered at Petra, and the biblical Edomites (Genesis 14:6, 36:20-30; Deut. 2:12) occupied the area about 1200 BC.

PETRA MAP

Petra may be the city of Sela (which, like Petra, means "Rock") mentioned in the Old Testament (Judges 1:36; Isaiah 16:1, 42:11; Obad. 3; 2 Kings 14:7; 2 Chr. 25:12), but this is not certain.

Petra achieved its greatest importance under the Nabataeans, an ancient people whose original homeland was in northeastern Arabia. They migrated westward in the 6th century BC and eventually settled at Petra. Little is known about the Nabateans' history before 312 BC, when Petra was unsuccessfully attacked by Seleucid forces. The High Place of Sacrifice was probably built during this time.


DEIR,THE WINDOW PICTURE
As the Seleucid kingdom weakened in the 2nd century BC, the Nabataean kingdom increased in strength. The chief source of the Nabataeans' prosperity and power was their monopoly on the caravan spice trade that involved such distant places as China, Egypt, Greece, and India and passed from the Arabian interior to the coast.

By the 1st century BC the rich and powerful Nabataean kingdom that extended from Damascus in the north to the Red Sea in the south, and Petra was home to as many as 30,000 people. It was during this period that the most impressive structures of Petra were built, including the Treasury, the Great Temple and the Qasr el-Bint el-Faroun.


THEATER
A significant key to the city's success was the Nabataeans' ability to control and conserve water. Conduits and the remains of terracotta piping can be seen along the walls of the Outer Siq, which was part of an elaborate system for channelling water around the city.

Upon the Roman general Pompey's entry into Palestine (63 BC), the Nabataean King Aretas III became a Roman vassal, but he retained Damascus and his other conquests. Damascus was later annexed by the Roman emperor Nero (reigned AD 54–68).

In 105-106 AD the Roman emperor Trajan annexed the Nabatean kingdom as part of a major military campaign on Rome's eastern frontiers. The former Nabataean kingdom became the Roman province of Arabia Petraea. Bostra (Bozrah), east of the Jordan River, was chosen by the Romans as the provincial capital instead of Petra.

The final period of Nabataean history was one of peaceful prosperity as allies of Rome. Although after Roman annexation the Nabateans ceased to be an identifiable political group, Petra continued to thrive culturally. Hellenistic and Roman influences may be traced in the royal coinage, temple art, and rock-cut architecture at Petra.

In the 1st century AD the Siq was paved and the impressive classical theater was constructed. After annexation, Roman touches were added to Petra such as the colonnaded cardo (main street). A Nabataean-style tomb was built in Petra for the Roman governor of Arabia Sextius Florentius (127 AD), and a high-ranking Roman soldier was buried in another tomb. The Urn Tomb also dates from this period (2nd-3rd century).


ALTER IN CHURCH

Christianity arrived in the 4th century, and a Byzantine church, whose ruins can still be seen at Petra, was built around 450-500 AD. Various tombs and temples at Petra were also used as churches, including the Monastery (a cross carved in the wall gave the structure its popular name) and the Urn Tomb (turned into a church in 447).

But changing trade routes in the 2nd and 3rd centuires had already cause Petra's gradual commercial decline, and in 511, an especially bad earthquake (there were many) sealed the city's fate. Significant habitation of Petra seems to have ceased not long after this point, although there is evidence for a remodeling of the Petra Church around 600 AD.

Islam arrived in the Arab invasion of the 7th century. Aaron's tomb, on a mountain near Petra, is an important Muslim shrine (holy also to Jews and Christians) and dates from the 14th century.

A Crusader outpost was built in Petra in the 12th century. After the Crusades, Petra became a "lost city," known only to local Arabs. It would lie hidden from the Western world for more than 500 years.

Petra was rediscovered by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812. The Swiss explorer was a brilliant student with a thirst for adventure, and in 1809 he was contracted by a London-based association to explore the "interior parts of Africa." Three years later, after intense study of Islam and Arabic, Burckhardt disguised himself as a Muslim scholar, took the name Ibrahim ibn Abdullah, and set out for Egypt. On his way, however, he was lured by local tales of a lost city in the mountains. Using the pretence that he wanted to offer a sacrifice to the Prophet Aaron, he convinced a guide to take him there, and in 1812 he became the first modern Westerner to see Petra.

After Burckhardt's discvoery, almost 50 visitors between 1818 and 1898, followed in his footsteps and published their impressions of the site throughout the 19th century. But until the 1920s, Petra was an inaccessible and inhospitable city where strangers were not particularly welcome.

In World War I, the British hero T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") famously assisted Arab tribes revolting against Turkish rule. Beginning in 1916, he led many Arab guerilla operations in the desert, some launched from Wadi Rum near Petra. In one such operation, he trapped Turkish soldiers in the Siq in Petra.

Excavations from 1958 on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and, later, the American Center of Oriental Research added greatly to knowledge of Petra. Further excavations begun in 1993 revealed several more temples and monuments that provide insight into the political, social, and religious traditions of the ancient city.

In 1985 Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

CONNECTING LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
EXCAVATION OF PETRA
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/Petra/temple/temple.html
DETAILED ABOUT PETRA
http://nabataea.net/petra.html