(
Arabic: ٱلْبَتْرَاء,
romanized:
Al-Batrāʾ;
Ancient Greek: Πέτρα, "Stone"), originally known to its inhabitants as
Raqmu,
[3] is a historical and archaeological city in southern
Jordan. Petra lies around
Jabal Al-Madbah in a
basin surrounded by mountains which form the eastern flank of the
Arabah valley that runs from the
Dead Sea to the
Gulf of Aqaba.
[4] The area around Petra has been inhabited as early as 7,000 BC,
[5] and the
Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their
kingdom, as early as the 4th century BC.
[6] However, archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC,
[7] by which time Petra had become their capital.
[5] The Nabataeans were nomadic
Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the
trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.
[5][8]
The trading business gained the Nabataeans considerable revenue and Petra became the focus of their wealth. The Nabataeans were accustomed to living in the barren deserts, unlike their enemies, and were able to repel attacks by taking advantage of the area's mountainous terrain. They were particularly skillful in
harvesting rainwater,
agriculture and
stone carving. Petra flourished in the 1st century AD, when its famous
Khazneh structure – believed to be the
mausoleum of Nabataean king
Aretas IV – was constructed, and its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 inhabitants.
[9]
Although the Nabataean kingdom became a client state of the
Roman Empire in the first century BC, it was only in 106 AD that it lost its independence. Petra fell to the Romans, who annexed Nabataea and renamed it as
Arabia Petraea. Petra's importance declined as sea trade routes emerged, and after an
earthquake in 363 destroyed many structures. In the
Byzantine era several Christian churches were built, but the city continued to decline, and by the early Islamic era it was abandoned except for a handful of nomads. It remained unknown to the world until it was rediscovered in 1812 by
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
[10]
Access to the city is through a 1.2-kilometre-long (0.75 mi) gorge called the
Siq, which leads directly to the Khazneh. Famous for its
rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, Petra is also called the 'Rose City' because of the colour of the stone from which it is carved.
[11] It has been a
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. UNESCO has described Petra as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage".
[12] In 2007, Al-Khazneh was voted one of the
New7Wonders of the World. Petra is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan's most-visited tourist attraction. Tourist numbers peaked at 918,000 in 2010, but there followed a temporary slump during the political instability generated by the
Arab Spring, which affected countries surrounding Jordan.
[13] Visitor numbers subsequently increased and reached a record-breaking 1.1 million tourists in 2019, marking the first time that the figure rose above the 1 million mark.
[14]