A Brief History of Petra

The location of Petra
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Petra (from the Greek, meaning
'rock') lies in a great rift valley east of Wadi 'Araba in Jordan about 80
kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It came into prominence in the late
first century BCE (BC) through the success of the spice trade. The city
was the principal city of ancient Nabataea and was famous above all for
two things: its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. It was
locally autonomous until the reign of Trajan, but it flourished under
Roman rule. The town grew up around its Colonnaded Street in the first
century CE (AD) and by the mid-first century had witnessed rapid
urbanization. Following the flow of the Wadi Musa, the city-center was
laid out on either sides of the Colonnaded Street on an elongated plan
between the theater in the east and the Qasr al-Bint in the west. The
quarries were probably opened in this period, and there followed virtually
continuous building through the first and second centuries CE.

The Treasury

According to tradition, in ca.
1200 BCE, the Petra area (but not necessarily the site itself) was
populated by Edomites and the area was known as Edom ("red"). Before the
Israelite incursions, the Edomites controlled the trade routes from Arabia
in the south to Damascus in the north. Little is known about the Edomites
at Petra itself, but as a people they were known for their wisdom, their
writing, their textile industry, the excellence and fineness of their
ceramics, and their skilled metal working.

The next chapter of
history belongs to the Persian period, and it is posited that during this
time the Nabataeans migrated into Edom, forcing the Edomites to move into
southern Palestine. But little is known about Petra proper until about 312
BC by which time the Nabataeans, one of many Arab tribes, occupied it and
made it the capital of their kingdom. At this time, during the Hellenistic
rule of the Seleucids, and later, the Ptolemies, the whole area flourished
with increased trade and the establishment of new towns such as
Philadelphia (Rabbath 'Ammon, modern Amman) and Gerasa (modern Jerash).
Infighting between the Seleucids and Ptolemies allowed the Nabataeans to
gain control over the caravan routes between Arabia and Syria. Although
there were struggles between the Jewish Maccabeans and the Seleucid
overlords, Nabataean trade continued.

The Temple of Winged Lions

With Nabataean rule, Petra became the center for a spice trade that
extended from Arabia to Aqaba and Petra, and onward either to Gaza in the
northwest, or to the north through Amman to Bostra, Damascus, and finally
on to Palmyra and the Syrian Desert. Nabataean Classical monuments reflect
the international character of the Nabataean economy through their
combination of native tradition and the classical spirit.

But among the most
remarkable of all Nabataean achievements is the hydraulic engineering
systems they developed including water conservation systems and the dams
that were constructed to divert the rush of swollen winter waters that
create flash floods.

In 64-63 BCE, the
Nabataeans were conquered by the Roman general, Pompey, whose policy was
to restore the cities taken by the Jews. However, he retained an
independent Nabataea, although the area was taxed by the Romans and served
as a buffer territory against the desert tribes. Completely subsumed by
the Romans under the Emperor Trajan in 106 CE, Petra and Nabataea then
became part of the Roman province known as Arabia Petraea with its capital
at Petra. In 131 CE Hadrian, the Roman emperor, visited the site and named
it after himself, Hadriane Petra. The city continued to flourish
during the Roman period, with a Triumphal Arch spanning the Siq, and tomb
structures either carved out of the living rock or built free-standing.
Under Roman rule, Roman Classical monuments abounded — many with Nabataean
overtones.

The Colonnaded Street

By 313 CE (AD), Christianity had become a state-recognized
religion. In 330 CE, the Emperor Constantine established the Eastern Roman
Empire with its capital at Constantinople. Although the 363 earthquake
destroyed half of the city, it appears that Petra retained its urban
vitality into late antiquity, when it was the seat of a Byzantine
bishopric. The newly excavated Petra church with its papyrus scrolls
document this period, especially in the sixth century, a phenomenon less
well-attested in other sites so far south of 'Amman. In this period there
is also striking archaeological and documentary evidence for accommodation
between Christians and the pagan aristocracy. Thereafter one can read the
archaeology of a fragmented middle Byzantine community living among and
re-using the abandoned limestone and sandstone elements of its classical
past. The inhabitants during the Byzantine Period recycled many standing
structures and rock-cut monuments, while also constructing their own
buildings, including churches — such as the recently excavated Petra
Church with the extraordinary mosaics. Among the rock-cut monuments they
reused is the great tomb or the Ad-Dayr (known also as 'The Monastery'),
which was modified into a church. With a change in trade routes, Petra's
commercial decline was inevitable. An even more devastating earthquake had
a severe impact on the city in 551 CE, and all but brought the city to
ruin. With the rise of Islam, Petra became a backwater community. Petra
was revealed to the western world in 1812 for the first time since the
Crusades when it was re-discovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig
Burckhardt.

Past
Excavations
As
one of the most spectacular sites in the Middle East, Petra has long
attracted travelers and explorers. During the 19th century, the site was
visited and documented by several Europeans, after J. L. Burckhardt’s
initial visit. A synthesis of the site was published by Libbey and Hoskins
in 1905, presenting one of the first overviews in print. Archaeological
excavations began in earnest at the turn of the century, with the earliest
scientific expedition being published in Arabia Petraea in 1907, by
A. Musil. In the 1920's R. E. Brünnow and A. von Domaszewski surveyed the
site and published an ambitious mapping project in their Die Provincia
Arabia. This survey has since undergone many necessary revisions, the
most recent of which was published by Judith McKenzie in 1990.

An early photograph of
the Treasury

Modern excavations continue to increase our understanding of the
site and correct the work of earlier scholars. In 1958, P. J. Parr and C.
M. Bennett of the British School of Archaeology began an excavation of the
city center which remains the most informative and scientific to date.
Recently, the Petra/Jerash Project, undertaken by the Jordanian Department
of Antiquities, the University of Jordan, the University of Utah, and
Swiss archaeologists, have excavated a number of monuments at these two
sites. Architectural remains now visible at Petra indicate a thriving
city, however, despite almost 100 years of excavation, only one-percent of
the city been investigated.

The Great Temple was
first explored by Brünnow and von Domaszewski, but it was Bachmann, in his
revision of the Petra city plan, who postulated the existence of a “Great
Temple,” aligned with the Colonnade Street, lying on the hillside to the
south. He speculated that the temple was approached through a monumental
Propylaeum with a grand staircase leading into a colonnaded, terraced
Lower Temenos, or sacred precinct. Another broad monumental stairway led
to a second, Upper Temenos. At its center was the temple, with yet another
flight of stairs leading into the temple proper. While no standing
structures were revealed before these excavations, the site is littered
with architectural fragments, including column drums, probably toppled by
one of the earthquakes which rocked the site. Given the promise of the
Great Temple precinct and its importance in understanding Petra’s
architectural and intercultural history, it is remarkable that it remained
unexcavated until 1993 when the Brown University investigations began.

Copyright© 1999
Brown University