Athena Review Image Archive ™
Petra: Obelisk Tomb and Djinn Blocks
Petra: Obelisk Tomb and Djinn Blocks (Roberts 1839-49/Wellcome Coll;ecton)
Petra is located in southwestern Jordan. The site represents a unique complex of ancient temples and tombs carved into the sides of cliffs, dating from the Nabataean, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods.
This image by David Roberts, painted in 1839 and published as a lithograph in 1849, shows in the background the remains of the mid-1st century AD Obelisk Tomb. This elaborate two story structure, as stated in an inscription, was erected by a a man named Abdomanchos, son of Achaios, probably in the reign of Malichus II (AD 40/44-70) The inscription stipulates that the tomb was to be used for Abdomancos himself and his family "forever after." The lower story is a triclinium or dining room for funeral banquets, while the upper story, with prominent diamond-shaped tombstones, held burials in shaft graves.
At left, in the foreground of Robert's painting, is an assemblage of three huge carved stone blocks also erected by Nabataeans in the 1st century AD. These are called the Djinn Blocks or Spirit Blocks, after the Arabic word for spirit (source of the English word "genie"). The blocks are funerary monuments, one of which has two shaft graves within it.
The David Roberts prints are held at the Wellcome Collection in London.
[Sources: www.art-and-archaelogy.com]
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