Athena Review Image Archive ™
Petra: Plan of archaeological site
Petra: Plan of archaeological site (Athena Review Image Archive)
Petra,
located in southwestern Jordan, became a major trading center of the
Nabataeans by the mid second century BC. At its height, between 100 BC
and 100 AD, the Nabataean Kingdom had expanded north to southern Syria,
west to the Sinai, and south to the Red Sea. In 106 AD the Roman Empire
incorporated the Nabataean Kingdom into Trajan's newly-created Province
of Arabia.
The site represents a unique complex of ancient temples and tombs carved into the sides of cliffs, dating from the Nabataean, Late Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. The East Ridge contains a number of rock-cut tombs whose facades are cut into the west face of Jabal al Khubtha, a massive outcrop that towers east of the Wadi Musa. Other tombs to the south are carved into cliff faces of the Jabal al Madhah, and to the west, in the Umm al Bihara and Jabal al Deir.
On the lower, flatter areas between these ridges, are several extended structures including the Theater, Baths, a Byzantine Church, and the Great Temple. This latter is flanked on the north by the Colonnaded Street, which extends from the Nymphaeum in the east to the triumphal arch in the west, adjoining the Nabatean Temple named Qasr al Bint Faroun.
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