Athena Review Image Archive ™
Petra: Treasury [Khaznet Faroun], view of facade
Petra: Facade of Treasury [Khaznet Faroun] (Roberts 1839-49; Wellcome Collection)
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 Nabatean, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods.
This image by David Roberts, painted in 1839 and published as a lithograph ten years later, shows the facade of the 1st century BC Khaznet Faroun, Arabic for "the Pharoah's Treasury," the tomb of a Nabataean king. Among the many details Roberts shows of the elaborate facade (30 meters high and 43 meters wide) are Late Hellenistic relief sculptures or friezes placed between engaged Cornithian columns.
The Roberts images from Petra are held in the Wellcome Collection in London.
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