Athena Review Image Archive ™
Petra: Treasury [Khaznet Faroun], view of facade
Petra: Facade of Treasury [Khaznet Faroun] (photo: Vignes in de Vogüé, 1874/NYPL Archive)
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 1874 photo by Vignes shows details of the facade of the 1st century BC Khaznet Faroun, Arabic for "the Pharoah's Treasury," the tomb of a Nabataean king. Beside the reliefs and decorations in the friezes and entablature, the round central spire of the upper facade is typical of Late Hellenistic temple architecture. Also notable are two vertical series of cuneiform characters on either side of the facade, the translation of which was first achieved by Layard in the 1840s.
The photos by Vignes in the de Vogue volume on Petra are in the Archive of the New York Public Library (NYPL).
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