Athena Review Image Archive ™
Petra: Urn Tomb and adjacent East Ridge tombs
Petra: Urn Tomb and adjacent East Ridge Tombs (photo: Bell Archive A-436)
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.
The East Ridge across from the Theater 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. These tombs are viewed along the so-called Street of the Facades.
This March 1900 photo by Gertrude Bell shows several of the 1st century AD rock-cut tombs including the Urn Tomb (1) and the Silk Tomb (2).
The Urn Tomb,built ca. AD 70, derived its name from the jar that crowns the pediment. It has a distinctive, deeply inset courtyard with colonnades on two sides. High up in the facade are 3 niches leading to small burial chambers, which were used in AD 446 AD to serve as a Byzantine church.
The two-storied Silk Tomb is named after multicolored striations in the stone surface of its facade (very likely plastered and painted over in antiquity.) There is a separate entrance for each of its two stories, with the upper entrance flanked by engaged columns and statuary niches.
The Gertrude Bell Archive is located at Newcastle University.
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