Located amid rugged desert canyons and mountains in what is now the southwestern corner of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Petra was once a thriving trading center and the capital of the Nabataean empire between 400 B.C. and A.D. 106. Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Arab Nabataeans, the nomadic Arabs who benefited from the proximity of Petra to the regional trade routes, in becoming a major trading hub, thus enabling them to gather wealth. The Nabateans are also known for their great ability in constructing efficient water collecting methods in the barren deserts and their talent in carving structures into solid rocks. It lies on the slope of Jebel al-Madhbah (identified by some as the biblical Mount Hor) in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (WadiAraba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The site remained unknown to the western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
The Nabataeans, before they were conquered and absorbed into the Roman Empire, controlled a vast tract of the Middle East from modern-day Israel and Jordan into the northern Arabian peninsula. Carved directly to vibrant red, white, pink, and sandstone cliff faces, the prehistoric Jordanian city of Petra was “lost” to the Western world for hundreds of years. Once Rome formally took possession of Petra in A.D. 106, its importance in international trade began to wane. The decay of the city continued, aided by earthquakes and the rise in importance of sea trade routes, and Petra reached its nadir near the close of the Byzantine Empire’s rule, around A.D. 700. Visitors today can see varying blends of Nabataean and Greco-Roman architectural styles in the city’s tombs, many of which were looted by thieves and their treasures thus lost.In 1985, the Petra Archaeological Park was declared UNESCO World Heritate and in 2007 it was named one of the new seven wonders of the world.
