Growth and decay of the magic city of Petra

Visiting a very old deserted city can seem meaningless to some of you, waste of time for others. But for a few fans of archaeology, history and related tourism it is a big challenge and a wonderful occasion to think!

Visiting Petra, the magic city, is such a wonderful chalenge you must to take on. Petra is a new world wonder and an UNESCO heritage site. Nowadays it is completely deserted, only ruins. But what fantastic ruins!

Petra has been lived for many millennium, starting from the nineth millenium B.C. All what you can still see in Petra was built by Nabateans in the first Millenium B.C. They took a good profit from the location of Petra on the Silkroad, in a natural forteress. They were exquisite hydraulic engineers, pottery masterstraders and . The Nabateans spoke aramaic, a byble language.

Petra is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as in the Bible as Rekem.

Petra falled under Roman occupation in the first century A.C. , and the romans left some traces in Petra ( e.g. a huge amphitheatre ), but they had a major contribution to the start of the decay of Petra: they changed the trade routes, and Petra was no longer on these routes. Latter, in the year 661 A.D. the muslim Ummayad dynasty settled the capital in Damascus, Syria. Thus, Petra found itself very far from the seat of power.

Simultaneously, a few strong earthquakes destroyed Petra, who was left by its last inhabitants.

You can visit Petra from Amman, the Jordan capital, or from Israel ( it is peace now there ) and you can take an accomodation in Wadi Mousa (“The tomb of Moses”) . Petra has a kind a magic, and some mistery movies as Indiana Jones feat Harrison Ford was turned here.

Visit Petra and think, learning from the rich history of this site.