Petra Photo Album Web Ppt
Transcript of Petra Photo Album Web Ppt
PETRA PHOTO ALBUMPETRA PHOTO ALBUMDecember 2008
PETRAAn ancient Nabataean city in western Jordan with massive facades carved out of red sandstone
‘Petra’ is the Greek word for ‘rock’ Petra was probably Sela (‘rock’) or Mount Seir in the Old Testament She was inhabited around 1200 BCE by the Edomites who were known as Idumeans in New Testament timesThe Idumeans were later displaced by the Nabataeans whose greatest king was Aretas IV (9 BCE to 40 CE)
The view from our room balcony at the Crowne Plaza Resort; it overlooks the Petra mountains
3 ways into Petra3 ways into Petra
1. Ride a horse 2. Ride a horse carriage
3. Walk
A bilingual (Nabataean & Greek) inscription at the Bab asSiq (‘gate of the Siq’); it mentions burials made by Abdmanku for his family (4070 CE), probably referring to the adjacent Obelisk Tomb
The Obelisk Tomb shows Egyptian, Greek, & Nabataean influences
The dam on the left protected the entrance of the Siq from the floods
2 rockcut channels brought water from the Ain Musa (‘spring of Moses’ or the place where Moses struck a rock with his staff and water gushed out) into Petra; the channel on the left was for nondrinking purposes
The channel on the right was for drinking and was lined with clay pipes
The Siq
a 2km passage into the city the rocks on both sides could rise up to 80 m high
the 2 water channels continue all the way into the city
Along the siq are betyls or imageless stone godblocks
These were representations of Du Shara (‘god of the Shara mountains’)
A lifesize carving of a man & his camel—signs of camel caravansPetra was an important trading city for spices as she was located at the intersection between the southnorth trade route from Arabia & Egypt to the Mediterranean ports, and the westward trade route from the Far East
the water channel on the left
After much walking, we caught a glimpse of the Khaznat elFaroun (‘Treasury of the Pharaoh’) glowing in the morning sun
It was believed that Pharaoh left his treasures in the urn at the top of the façadeHowever, this was probably a royal tomb than a treasury
This building was featured in the movie, ‘Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade
One of the rooms in the Treasury—probably a burial chamber
1. Ride a donkey 2. Ride a camel
From here onwards, there are 3 modes of transport
3. Walk
Bedouins used to live in these caves till the government resettled them in the 1980s
A well that still works
The Bedouins agreed to move as they were given the exclusive right to sell souvenir products in Petra
The sand bottle uses the colourful sand found in the caves
The Uneishu Tomb—the ‘steps’ or ‘stairs’ indicate Assyrian influence
The Romans occupied Petra in 106 CE and began to build theatres, temples, etc., rather than tombs
The decline of the city began with an earthquake in 363 CE
The Urn TombKey feature: urnThis was used as a church during the Byzantine times
The Silk TombKey feature: multi colours
Top:The Palace TombKey feature: look of a Hellenistic palace
Left:The Corinthian TombKey feature: Corinthian capitals
The Treasury, looking rather subdued at dusk
What we saw was only a few tombs out of the 800 carved tombs and about 15% of the whole cityWe walked a total of 8.4 kmBy the end of the day, we were literally covered from head to toe with the sand of Petra