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| The visit - the first day |
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After the entrance gate, as one makes one's way through the dried bed of the uadi the first monuments seen are three massive Djin blocks, free standing cube-shaped rocks generally associated to abstract representations of deities. After, on the left the Obelisk Tomb a Nabataean funerary monument that clearly shows Egyptian influences. The four pyramids or nefeš, represents the dead, like the statue on the central niche. The Triclinium below is adorned with columns, lintels and pediments, with benches running around three sides.
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Nabataean Petra
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The remains of a ceremonial arch of the entrance to the spectacular Bab Al-Siq (Bab as-Siq) can still be seen at the entry of the gorge. A channel dug in the rock with a dam is built to divert the water avoiding inundations of the Siq during the rainy season. Along this winding 2 km gorge, wide only few meters and with walls towering over 100 meters overhead, there are various niches with sacred betyls representations. About halfway there is an isolated block with a niche with two carved betyls. As one progresses on the left side there is a badly eroded relief of a hardly recognizable camel caravan. Other various votive niches and a hemispheric betyl. Bits of the original Roman pavement are still visible as well as the original water channels part of the a sophisticated public water supply system made of rock-cut gutters and terracotta pipelines.
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After one winds for around for 1.5 km the Siq suddenly opens in a great space surrounded by vertical walls and full of people and souvenir stands. First half seen through the tall narrow opening of the Siq walls, carved out from the gorge wall, the impressive Khaznat al-Faroun or Khaznet Far'oun ‘the Treasury of the Pharaoh’ (100 BC to 200 AD) more than 40 meters high towers over the amazed visitors. The elaborated facade has two corinthians superimposed orders. The lower order consists of a six-columned portico with a triangular pediment, and, between the outer columns, the carved images of the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux. The upper order is a broken pediment interrupted by a tholos (rotunda) with the funerary urn on top. The eroded relief figure of the great goddess Al-Uzza holding a cornucopia, commonly assimilated with the Greek Aphrodite, here is represented with the attributes of Greek Tyche and of Isis, the Egyptian goddess who presided the underworld. Dancing Amazons wielding axes ornament the side bays of the tholos, while winged Victories (Nikes) decorate the rear bays. After the aniconic figures of the Siq this representation of gods in human form is particularly impressive.
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Petra
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After the Khazneh the Outer Siq opens out and the Street of Facades becomes visible on the west bank. Built in rows one above the other, these tombs are of Assyrian type with double bands of crow-step crown decoration. Some of the tombs are buried under the sand accumulated by the erosion.
Beyond lies the Roman theatre (1st c AD), a combination of carved rock and built masonry, adhered to Roman classical design rules. The orchestra and cavea are completely carved in the side of Gebel al-Madhbâ. Above there are numerous tomb fronts, which were destroyed to make way for the theater's upper tiers.
In front of the theatre, carved on the Gebel al-Khubthâ, there is the Tomb of Unaishu.
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The first thing to be seen as one enter in the city is the Colonnaded Street, part of the cardo maximus it was constructed shortly after the Roman annexation of Petra, the now dried Wadi Mûsa separates the hill at the north.
On the southern hill the Great Temple a monumental complex with a colonnaded lower temenos (temple enclosure) and a theatron in the middle.
The Colonnaded Street ends at the Gate of the temenos, (ii c AD), the entrance to the sacred precinct of the Qasr Al-Bint Temple. The gate is decorated with deities and vegetation motifs showing marked Nabataean features.
Dedicated to Dusharah, the main Nabataean God, Qasr al-Bint al-Faroun (the Palace of the Daughter of Pharaoh in accordance with a local legend) (1st c. BC) is the only stone structure in Petra. Although destroyed by an earthquake, its massive walls still dominate the precinct. The sancta sanctorum (the adyton of the Greek temples), where the baetyl was displayed, is articulated in three rooms separated by walls. On the east wall of the temple friezes are still visible.
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Petra
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From the restaurant near the museum we follow the Nabataean processional trail which climbs up to al-Deir (the Monastery). Soon a short trail to the left leads through a side valley to the Lion Triclinium with two badly eroded lions carved on the side of the doorway. After a long ascent the processional way terminates suddenly in the vast plateau in front of the facade of al-Deir (1st c. AD). Cut into the mountainside 42 m. high and 50 m. large it is the largest façade in Petra. Al-Deir is a biclinium (two benches banquet room) related to the cult of the deified king Oboda I. Later, during the Byzantine period, it was used as church. A short way beyond, one is rewarded by magnificent views in the direction of the Wadi Araba.
Back from the Monastery we climbed the hill on the northern side of the colonnaded street passing by the Winged Lions temple, probably dedicated to goddess 'Allat', and the Byzantine church (350 AD) protected by a modern covering with its mosaics tesserae quarried from the sandstone of the surrounding hills.
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The sun of the sunset now illuminates the rock-face of the Jabal Al-Khubtha with the magnificent Royal Tombs, amongst the most impressive of the 500 tombs to be found in Petra. From right to left:
- the Urn Tomb (70 AD) commonly called ‘the Court’ (al-Mahkamah,) with a columned courtyard, high up in the facade there are 3 niches and a small burial chamber. The main hall was later adapted as a Byzantine church,
- the Silk Tomb,
- the Corinthian Tomb, so called because of the capitals that imitates the Corinthian style, the central urn is typically Nabataean, the inferior zone is divided in seven parts by eight half columns,
- the 3-storey Palace Tomb, the lower part of is cut from the rock while some of its upper storey is constructed with masonry.
Looking north in the distance the rockcut tomb facades of Moghar Annassara.
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Petra
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