Petra Quotes

“Petra is one of the densest palimpsests of human history. Layer upon layer of archaeological remains provide evidence of a fascinating story that stretches back for thousands of years. It is a masterpiece of human achievement, an aesthetic and architectural marvel, and the source of a huge amount of inspiration since the 19th century. One of the oldest settlements in the region, the site has a long biography tracing Neolithic, Graeco-Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader periods of history. Petra acquired a cosmopolitan atmosphere, as local communities were exposed to a number of different cultural influences. Petra’s”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“The site has experienced a tremendous surge in visitor numbers over the past decade, especially following the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989 and Petra’s inclusion in the New Seven Wonders of the World campaign in 2007.  The valley can comfortably accommodate between one thousand and one thousand five hundred visitors per day, according to UNESCO’s Petra Management Plan.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Petra became designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site on the 6th December, 1985. UNESCO’s reasons for considering it to be of outstanding universal value to the world were largely focused on the tomb and temple architecture, water management features, and other tangible archaeological remains. The sheer variety of material remains that exist at Petra through its role as a crossroads of culture were viewed as being a prime example of how values can cross national and cultural borders.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Although the Ottomans were ultimately defeated in 1918, Jordan would not become an independent state until 1946.  On May 25th that year King Abdullah I, then Emir under the British Mandate for Palestine, became recognized as King of Transjordan. The Antiquities Law was passed in 1935, by which all immovable heritage in the country belongs to the government. Land that was found to contain antiquities would have its ownership divulged to the state, regardless of who possessed it before. Under this law, Petra became the property of first the British Mandate for Palestine and then the Kingdom of Jordan.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“They discovered one of the richest archaeological landscapes in the region, if not the world; a palimpsest of Neolithic, Edomite, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Islamic material remains. This”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, was an active archaeologist in the region before he rallied the Bedouin and joined the Arab Revolt (1916-1918). He went on a number of research expeditions with his Syrian assistant, Selim "Dahoum" Ahmed.[122] On one such expedition he was joined by archaeologist Leonard Woolley, with whom he surveyed the Negev desert as far south as the Gulf of Aqaba, discovering much about the Nabataean and Babylonian periods of activity in the region. [123] The Australian adventurer and photographer James Francis Hurley visited Petra during the Second World War. Serving under the First Australian Imperial Force, he took a number of photographs of al-Khazneh and the Nabataean tombs that he found in the ruined city.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“In 1217 a Christian pilgrim, Master Thetmar, discovered a small chapel with two Greek monks in the deserted ruins of Petra.[114] Petra continued to served as an important stopping-off point on the trade and Hajj routes between the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the Mamluk and Ottoman lands. The Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, Baibars, visited Aaron’s tomb on Mount Hor and one of the crusader castles in 1276 CE.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Petra came under the control of European crusaders during the First Crusade in a campaign led by Baldwin I. He unsuccessfully attempted to conquer the Wadi Mousa in 1100, but eventually managed to defeat the forces of Atabeg Toghtekin of Damascus in 1107.[110] In 1115 Baldwin mobilized to southern Transjordan, establishing a number of fortified garrisons along the key trade and communication routes between Syria, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula.[111]”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Starting with the First Crusade in 1096, thousands of soldiers were sent to the Holy Land by the church to reclaim Jerusalem. At first they were successful; the crusading armies managed to establish a Christian-ruled kingdom in Muslim Palestine. However, ultimately the crusades were futile, culminating with the fiasco of the Fourth Crusade (1204), during which the European armies sacked Constantinople (Byzantium). By the late 1200s the region had reverted to uniform Muslim rule.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“The documents indicate that the Petra Church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Parallels between the immaculate conception and virgin birth of Jesus Christ and the Nabataean virgin goddess Chaabou (Dusares) were made by the 4th century bishop in Cyprus, Epiphanius of Salamis.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Christianity was brought to Petra during the fourth century CE, when the city was incorporated into the Byzantine province of Palaestina Salutaris.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Under Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305 CE) the Roman Empire was divided into western and eastern halves, taking the eastern part as his personal domain. Under this Tetrarchy system the divided eastern part of the empire experienced many restrictions to personal freedom and a greater tax burden on the people. Diocletian’s”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Petra was strategically located on the trade corridors crossing the Arabian Peninsula, between Gaza and Ptolemaic Egypt to the West, Judea and Syria to the North, Aqaba and the Red Sea to the South, and the Silk Roads crossing Eurasia to the East. Exotic goods, such as incense, spices, silk, gold, and ivory, were traded between Asia and the Mediterranean via Petra.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Although later Roman and Byzantine developments obscured most of the Nabataean-period structures in the city, one particularly notable structure has survived on the valley floor: the Qasr al-Bint Temple. This structure was built in the first century BCE by Obodas III, and is believed to have been the chief temple of the city. Another Nabataean monument can be found at the top of the steep slopes west of the Qasr al-Bint. Known as ad-Dayr (“the Monastery”), this was the religious center of the Cult of Obodas – the deified Nabataean king.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“However, the most common – and impressive – mode of access was from the East along the deep, narrow gorge known as al-Sīq (“the shaft”). This natural ravine is between 91–182 meters (299–597 feet) deep. Approaching the entrance to al-Sīq, visitors would pass a number of rock-cut tombs and the Djinn Blocks – large carved stone slabs which represented the Nabataean deities.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Their architectural style was as distinctive as the techniques used to build these structures, as they freely combined their personal aesthetic tastes with designs found in the Greco-Roman world: Hellenistic, Ptolemaic Egyptian, Seleucid Syrian, and Judean.[50] This resulted in a uniquely cosmopolitan fusion of art and architecture.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“In addition to their mastery of water management, the Nabataeans were skilled stonemasons. The dominant Cambrian sandstone of Petra is of medium strength and with a uniform texture, which made it ideal for quarrying and dressing ashlar blocks, constructing freestanding buildings, and carving decorative facades.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“They did not immediately settle in the valley, and instead visited seasonally as part of a semi-nomadic lifestyle. This is indicated by the accounts of the Alexandrian satrap Antigonus I Monophthalmus, founder of the Antigonid dynasty after Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BCE.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“The Nabataeans managed to create an oasis at Petra, through their masterful control of annual flash floods with a system of dams, channels, and cisterns.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Petra is considered to have been the central capital of the Nabataean Kingdom.[31] The Nabataeans had an economy based on pastoralism and agriculture. Cereals and fruits were grown across the kingdom, though for religious reasons they were prohibited from growing wheat, trees, or vineyards under punishment of death.[32] They developed a number of innovative hydraulic technologies to manage the limited supply of water in the region, including aqueducts, dams, reservoirs, and channels.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“The graben in which Petra is located is watered by the perennial Ain Mousa (the “Spring of Moses”), so-called because it was here that Moses was said to have struck a rock with his staff to extract the life-giving stream.[23] Likewise, the prophet Aaron, brother of Moses, was said to have been buried on Mount Hor, today known as the Jebel Nebi Harun.[24] During their exodus from Egypt, the Tribes of Israel visited forty two locations known as the Stations of the Exodus, eight of which were places surrounding Petra.[25]”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“The Iron Age of Petra began in approximately 1200 BCE. This period has been linked to the presence of the Edomites, a tribal kingdom that was first mentioned by the Egyptians, Assyrians, and the authors of the Old Testament. However, unlike the Biblical accounts of a mythical kingdom that was ruled homogenously by a king appointed by the gods, Edomite society was largely a continuation of tribal kin-based forms of social organization that already existed in the region.[17]”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“East-West trade routes also occurred, which connected Petra with the Spice Routes and Silk Road between the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Far East.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“Its iconic red color is the result of centuries of weathering, during which the iron-oxide banding within the rock discolored. It was this scarlet rock that inspired John William Burgon, the English poet and Dean of Chichester Cathedral, to describe Petra as ‘‘the rose-red city, half as old as time.”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“the ruined Rose City is now an archaeological landscape that has been made famous as a UNESCO World Heritage site, a “new” wonder of the world, and as the repository of the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World

“When the European armies of the Third Crusade were defeated at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 CE, the region of what is today southern Jordan was overrun by Saladin’s armies, and over the following five centuries knowledge of Petra’s existence was lost to the people of Europe. The”
― Charles River Editors, Petra: The History of the Rose City, One of the New Seven Wonders of the World