Petra the pink city carved into the rock
Petra the pink city carved into the rock
Among the red mountains of the Jordanian desert hidden between canyons and stone walls is Petra one of the most fascinating wonders of antiquity a city that seems to have been born from the sand and sculpted by the wind but which was in reality the living heart of a brilliant people the Nabateans
Long before Petra became as famous as it is today that region was already crossed by caravans of merchants who transported incense myrrh spices and silk from Arabia from India and even from China it was a harsh and hostile land but also full of hidden resources and the Nabateans knew it like no other
The Nabateans were a nomadic Arab people at the beginning they lived moving between the valleys and deserts but over time they learned to dominate the trade routes and to build a kingdom made of sand and stone their capital became Petra a city protected by high rocky walls visible only to those who knew the secret passage
To enter Petra you go through a long and narrow canyon called the Siq a crack in the rock that winds between very high and shady walls at the end of the path opens before your eyes the Treasury the symbol of Petra a facade carved directly into the pink rock with columns pediments and decorations that seem to be the work of gods rather than men
But the Treasury is only the beginning Petra was a huge city carved into the stone with temples theaters tombs palaces and ingenious systems to collect water even in the middle of the desert the Nabataeans were masters of architecture and hydraulics they knew how to make a city live in the heart of the rock
Petra's wealth came from trade the caravans passed through here and paid for protection water and rest the Nabataean kingdom became powerful and respected its kings spoke several languages they knew the religions and cultures of the neighboring peoples and built a city that combined different styles Arab art mixed with Greek Roman Egyptian
For centuries Petra was a mysterious and fascinating place but then the routes changed the traffic moved to other streets and the city began to empty finally the Romans arrived who conquered the Nabataean kingdom and transformed it into a province they also built roads and monuments but Petra had already begun to lose its splendor
Over time it was almost completely forgotten hidden by the sand and silence until a European traveler rediscovered it following the stories of the Bedouins who called it the lost city
Today Petra is one of the wonders of the world a place where history seems carved into the mountains every step every column every tomb tells the dream of a people who knew how to transform the desert into a capital
Petra is not just a city it is a legend of stone an ancient heart that still beats today in the silence of the Jordanian wind