Petra: The History of Jordan's Rose City

By History Titans

While Petra's fame might often come second to things like the Egyptian pyramids at Giza, ancient Greece, or the Great Wall of China, you can now see that the Rose City certainly deserves its place under the Sun as one of the most precious jewels of our collective, human heritage. Petra surely has a surplus of beauty and other kinds of visual appeal, but you can now see that this is only half of the picture. Our world is filled to the brim with such wonders, bestowed upon us by countless different cultures from every corner of the planet. Some are older or more renowned than others, but all remnants of civilizations of the past have one thing in common: they tell us invaluable stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: History Titans
• Release date: Oct 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393081005

History Titans

History Titans creates a variety of concise historical educational content.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: Overview and Early Settlement

Chapter Two: Nabatea

Chapter Three: Feats of Engineering

Chapter Four: Latter Years

Chapter Five: Slow Decline into Obscurity

Chapter Six: Petra through the Centuries

Chapter Seven: Rediscovery and Beyond

Conclusion

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Introduction

Few things in the world can mystify us and tickle our imagination as much as ancient marvels of engineering that have been left behind by folks we will never come in contact with. Their monuments of culture and art stand as a testament to mankind’s perseverance but also aspiration toward greatness, whether scientific, artistic, or any other kind.

Our world is filled to the brim with such wonders, bestowed upon us by countless different cultures from every corner of the planet. Some are older or more renowned than others, but all remnants of civilizations of the past have one thing in common: they tell us invaluable stories. These are stories of lives led by people who seem infinitely distant from our perspective but might have as well lived yesterday as far as the grand scheme of time is concerned. They might have had a different outlook and daily life, but the essence of humanity remains fundamentally unchanged.

That human essence, which has always striven toward greatness, adorns the monuments of culture we now behold and admire as tourists and archeologists alike. One of the finer examples of this is the ancient, enigmatic city of Petra, the jewel of present-day Jordan. Tucked away among the canyons and mountainous terrain in southern Jordan, the city of Petra has stood for well over 2,000 years.

In that time, Petra has gone from an early settlement to a crucial and wealthy trading hub in the region, and then to a forgotten and abandoned city, hidden from the eyes of the Western world for centuries. The city was rediscovered, so to speak, only in the 19th century, quickly becoming a point of strong interest from archeologists and other curious folks. Today, Petra is one of Jordan’s greatest symbols and it draws in hundreds of thousands of tourists every year from all over the world.

Often referred to as Jordan’s Rose City because of the red color of much of the sandstone used in its buildings, Petra is renowned for its unique, fascinating architecture. Carved in incredibly intricate detail, many of Petra’s most famous structures are essentially buildings that have been sculpted out of rock. Indeed, instead of building structures stone by stone and brick by brick, Petra’s masterful engineers chose to carve out entire buildings out of the abundant rock walls in the location’s many canyons. Of course, the city also has other