Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Petra

Trip Start Sep 17, 2007
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Trip End Oct 08, 2008


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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Nabataeans were an Arab race who controlled the frakincense trade routes of the region in the time before the Romans. In the third century BC they carved out their capital of Petra in a hidden valley. They were a desert people, making their profit by leading and taxing camel caravans through their domain. They also developed a sophisticated system of storage and banking services. It is believed that camel caravans were received in four outlying districts and never actually entered Petra. There are few free-standing buildings in Petra (it is thought that the Nabataeans actually lived in tents). They therefore had no architectural traditions of their own but borrowed heavily from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian sources and blended it together to create a style that was uniquely their own. Most of the buildings in Petra are facades carved out of the rock walls, with only small, simple chambers leading into the rock.

Petra became a capital of the Roman province in later years but the city was abandoned around 500AD due to earthquakes. It lay undiscovered for hundreds of years. The local Bedouin kept it a secret (ironically enough fearing the influx of strangers), and it was rediscovered by a Swiss adventurer who disguised himself as a Muslim and fast-talked his way into the valley. There was some interest in the European world, but Petra really came into the spotlight when "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" featured the Treasury in the film. Some people might be disappointed, but although the movie shows a grand chamber and a bunch of rooms inside the Treasury, it actually only contains a couple square and plain chambers. entry to the siq
entry to the siq

Petra is the last major archaeological site we see on this trip. It is also the last of the new seven wonders that we'll see. Of the seven, we have visited Machu Picchu, Christ Redeemer, Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, and now Petra. I've been to the Colosseum, so I only have Chichen Itza left on the list.

While Petra is an amazing city, the modern town of Wadi Musa leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike most of the rest of Jordan, tourism has really corrupted this place. Tourists with more time then money on day trips from Israel have driven up prices and created a dual pricing structure. This means that whatever you buy in Wadi Musa, you're paying twice to three times what locals pay for the same item. It creates a level of deceit that poisons this place. The difference between here and Egypt, however, is that locals aren't exactly proud of it. A local we talked to told us that he paid 350 fils for a felafel. The felafel guy determined we should pay 750 fils for the same thing. Erin called him on it and he backed down, giving us the local price. But she had to argue about the price for the next couple days. It was the same with water, bread, cheese, vegetables, DVDs. Our hotel guy was great though. On the first night he shared a traditional bedouin meal of mensaf with us. Chunks of goat on a bed of rice saturated with a goat's milk yoghurt sauce and eaten with crepe-like bread. He was French Algerian and had lived in several countries. An interesting guy.

We bought a three-day pass to Petra. Erin in the siq
Erin in the siq
 The site is huge and a day is enough to hit the highlights but not enough to do the place justice. Not to mention it's $30 each for one day and $50 for three days.

The magic of Petra is that it is a beautiful blend of man and nature. Long before man came nature created this beautiful valley, ripped apart a mountain to create the Siq canyon, and compacted the sandstone to form beautiful bands of colored stone. Then the Nabataeans tamed the rock to create majestic structures. Then they left, and nature once again smoothed down the edges and melted the tombs to again reveal its beautiful stone.

The Siq is a long narrow canyon that was formed not by water or wind, but by an earthquake that simply split the rock down the middle. It twists and turns for 1.2km, a wonderfully dramatic entrance to the city, before you round a corner and come upon the pink stone of the Treasury. Along the way are small altars cut into the cliff. Parallel water channels are cut into either side of the Siq. In some places you can still see the terracotta pipes that carried the water. At one point there is a majestic carving of a camel caravan, although the upper half requires a little imagination.

The Treasury is simply an incredible building. It is massive and placed so that you can see it through a small gap in the Siq. When you emerge in the large opening it towers above you. There are eroded Greek/Roman style reliefs but it is a perfectly proportioned and balanced building and very pleasing to the eye. baetyl for an important god
baetyl for an important god
 The stone glows a fiery white when the sun shines down on it from 9-10am. In the afternoon it recedes to a beautiful glowing pink that gives the "Rose Red City" it's name. The inside is plain, with three empty rooms decorated only by the banded stone.

The Treasury got its name from a legend that a Pharoah hid his treasure in the stone urn on the top of the building while chasing his enemies. Looking at the tiny, solid stone urn, it's pretty hard to believe people believed it, but several people have shot at it in the hope that treasure would fall out.

From here we passed up the street of facades, where smaller tombs were cut into the rock in an impressive row. This led into a larger area with tombs honeycombing the rock. There are a lot of tombs in Petra, something near a thousand. They are everywhere. Some of them are very simple, just rooms hollowed out of the rock. Others have elaborately decorated entranceways. Some are not particularly well carved, but have used colored rock that makes the tombs beautiful. The tombs with the banded stone were my favorite. The rock was usually a combination of red, white, yellow, and black. You just have to see the pictures.

I amused myself crawling around in some tombs that were off the main path. There are plenty of opportunities to lose the crowds and scramble up to hidden tombs, beautiful rock pattens, and lovely views. From here we skipped the Royal Tombs (for the next day), and made our way down the columnaded street to the Great Temple. This is a huge, freestanding temple that was recently excavated by our very own Brown University. It is huge and must have been quite impressive. We saw the remains of the painted frescoes that used to cover the tombs and wandered around the columns. From here we saw the remains of the other temple that is still (mostly standing), and walked up to the Byzantine Church. There are some amazing mosaics in here (even after all the mosaics I've seen in Jordan I haven't grown tired of them. They are all amazing works of art).

Erin was up for it, so we made the trek up the mountain to the Monastery. It was a hard climb but we stopped to see a tomb that still had two lions carved into either side. I climbed up to go in the tomb and startled a beautiful young owl out of a niche in the wall. The Monastery is like the Treasury except plainer and larger. You have a great view in every direction. It was believed that this tomb was used as a church in later years. We lingered up here for quite a while, admiring the views and the building. In the late afternoon we came down and made the long walk through the city, past the tombs, past the Treasury, through the Siq, up to the entrance, and up the hill to our hotel. It was a long walk. We got some cold coke, water, and a couple felafel and decided not to move for the rest of the evening.

~Travis
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