The ancient city of Petra was literally carved from the sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan. There, the Nabataeans built temples and tombs, houses and halls, altars and aquaducts. They built a civilization that stood at the crossroads of the ancient Near East that served as a center for commerce for spice routes and trading trails.
The city of Petra was home to some 20,000 Nabataeans who, in the midst of the desert, built an ingenious system of waterways.
Since the early 1800s, when it was "rediscovered," clues to daily life in this "lost city of stone" are being unearthed and today we are beginning to see once again what Petra looked like 2,000 years ago.
The ancient city of Petra was literally carved from the sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan. There, the Nabataeans built temples and tombs, houses and halls, altars and aquaducts. They built a civilization that stood at the crossroads of the ancient Near East that served as a center for commerce for spice routes and trading trails.
The city of Petra was home to some 20,000 Nabataeans who, in the midst of the desert, built an ingenious system of waterways.
Since the early 1800s, when it was "rediscovered," clues to daily life in this "lost city of stone" are being unearthed and today we are beginning to see once again what Petra looked like 2,000 years ago.
