City of Petra

Petra was settled several thousand years before Christ. In the 4th BC, the Edomites were driven north by a new wave of Semitic invaders, the Nabataean Arabs. Along with the other Edomite centers Petra fell to the Nabataeans, who made it their capital.

Nabataeans spoke Arabic and wrote inscriptions, some of which have survived because they were carved on rock, in an Aramaic script that was deciphered in the mid-19th century.

Between the 4th BC and the 1st century AD, the city was greatly expanded and many new monuments were built.

The Greek geographer described Petra as a magnificent, cosmopolitan city inhabited by people who prided themselves in their wealth and the niceties of their highly developed urban lifestyle. At its height, around 40 AD, Petra controlled Damascus and a large are in what is now Syria.

In 106 AD, Petra was occupied by the Romans who turned it into the capital of their new province of Arabia Petraea.

Petra fell to the Muslim Arabs during the seventh century and steadily continued to deteriorate until its capture in the 1100s, by the crusader who built a citadel there to protect the southern approaches to Outre-Jordain. Today, Petra is the foremost tourist attraction on the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
City of Petra