Editing Petra (section)

== History ==

=== Neolithic ===
[[File:Petra, Jordan, Base of Mount Hor.jpg|thumb|Cliffs near Petra, View over Wadi Arabah]]

By 7000 BC, some of the earliest recorded farmers had settled in [[Beidha (archaeological site)|Beidha]], a [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] settlement just north of Petra.<ref name="PNF">{{cite web|title=A Short History |url= http://www.petranationalfoundation.org/history.html |publisher= Petra National Foundation| access-date=13 February 2014| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171204141534/http://www.petranationalfoundation.org/history.html|archive-date=4 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Bronze Age ===

Petra is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts and the [[Amarna letters]] as ''Pel'', ''Sela'', or ''Seir''.<ref name=Leoussi>{{cite book |author= Steven Grosby |author-link= Steven Grosby |title= Nationalism and Ethnosymbolism: History, Culture and Ethnicity in the Formation of Nations |publisher= Edinburgh University Press |isbn= 9780748629350 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=aNuqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109] |date= 2007 |access-date=19 December 2017 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aNuqBgAAQBAJ&q=Seir}}</ref>

=== Iron Age Edom ===

The [[Iron Age]] lasted between 1200 and 600 BC; in that time, the Petra area was occupied by the [[Edomites]]. The configuration of mountains in Petra allowed for a reservoir of water for the Edomites. This made Petra a stopping ground for [[merchant]]s, making it an outstanding area for trade. Things that were traded here included wines, olive oil, and wood.

Initially, the Edomites were accompanied by [[Nomad]]s who eventually left, but the Edomites stayed and made their mark on Petra before the emergence of the Nabataens. It is said that 10,000 men were thrown off of the mountain Umm el-Biyara, but this story has been debated by scholars.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Petra {{!}} Bible Interp|url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2003/04/ham278001|access-date=2021-12-03|website=bibleinterp.arizona.edu}}</ref>

The Edomite site excavated at the top of the Umm el-Biyara mountain at Petra was established no earlier than the seventh century BC (Iron II).<ref>{{cite journal|last= Bienkowski| first= P. |year= 1992| title= The beginning of the Iron Age in Edom: A reply to Finkelstein| journal= Levant| volume= 24| number= 1| pages= 167–169|doi= 10.1179/007589192790220919}}</ref>

=== Emergence of Petra ===

The [[Nabataeans]] were one among several nomadic Bedouin tribes that roamed the [[Arabian Desert]] and moved with their herds to wherever they could find pasture and water.<ref name="lost kingdom">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FcAoBq4_EnEC |title= Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans |last= Taylor |first= Jane |pages= 14, 17, 30, 31 |year= 2001 |publisher= [[I.B.Tauris]] |location= London |access-date= 8 July 2016 |isbn= 9781860645082 |archive-date= 3 July 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190703151114/https://books.google.com/books?id=FcAoBq4_EnEC |url-status= live }}</ref> Although the Nabataeans were initially embedded in Aramaic culture, theories about them having [[Aramean]] roots are rejected by many modern scholars. Instead, archaeological, religious and linguistic evidence confirm that they are a northern [[Tribes of Arabia|Arabian tribe]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=A0BdsFRX55cC |title= Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God's Prophetic Plan for Ishmael's Line |access-date=8 July 2016 |publisher= Kregel Academic |first= Tony |last= Maalouf |year= 2003 |isbn= 9780825493638}}</ref> Current evidence suggests that the Nabataean name for Petra was Raqēmō, variously spelled in inscriptions as ''rqmw'' or ''rqm''.<ref name=":1" />

The Jewish historian [[Josephus]] (ca. 37–100 AD) writes that the region was inhabited by the [[Midianites]] during the time of [[Moses]], and that they were ruled by five kings, one of whom was Rekem. Josephus mentions that the city, called Petra by the Greeks, "ranks highest in the land of the Arabs" and was still called ''Rekeme'' by all the Arabs of his time, after its royal founder (Antiquities iv. 7, 1; 4, 7).<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.loebclassics.com/view/josephus-jewish_antiquities/1930/pb_LCL490.79.xml?mainRsKey=zBRKmE&result=1&rskey=O69i4Z |doi=10.4159/DLCL.josephus-jewish_antiquities.1930 |title=Jewish Antiquities |year=1930 |last1=Josephus |via=[[Loeb Classical Library]] |access-date=2016-08-06 |archive-date=2018-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226020351/https://www.loebclassics.com/view/josephus-jewish_antiquities/1930/pb_LCL490.79.xml?mainRsKey=zBRKmE&result=1&rskey=O69i4Z%20 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Onomasticon (Eusebius)|Onomasticon of Eusebius]] also identified Rekem as Petra.<ref>{{cite book | author = Hagith Sivan | title = Palestine in Late Antiquity | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2008 | page = 254}}</ref> Arabic ''[[wikt:رقم|raqama]]'' means "to mark, to decorate", so ''Rekeme'' could be a Nabataean word referring to the famous carved rock façades. In 1964, workmen clearing rubble away from the cliff at the entrance to the gorge found several [[nefesh|funerary inscriptions]] in Nabatean script. One of them was to a certain Petraios who was born in Raqmu (Rekem) and buried in Garshu ([[Jerash]]).<ref>{{cite journal|author = J. Starcky | title = Nouvelle épitaphe Nabatéenne donnant le nom Sémitique de Pétra | journal = Revue Biblique | year = 1965 | volume = 72 | number = 1 | pages = 95–97 | jstor = 44087833 | url =  https://www.jstor.org/stable/44087833}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author = J. Starcky | journal = Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan | volume = 10 | year = 1965 | title = Nouvelles stelles funeraires a Petra | pages = 43–29 & plates | url = http://publication.doa.gov.jo/uploads/publications/55/ADAJ_1965_10-43-49.pdf}}</ref>

{{see also|Sela (Edom)#Confusion with Petra}}

An old theory held that Petra might be identified with a place called ''sela'' in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1911) states that the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] name of the city, if not Sela, would remain unknown. It nevertheless cautioned that ''sela'' simply means "rock" in Hebrew, and thence might not be identified with a city where it occurs in the biblical text in the book of Obadiah. It is possible that the city was part of the nation of Edom.<ref name=EB1911/>

The passage in [[Diodorus Siculus]] (xix. 94–97) which describes the expeditions which [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus|Antigonus]] sent against the Nabataeans in 312 BC, was understood by some researchers to throw some light upon the history of Petra, but the "petra" (Greek for rock) referred to as a natural fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name, and the description implies that there was no town in existence there at the time.<ref name=EB1911/><ref>{{cite book| author-link= Diodorus Siculus| author= Diodorus Siculus| title= Account of Antigonus' expedition to Arabia| volume= xix| chapter-url = https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/19E*.html#93| chapter= Section 95 (note 79)| access-date= 2016-08-07| archive-date= 2020-05-27| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200527185917/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/19E%2A.html#93| url-status= live}}</ref>

=== Roman period ===
[[file:View of Petra.jpg|thumb|General view]]
[[file:Roman bronze coin of Geta showing the Petra temple.jpg|thumb|Roman bronze coin of Geta showing the Petra temple with statue of Tyche]]
{{further|History of the Romans in Arabia}}

In AD 106, when [[Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus|Cornelius Palma]] was governor of [[Roman Syria|Syria]], the part of [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] under the rule of Petra was absorbed into the [[Roman Empire]] as part of [[Arabia Petraea]], and Petra became its capital.<ref>Dio Cassius, LXVII. 14, 5.</ref> The native dynasty came to an end but the city continued to flourish under Roman rule. It was around this time that the Petra Roman Road was built. A century later, in the time of [[Alexander Severus]], when the city was at the height of its splendor, the issue of coinage came to an end. There was no more building of sumptuous tombs, owing apparently to some sudden catastrophe, such as an invasion by the neo-[[Iran|Persian]] power under the [[Sassanid Empire]].<ref name= EB1911/>

Meanwhile, as [[Palmyra]] ([[floruit|fl.]] 130–270) grew in importance and attracted the Arabian trade away from Petra, the latter declined. It appears, however, to have lingered on as a religious center. Another Roman road was constructed at the site. [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] (c.315–403) writes that in his time a feast was held there on December 25 in honor of the virgin [[Khaabou]] (Chaabou) and her offspring [[Dushara]].<ref name= EB1911/> Dushara and al-Uzza were two of the main deities of the city, which otherwise included many idols from other Nabataean deities such as Allat and Manat.<ref>{{cite book| title= The Religious Life of Nabataea| chapter= Chapter 2| year= 2013| first= Peter| last= Alpass}}</ref>

Between 111 and 114 [[Trajan]] built the [[Via Traiana Nova]], running from the Syrian border to the Red Sea through Petra. This road followed the old routes of Nabataean caravans. In the shadow of the ''[[Pax Romana]]'', this route revived trade between Arabia, Syria, and Mediterranean harbors. In 125 AD, one of Emperor [[Hadrian]]'s administrators left marks{{dubious|Meaning what?|date=December 2019}} in Petra, pointed out by documents found at the [[Dead Sea]]. In 130 AD, Hadrian visited the former Nabataean capital, giving it the name of ''Hadriānī Petra Metropolis'', imprinted on his coins. His visit, however, did not lead to any boom in development and new buildings as it did in [[Jerash]]. The province's governor, Sextius Florentinus, erected a monumental [[mausoleum]] for his son near the end of the al-Hubta (King's Wall) tombs, which had been generally reserved during the Nabataean period for the royal family.

The interest that Roman emperors showed in the city in the 3rd century suggests that Petra and its environs remained highly esteemed for a long time. An inscription to [[Liber Pater]], a god revered by Emperor [[Septimius Severus]], was found in the ''[[temenos]]'' of the temple known as [[Qasr al-Bint]], and Nabataean tombs contained silver coins with the emperor's portrait, as well as pottery from his reign. Emperor [[Elagabalus]] declared Petra to be a [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman colony]], when he reorganized the Roman Empire towards the end of the 3rd century.<ref>{{cite web| website= jordantourspetra.com| url= http://www.jordantourspetra.com/en/petra-jordan.html| title= Petra Jordan| date= 21 June 2019| access-date= 2019-11-22| archive-date= 2019-12-08| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191208154128/https://www.jordantourspetra.com/en/petra-jordan.html| url-status= live}}</ref> The area from Petra to [[Wadi Mujib]], the [[Negev]], and the [[Sinai Peninsula]] were annexed into the province of [[Palaestina Salutaris]]. Petra may be seen on the [[Madaba Map|Madaba mosaic map]] from the reign of Emperor [[Justinian]].

=== Byzantine period ===
[[file:Bizantine Church (12294138186).jpg|thumb|The [[Byzantine Church (Petra)|Byzantine Church]]]]

Petra declined rapidly under Roman rule, in large part from the revision of sea-based trade routes. In 363, [[Galilee earthquake of 363|an earthquake]] destroyed many buildings and crippled the vital water management system.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E3DF143EF934A25753C1A9659C8B63 | work=The New York Times | title=ART REVIEW; Rose-Red City Carved From the Rock | first=Grace | last=Glueck | date=2003-10-17 | access-date=2010-05-22 | archive-date=2006-04-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060418052143/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E3DF143EF934A25753C1A9659C8B63 | url-status=live }}</ref> The old city of Petra was the capital of the Byzantine province of [[Palaestina Salutaris|Palaestina III]] and many churches from the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine period]] were excavated in and around Petra. In one of them, the [[Byzantine Church (Petra)|Byzantine Church]], [[Petra papyri|140 papyri]] were discovered, which contained mainly contracts dated from 530s to 590s, establishing that the city was still flourishing in the 6th century.<ref>{{Cite book| title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History|last=Frösén|first=Jaakko|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd.| year= 2012| doi= 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah06244|chapter = Petra papyri|isbn = 9781444338386}}</ref> The Byzantine Church is a prime example of monumental architecture in Byzantine Petra.

The last reference to Byzantine Petra comes from the ''[[Spiritual Meadow]]'' of [[John Moschus]], written in the first decades of the 7th century. He gives an anecdote about its bishop, [[Athenogenes of Petra|Athenogenes]]. It ceased to be a [[metropolitan bishop]]ric sometime before 687 when that function had been transferred to [[Rabba|Areopolis]]. Petra is not mentioned in the narratives of the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]], nor does it appear in any early Islamic records.<ref>Zbigniew T. Fiema, Ahmad Al-Jallad, Michael C. A. Macdonald, and Laïla Nehmé, "Provincia Arabia: Nabataea, the Emergence of Arabic as a Written Language, and Graeco-Arabica, in Greg Fisher (ed.), ''Arabs and Empires before Islam'' (Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 394.</ref>

=== Crusaders and Mamluks ===
[[file:Crusader_Tower_Petra_Jordan1429.jpg|thumb|[[Wu'ayra Castle|Alwaeira Castle]]]]

In the 12th century, the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Crusaders]] built fortresses such as the [[Alwaeira Castle]], but were forced to abandon Petra after a while. As a result, the location of Petra was lost until the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nabataea.net/crusades.html|title=Nabataea: The Crusades|website=nabataea.net|access-date=2018-12-25|archive-date=2018-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503170913/http://nabataea.net/crusades.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/reconstructing-petra-155444564/|title=Reconstructing Petra|last=Lawler|first=Andrew|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=2018-12-25|archive-date=2018-12-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225175508/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/reconstructing-petra-155444564/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Two further Crusader-period castles are known in and around Petra: the first is al-Wu'ayra, situated just north of Wadi Musa. It can be viewed from the road to [[Little Petra]]. It is the castle that was seized by a band of Turks with the help of local Muslims and only recovered by the Crusaders after they began to destroy the olive trees of Wadi Musa. The potential loss of livelihood led the locals to negotiate a surrender. The second is on the summit of el-Habis, in the heart of Petra, and can be accessed from the West side of the Qasr al-Bint.

The ruins of Petra were an object of curiosity during the [[Middle Ages]] and were visited by [[Baibars]], one of the first [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk sultans of Egypt]], towards the end of the 13th century.<ref name=EB1911/>

=== 19th and 20th centuries ===
[[file:Comparative Petra siq.jpg|thumb|Petra [[Siq]] in 1947 (left) compared with the same location in 2013]]

The first European to describe them was the Swiss traveler [[Johann Ludwig Burckhardt]] during his travels in 1812.<ref name= EB1911/><ref name= "Burckhardt1822">{{cite book| first=John Lewis |last= Burckhardt|title=Travels in Syria and the Holy Land| url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22956| year=1822 |publisher= J. Murray}}</ref> At that time, the [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem]] operated a diocese in [[al-Karak]] named Battra ({{langx|ar|باطره|link=no}}, {{langx|grc|Πέτρας|link=no}}) and it was the opinion among the clergy of Jerusalem that Kerak was the ancient city of Petra.<ref name= "Burckhardt1822"/>

Burckhardt already spoke Arabic fluently, and was on his way to explore the [[Niger River]] when he heard stories of a dead city that held [[Tomb of Aaron (Jordan)|the tomb of the Prophet Aaron]], and became fascinated with finding the city. He then dressed himself up as a local, and only spoke in Arabic, bringing a goat with him with the intent of sacrificing it in honor of Aaron's Tomb. After one day of exploring, he was convinced that he had found the lost city of Petra.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The discovery of Petra {{!}} History Today|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/discovery-petra|access-date=2021-12-03|website=www.historytoday.com}}</ref>

[[Léon de Laborde]] and [[Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds|Louis-Maurice-Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds]] made the first accurate drawings of Petra in 1828.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Carr|first=Gerald L.|title=Frederic Edwin Church: Catalogue Raisonne of Works at Olana State Historic Site, Volume I|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0521385404|location=Cambridge|pages=386–396}}</ref> The Scottish painter [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] visited Petra in 1839 and returned to Britain with sketches and stories of the encounter with local tribes, published in ''[[The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia]]''. [[Frederic Edwin Church]], the leading American landscape painter of the 19th century, visited Petra in 1868, and the resulting painting ''[[El Khasné, Petra (painting)|El Khasné, Petra]]'' is among his most important and well-documented.<ref name=":0" /> Missionary Archibald Forder published photographs of Petra in the December 1909 issue of National Geographic.
[[File:Petra (9779016262).jpg|thumb|the "Street of Facades"]]

Because the structures weakened with age, many of the tombs became vulnerable to thieves, and many treasures were stolen. In 1929, a four-person team consisting of British archaeologists [[Agnes Conway]] and [[George Horsfield]], Palestinian physician and folklore expert [[Tawfiq Canaan]] and Ditlef Nielsen, a Danish scholar, excavated and surveyed Petra.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Conway |first1=A. |last2=Horsfield |first2=G. |year=1930 |title=Historical and Topographical Notes on Edom: with an account of the first excavations at Petra |journal= The Geographical Journal |volume=76 |issue=5 |pages=369–390|doi=10.2307/1784200 |jstor=1784200 |bibcode=1930GeogJ..76..369H }}</ref>

The archaeologist Philip Hammond from the [[University of Utah]] visited Petra for nearly 40 years. He explained that the local folklore says it was created by the wand of [[Moses]], when he struck the rock to bring forth water for the [[Israelites]]. Hammond believed the carved channels deep within the walls and ground were made from ceramic pipes that once fed water for the city, from rock-cut systems on the canyon rim.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP9ku2EAahM|url-status=dead|title=Forbidden Archaeology of Petra and Nazca|publisher=National Geographic|year=2018|format=documentary|via=YouTube|access-date=2020-02-12|archive-date=2020-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502074933/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP9ku2EAahM&gl=US&hl=en}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the [[Bedul|Bedul Bedouin]], once inhabitants of Petra, were relocated by the Jordanian government to the nearby settlement of Umm Sayhoun, a process spanning two decades. This move was part of broader initiatives aimed at settling Bedouin communities and promoting tourism in Petra.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Simms |first=Steven |date=1996 |title=The Bedul Bedouin of Petra, Jordan: Traditions, tourism, and an uncertain future |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287496244 |journal=Cultural Survival Quarterly |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=22–25}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=After the world heritage classification: Bedouins have been forcibly relocated from Petra - FUF.se |url=https://fuf.se/en/korrar/efter-varldsarvsklassningen-beduiner-har-tvangsforflyttats-fran-petra/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=fuf.se |language=en}}</ref> With a name meaning "the changing ones" and oral traditions recounting a conversion narrative, the Bedul Bedouins are believed to have adopted Islam later in their history, possibly with [[Jews|Jewish]] or Nabatean origins.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Peake |first=Frederick Gerard |url=https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_isl_history-trans-jordan-tribes_DS1544B551934_vol1-5254/page/n117/mode/2up |title=A history of Trans-Jordan and its tribes |year=1934 |volume=1 |location=Amman |pages=109}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Ben-Zvi |first=Itzhak |author-link=Yitzhak Ben-Zvi |title=שאר ישוב: מאמרים ופרקים בדברי ימי הישוב העברי בא"י ובחקר המולדת |publisher=none |year=1967 |location=תל אביב תרפ"ז |pages=374–378 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=She'ar Yeshuv}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Kanʿān |first=Tawfīq |title=Studies in the Topography and Folklore of Petra |publisher=Beyt-Ul-Makdes Press |year=1930 |series=Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society |volume=IX |pages=216}}</ref> Today, alongside their traditional activities, they engage in local tourism, alongside the more prominent [[Liyathnah]] tribe.<ref name=":42" />

Numerous scrolls in Greek and dating to the [[Byzantine]] period were discovered in an excavated church near the [[Temple of the Winged Lions]] in Petra in December 1993.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/archaeology/lost-city-petra/ | title= Petra | work= National Geographic | access-date= 2017-08-20 | archive-date= 2017-08-20 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170820160051/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/archaeology/lost-city-petra/ | url-status= dead }}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
In December 2022, [[2022 Jordan floods|Petra was hit by heavy flooding]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-27 |title=Tourists evacuated after floods lash Jordan's ancient city of Petra |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2022-12-27/tourists-evacuated-in-ancient-city-of-petra-flooded-after-record-heavy-rainfall |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=ITV News |language=en}}</ref>