The jewel in Jordan's tourism crown, this ancient Nabatean capital is a world treasure.
Petra is a marriage of natural and manmade wonders on an exemplary scale. Created by the Nabateans-a Semitic people from northern Arabia-some 2000 years ago, the entire city was carved out of the multi-colored rock mountains.
Its reputation of being a successful empire, a trading point for precious incense and perfumes, inspired (or gave rise to) the envy of Rome, which ultimately conquered it.
Petra's mysteries gradually unfold, with the unforgettable rock walls as you proceed through the Siq, until at last, the gorge delivers you to the spectacular Treasury and the remainder of Petra's secrets. Royal Tombs, houses, burial chambers, "high place" sacrificial altars and shrines are found at every level; from the canyon floor to the highest peak
Other major monuments reflect the synthesis of Greco-Roman and Nabatean style: a Nympheaem, theater, Agora, temples and the colonnaded "main street" of shops. There are Byzantine churches, an Islamic mosque/tomb for Nabi Haroon (Prophet Aaron), and Crusader forts interspersed among peaks, valleys and the Roman-Nabatean remains.
A day-visitor can cover just the major sites along the lower basin, with a climb to one of the farther monuments--but there is so much more to see. Long before the Nabateans, the Petra area was inhabited by Stone Age people at nearby Beidah, and once was the capital of the biblical kingdom of Edom. The name of the nearby village, Wadi Mousa (Moses' Valley), comes from the legend that Moses created its spring of water when he struck a rock.
A mere three-hour drive from Amman, Petra is definitely a must-see, must-experience treasure.
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