Petra

Place Description

Petra, known to its ancient inhabitants as Raqmu, is located approximately 80 kilometers southeast of the Dead Sea in modern Jordan. The ancient city is situated on the western slopes of the Sharā Mountain Range, in a wide basin surrounded by deeply eroded mountainous ridges of sandstone, with outcrops of limestone and porphyry that form a natural fortification.

The development of Petra as an important political, economic, and cultural center in the Near East during the Hellenistic-Roman periods (1st century BCE-2nd century CE) was ultimately the result of its strategic position on the crossroads of the major trade and communication routes that crossed the region (Fig. 1). Wadi Mousa, the narrow valley along which Petra developed, provided one of the few convenient and negotiable routes through the mountainous barrier allowing caravans to pass between the high desert plateau to the east and Wādī ʻAraba to the west. This strategic position on the crossroads of the desert trade routes made it possible for the Nabataeans to establish control over the caravans that traveled between Arabia and the Mediterranean.

The Southern Terrace is a series of monumental built terraces constructed along the Colonnaded Street on the southern slope of Wadi Musa, which bisects the city center of Petra. In the early 20th century, prior to the onset of archaeological excavations, the major components of the Southern Terrace were assigned the names (from west to east) the "Great Temple", the "Lower Market", the "Middle Market," and "Upper Market." The "Lower Market" has since been identified as a garden and pool complex and the author proposes that it is one component of a large palatial complex that occupied the entirety of the Southern Terrace and dominated the City Center (Figs. 2 and 5).

Places

• Petra Pleiades: 697725
• Petra (deserted settlement) TGN: 7002383

Explore the places containing this place:

• Arabia Petraea