1884 Perron map PETRA AND ENTRANCE TO ARABAH, JORDAN, #144 |
Nice small map titled Petra et seuil de l'Arabah, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression. Overall size approx. 16.5 x 16.5 cm, image size approx. 10 x 8.5 cm. From La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol. (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.
Petra,
(Arabic Batra), ancient city, centre of an Arab kingdom in Hellenistic and Roman times; its ruins are in southwest Jordan. The city was built on a terrace, pierced from east to west by the Wadi Musa (the Valley of Moses)—one of the places where, according to tradition, the Israelite leader Moses struck a rock and water gushed forth. The valley is enclosed by sandstone cliffs veined with shades of red and purple varying to pale yellow, and for this reason Petra was called by the 19th-century English biblical scholar John William Burgon a “rose-red city half as old as Time.”
The Greek name Petra (“Rock”) probably replaced the biblical name Sela. Remains from the Paleolithic and the Neolithic periods have been discovered at Petra, and Edomites are known to have occupied the area about 1200 BC. Centuries later the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe, occupied it and made it the capital of their kingdom. In 312 BC the region was attacked by Seleucid forces, who failed to seize the city. Under Nabataean rule, Petra prospered as a centre of the spice trade that involved such disparate realms as China, Egypt, Greece, and India, and the city's population swelled to between 10,000 and 30,000.
When the Nabataeans were defeated by the Romans in AD 106, Petra became part of the Roman province of Arabia but continued to flourish until changing trade routes caused its gradual commercial decline. After an earthquake (not the first) damaged the city in 551, significant habitation seems to have ceased. The Islamic invasion occurred in the 7th century, and a Crusader outpost is evidence of activity there in the 12th century. After the Crusades, the city was unknown to the Western world until it was rediscovered by the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812.
Excavations from 1958 on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and, later, the American Center of Oriental Research added greatly to knowledge of Petra. The ruins are usually approached from the east by a narrow gorge known as the Sik (Siq, or Wadi as-Sik). Among the first sites viewed from the Sik is the Khasneh (“Treasury”), which is actually a large tomb. Ad-Dayr (“the Monastery”) is one of Petra's best-known rock-cut monuments; it is an unfinished tomb facade that during Byzantine times was used as a church. Many of the tombs of Petra have elaborate facades and are now used as dwellings. The High Place of Sacrifice, a cultic altar dating from biblical times, is a well-preserved site. To support the ancient city's large population, its inhabitants maintained an extensive hydrological system, including dams, cisterns, rock-carved water channels, and ceramic pipes. Excavations begun in 1993 revealed several more temples and monuments that provide insight into the political, social, and religious traditions of the ancient city. The ruins are vulnerable to floods and other natural phenomena, and increased tourist traffic has also damaged the monuments. In 1985 Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Arabah
The Arabah (Hebrew: הָעֲרָבָה, HaAravah, lit. "desolate and dry
area"; Arabic: وادي عربة, Wādī ʻAraba), known in Hebrew as Arava or Aravah, is
a geographic name for the area south of the Dead Sea basin which forms part of
the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east.
The old meaning, which was in use up to the early 20th century, covered almost
the entire length of what is today called the Jordan Rift Valley, running in a
north-south orientation between the southern end of the Sea of Galilee and the
northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba at Aqaba/Eilat. This included the Jordan River
Valley between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea itself, and
what is commonly called today the Arava Valley. The modern use of the term is
restricted to this southern section alone.
History
In Biblical times, the Arava was a center of copper production; King Solomon is
believed to have had mines here based on copper mines dating to his reign. The
Arabah was home to the Edomites (Edom was called "Idumea" in Roman times). East
of the Arabah was the domain of the Nabateans, the builders of the city of
Petra.
Nahal Hayoun running into the Arabah. Photograph from Palmach archives. 1948.
Kibbutz Yotvata founded in 1957, was named for an ancient town in the area
mentioned in the Bible. Kibbutz Lotan has a bird-watching center. The oldest
moshav in the central Arava area is Ein Yahav.
The Israel–Jordan Peace Treaty was signed in the Arava on October 26, 1994. The
governments of Jordan and Israel are promoting development of the region. There
is a plan to bring sea water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea through a canal
(Red–Dead Seas Canal), which follows along the Arabah. This (long envisioned)
project was once an issue of dispute between Jordan and Israel, but it was
recently agreed that the project shall be constructed on and by the Jordanian
side.