Petra is an ancient city that lies in Jordan, and now serve as an important archeologic site and tourist attraction.
It is located about 150 miles south of both Jerusalem and Amman,
the capital of Jordan, and about midway between Damascus, Syria, and the Red Sea.
Petra has also been referred to as the
“Rose City” because of the color of the stones used in its buildings. It was designated
as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in
1985.
The city of Petra was established as a trading post
by the Nabateans, an Arab Bedouin tribe indigenous to the region in what is now
southwestern Jordan.
The Nabateans living and trading in Petra
soon accumulated a significant amount of wealth, and an envious Greek Empire
attacked the city in 312 B.C. In fact, the Romans would invade Petra in 106
A.D., and Romans changed its name to Arabia Petraea.
After the eighth century, when Petra was largely abandoned as a
trading center, its stone structures were used for shelter by nomadic shepherds
for several centuries. Then, in 1812, the unique ruins of Petra were
“discovered” by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
In
the early 2000s, the site was named one of the “Seven New Wonders of the
World,” leading to a landmark in tourism.
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