“Deep within Jordan’s desolate desert canyons and rugged mountains lies an ancient treasure, the stone city of Petra.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the new seven wonders of the world, Petra is a giant metropolis of tombs, monuments, and other elaborate religious structures directly carved into sandstone cliffs.
Believed to have been settled as early as 9000 B.C., Petra developed into the thriving capital of the Nabataean kingdom. This little-understood Middle Eastern culture ruled much of modern-day Jordan from the third century B.C. until the first century A.D., when it yielded to the rising power of Rome.
After the Roman conquest and the shifting of trade routes, the city declined in importance until it was abandoned. Europeans did not set eyes upon it’s rose-colored walls for centuries, until the early 19th century when a traveler dressed himself in Bedouin costume and infiltrated the mysterious locale.”
