Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We had acclimatised to being woken by the early call to prayer and confronting a day which
became increasingly hotter with every passing minute.
With a full sun beating down, we retraced our steps to the ruined arch that signified the
entrance to the Siq and proceeded down through the narrow gorge with its sheer walls of
pink and pale yellow sandstone. The effect was dramatic and at different stages we were
regaled with the history of the Nabateans who were responsible for carving the city out of
the living rock.
In the daylight we could now see that there were numerous carved structures and tombs
occurring at different parts of the Siq. Whenever it opened out of its narrow chasm, there
would be a squared structure with worked symmetrical stonework accompanied by one or
more apertures.
Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a perennial stream, Petra not only possessed
the advantages of a fortress but controlled the main commercial routes which passed
through to Gaza in the west, to Bosra and Damascus in the north, to Aqaba and the Red
Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf.
The role of water and its control was an important part of the infrastructure that supported
both the well being of the city as well as control of the caravan trade.
Excavations have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the water
supply that led to the rise of the desert city. In effect they created an artificial oasis. The
area is visited by flash floods and archaeological evidence shows the Nabataeans controlled
these flows by the use of conduits, dams and cisterns to store water for prolonged periods
of drought. These innovations enabled the city to prosper.
According to Arab tradition, Petra is the spot where Moses struck a rock with his staff and
water came forth.
There were ancient water channels cut into the rock on either side of the Siq. These ran the
full length of the Siq although it was not readily evident just where the water came from
when they were operating.
It all began to fall apart in the 1
st
and 2
nd
Centuries AD, when the sea-based trade routes
began to by-pass Petra. This decline was accelerated by an earthquake in the year 363,
which destroyed many buildings, and crippled the vital water management system.
The outline of various images could be seen carved into the walls of the Siq. Only the lower
sections were discernible and from the height of those, the height of the overall images
would have been nearly 10 to 15 metres.
