Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Great Temple
Offline map
Excavations of the Great Temple have been under way since 1993 and have yielded im-
pressive results. It was built as a major Nabataean temple in the 1st century BC and, des-
pite being badly damaged by an earthquake not long after, was in use (albeit in different
forms) until the late Byzantine period. The first set of stairs was fronted by a monumental
propylaeum
(gateway) while the courtyard at the top of the first stairs marked the lower
temenos,
flanked by a triple colonnade. The upper level housed the temple's sacred en-
closure, with four huge columns (made from stone discs and clad in marble) at the en-
trance. A
theatron
(miniature theatre) stands in the centre. The temple was once 18m high,
and the enclosure was 40m by 28m. The interior was originally covered with striking red-
and-white stuccowork.
TEMPLE
Qasr al-Bint
Offline map
One of the few free-standing structures in Petra, Qasr al-Bint was built in around 30 BC
by the Nabataeans, adapted to the cult of Roman emperors and destroyed in about the 3rd
century AD. Despite the name given to it by the local Bedouin - Qasr al-Bint al-Pharaun
(Castle of the Pharaoh's Daughter) - it was built as a dedication to Nabataean gods and
was one of the most important temples in the ancient city. In its original form, it stood
23m high and had marble staircases, imposing columns topped with floral capitals, a
raised platform for worship, and ornate plaster and stone reliefs and friezes - small traces
of which are still evident.
The central 'holy of holies', known as an
adyton,
would have housed an image of the
deities. The sacrificial altar in front, once overlaid with marble, indicates that it was prob-
ably the main place of worship in the Nabataean city and its location at street level sug-
gests that the whole precinct (and not just the temple interior) was considered sacred.
TEMPLE
'IBRAHIM' BURCKHARDT - EXPLORER
EXTRAORDINAIRE
There can't be many explorers in history who can match the remarkable exploits of Jean Louis Burckhardt. Born in
1784 in Lausanne, Switzerland, he studied Arabic and attended lectures on science and medicine at Cambridge
