Petra is a red rose

موضوع: Petra is a red rose الجمعة فبراير 06, 2009 1:06 am

Petra

Background

Petra was first
established sometime around the 6th century BC, by the Nabataean Arabs, a
nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the foundations of a commercial
empire that extended into Syria. Despite successive attempts by the Seleucid
king Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey and Herod the Great to bring Petra
under the control of their respective empires, Petra remained largely in
Nabataean hands until around 100AD, when the Romans took over. It was still
inhabited during the Byzantine period, when the former Roman empire moved its
focus east to Constantinople, but declined in importance thereafter. The
Crusaders constructed a fort there in the 12th century, but soon withdrew,
leaving Petra to the local people until the early 19th century, when it was
visited by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

Location

Petra lies about
3-5 hours south of modern Amman, about 2 hours north of Aqaba, on the edges
of the mountainous desert of the Wadi Araba. The city is surrounded by towering
hills of rust-coloured sandstone which gave the city some natural protection
against invaders.

The site is
semi-arid, the friable sandstone which allowed the Nabataeans to carve their
temples and tombs into the rock crumbling easily to sand. The colour of the
rock ranges from pale yellow or white through rich reds to the darker brown of
more resistant rocks. The contorted strata of different-coloured rock form
whorls and waves of colour in the rock face, which the Nabataeans exploited in
their architecture.

The Siq

Petra is a red rose TheTreasury_Petra_Jordan

Petra is a red rose TheTreasury_Petra_Jordan

From the
official entrance to the site, a dusty trail leads gently downwards along the
Wadi Musa (The Valley of Moses). Situated in small rock outcrops to the left
and right of the path are some small Nabataean tombs, carved into the dry rock.
Beyond these, walls of sandstone rise steeply on the left, and a narrow cleft
reveals the entrance to the Siq, the principal route into Petra itself.

The Nabataeans
were expert hydraulic engineers. The walls of the Siq are lined with channels
(originally fitted with chamfered clay pipes of efficient design) to carry
drinking water to the city, while a dam to the right of the entrance diverted
an adjoining stream through a tunnel to prevent it flooding the Siq.

Once inside, the Siq narrows to
little more than five metres in width, while the walls tower up hundreds of
metres on either side. The floor, originally paved, is now largely covered with
soft sand, although evidence of Nabataean construction can still be seen in
some places. The Siq twists and turns, the high walls all but shutting out the
early morning sunlight, until abruptly, through a cleft in the rock
, the first glimpse of the city of Petra can be seen. Carved out of pale
reddish sandstone, ornate pillars supporting a portico surmounted by a central
urn and two flanking blocks, jut out from the cliff face ahead. ...

وللبحث بقية

زائر

مممممممممم يسلمو ام الياس على هالمعلومات القيمة عن البترا ونحنا بانتظار كل شي جديد
مشكووووووووورة

مشكوووووووورة بوووووووووم

The Khazneh

The best-known of the monuments at
Petra, the Khazneh is also the first to greet the visitor
arriving via the Siq. The facade, carved out from the sandstone cliff wall, is
40m high, and is remarkably well-preserved, probably because the confined space
in which it was built has protected it somewhat from the effects of erosion.
The name Khazneh, which means 'treasury' comes from the legend that it was used
as a hiding place for treasure. In practice, it seems to have been something
between a temple and a tomb, possibly both at onceBehind the impressive facade,
a large square room has been carved out of the rock of the cliff. The corners
and walls have been squared off meticulously, but no attempt has been made to
extend the excavations further or to reproduce the kind of ornate carving of
the exterior. This is typical of the tombs in Petra; the interiors are as plain
as the exteriors are intricate. From inside, you can look out through the doorway
towards the Siq The Khazneh faces onto a large open space, floored
with soft sand and surrounded by high walls. It is possible, without too much
difficulty, to scramble up to a point on the facing wall about fifty metres or
so above the ground, and look down on the facade from above . Surrounding the open space dominated by the Khazneh are other
tombs and halls mostly little more than man-made caves carved out from the
rock. To the right, the path continues between more widely-spaced rock walls
studded with smaller tombs, which are visible as black holes in the rock. A
little further on, on the left is the giant semicircle of the amphitheatre,
which had seats for eight thousand people. Behind it, the rock wall is pitted
with tombs.

The Royal Tombs

Petra is a red rose Mk29042_fottoh2

North from the Khazneh lies the massif of Jebel Khubtha. Three
large structures, known as the Royal Tombs
have been carved into the rock face, which is known as the King's Wall. It is
unclear which kings are referred to, or whether this is simply another popular
name with no basis in historical fact. The first tomb in line is the Urn Tomb
, a well-preserved monument that faces out over an open terrace fronted by a double
row of vaults. A colonnaded cloister runs along the northern side of the
terrace. The elaborate facade fronts a single, unadorned room, this one
measuring nearly 20 metres on each side. The walls of the room are smooth, the
interior corners exact. The only decoration to be seen at present comes from
the beautiful whorls of different-coloured sandstone in the walls, ceiling and
floor of the chamberAfter some smaller tombs, the next major structure is the
badly-weathered Corinthian Tomb, which resembles a smaller version of the
Khazneh, followed by the Palace Tomb
, which was built in imitation of a Roman palace. The facade of this tomb is
also badly weathered, and the rooms behind are small and undecorated. Some
distance away from the Royal Tombs, to the north, there is one more tomb, which
was built in AD 130 for the Roman governor of the city under Hadrian, Sextius Florentinus
. This is a much more modest affair, a 6 metre facade in front of a small
chamber in which the administrator was presumably buried. The facade is badly
weathered, but the patterns in the exposed sandstone are striking. Further
north still, the rock walls of the Jebel Khubtha rise above the sandy scrub of
the Wadi al-Mataha. During the Byzantine occupation of the city, defensive
walls were built across the valley, and some excavation and reconstruction work
is currently taking place, but little can be seen of the walls themselves. To
the south-east lies the centre of the city.
best wishes

زائر

m9arete el mktob bas el makan kterr hilo

el swar bt3te nafss trou7 l hniik

merci om iliass

مرسي عالمروووووووووور اللطيف
هاي البترا في الاردن كتير كتير حلوة