Petra (Jordan)

Petra in Palestine was a redirect to this article. For the titular bishopric see titular archbishopric Petra in Palestine .

البتراء Petra
Petra
Coordinates	30 ° 20 ′  N , 35 ° 27 ′  E Coordinates: 30 ° 20 ′  N , 35 ° 27 ′  E
Basic data
Country	Jordan
Governorate	Maʿan
height	810 m
surface	264 km²
Residents	6831 (2015, Wadi Musa)
density	25.9  Ew. / km²
founding	1985
Post Code	71910 (Shobak)
Website	www.visitpetra.jo

Opposite the exit of the Siq is the facade of the Khazne al-Firaun

Play media file

Video about Petra

Petra ( ancient Greek Πέτρα [ ˈpɛtʁa ] "rock, rock mass", Arabic البتراء al-Batrā ', in Nabataean probably Reqmu "the red"), a ruin site in present-day Jordan , wasthe capital of the Nabataean empire in ancient times . Because of its monumental grave temples, the facades of which were carved directly from the rock, it is considered a unique cultural monument . On December 6, 1985, Petra was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List .

Location and importance

The valley basin of Petra from the north-west

Above-ground water pipe in the Siq

East of the Arava Depression , halfway between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea , Petra lies at an altitude of between 800 and 1,350  m in a wide basin in the Edom mountains . Thanks to its strategic location at the crossroads of several caravan routes that connected Egypt with Syria and southern Arabia with the Mediterranean , the city was an important trading center from the 5th century to the 3rd century AD . In particular, Petra controlled an important junction on the Incense Route . This ancient trade route led from Yemen along the west coast of Arabia and split at Petra into a northwest branch that led to Gaza and a northeast branch that led to Damascus .

In addition to the convenient location in terms of traffic, there were the advantages of the special topography . On the one hand, Petra is hidden and well protected between rugged cliffs. The place is only accessible via a narrow mountain path from the northwest or from the east through an approximately 1.5 kilometers long and approximately 70 meters deep canyon, the Siq (German "shaft"), which is only 2 meters wide at its narrowest point. On the other hand, Petra had a safe water supply in ancient times. Process water and drinking water were conducted into the city via aqueducts carved into the rock and through terracotta pipes that were also embedded in the rock walls and sealed with plaster. The highly complex water supply system, which comprised more than 200  cisterns , was fed from all known water sources within a radius of more than 25 kilometers from the city.

The close connection of rock and water in the region gave rise to the legend that Petra was the place where Moses made a spring gush out of the stone with the blow of his staff during the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt. The region around Petra therefore bears the name Wadi Musa (German "Mosestal"). The fact is that the Nabataeans, with their skills in water management, created an artificial oasis and thus an essential prerequisite for the prosperity and growth of the city.

A safe water supply and a safe location made Petra a preferred stop for caravans from southern Arabia, which were mostly loaded with luxury goods for buyers from all over the Mediterranean : with spices from India and silk from China , ivory from Africa , pearls from the Red Sea and Frankincense from southern Arabia. The resin of the frankincense tree was sought after throughout the ancient world as a particularly valuable religious offering and medicine . In the opposite direction, goods from the Levant , such as goldsmiths from Aleppo , reached the markets of Yemen and Oman via Petra . Intermediate trade and tariffs yielded high profits for the Nabataeans.

In addition to Bosra in Syria and the trading metropolis Hegra, today's Mada'in Salih in Saudi Arabia , Petra was one of the three most important cities of the Nabatean Empire.

The name of the city

How the Nabataeans themselves called their capital cannot be clarified beyond any doubt. According to a not completely reliable testimony, the Antiquitates Judaicae by Flavius ​​Josephus , her name was Reqem , Reqmu or Rakmu (German “the red”, “the colorful”), which could have been an allusion to the reddish color of the sandstone of Petra.

The Old Testament mentions in the Book of Judges (1.36) and in the 2nd Book of Kings (14.7) a place in Edom called Sela (German "rock" or "stone"). However, it is disputed whether this place is identical with the Nabataean metropolis, which Strabo and Pliny the Elder used for the period after 169 BC. BC under the Greek name Petra is attested, which also means "rock". There were many other places with the same name in the Hellenistic world.

history

Rock inscription

The history of the city is closely linked to that of the Nabatean Empire , the first Arab empire in history. Except for a number of inscriptions the Nabataeans who hardly own written documents left behind. Their history and the Petras can therefore only be explored partially and indirectly through biblical as well as Greek and Roman sources .

Early settlement

The Temenos Gate in the center of Petra; in the background the main temple Qasr al-Bint

According to archaeological findings, the high valley of Petra was already temporarily in the Paleolithic and since the Neolithic  - around 9000 BC. BC - permanently settled. The Stone Age settlements of Beidha and the particularly inaccessible Ba'ja have been identified near the rock city . Beidha in particular has been reconstructed. The Bible speaks of the Horites and Edomites who ruled the area from around 1500 BC. Inhabited. After the conquest of the area by the Persians in the 6th century BC The Semitic people of the Nabataeans , who came from the interior of Arabia, succeeded in around 500 BC. To oust the Edomites. They went from pasture farming to control the trade routes that converged at Petra.

As semi-nomads , they probably initially only set up tents in the valley and occasionally dug cave dwellings into the rock. Around the middle of the 4th century BC Thanks to the trade in spices, incense and silver, the Nabataeans had already become so wealthy that they aroused the desires of their neighbors. In 312 BC They escaped conquest by Antigonus I Monophthalmos , one of the successors of Alexander the great , only thanks to the impregnable location of Petra. It was only with the decline of the Diadochian empires and the rise of Petra to the capital of the Nabataeans in the 2nd century BC. Its real bloom began.

Heyday

In the 3rd century BC The tent city was gradually replaced by permanent structures. At the same time, political power seems to have solidified and a stable royal rule developed. Its first known representative was that for the year 168 BC. Aretas I mentioned in the 2nd book of Maccabees in BC. He and his successors succeeded in asserting themselves against Ptolemaic Egypt and expanding Petras' sphere of influence at the expense of the Seleucid Empire . At the same time, the Nabataeans were open to the cultural influences of their Hellenistic environment.

The Nabatean Empire experienced its greatest development of power during the reign of King Aretas III. Philhellen (87-62 BC). He conquered Damascus , interfered in the power struggles of the Hasmoneans in Judea and besieged Jerusalem . The latter, however, called Rome on the scene. On behalf of Pompey , the Roman general Marcus Aemilius Scaurus put an end to the occupation of Jerusalem, defeating Aretas III. and closed in 62 BC Before Petra a comparison with him.

After Aretas' death, the empire became a vassal to Rome, but remained autonomous internally and was able to maintain its independence for almost 200 years. The city's prosperity continued to grow and the buildings began to take shape in the 1st century BC. Chr. Increasingly monumental forms. At the time of Aretas IV (9 BC to 40 AD) the main temple was built as a representative building in the center of the city. It is estimated that Petra had around 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants at that time.

Decline

Element from the floor mosaic of the Byzantine church (approx. 450–550).

Petra's gradual decline, however, had already initiated one of the predecessors of Aretas IV. Malichus I (59–30 BC) had temporarily allied with the Parthians against Rome. The Romans therefore promoted shipping traffic on the Red Sea in the period that followed and laid caravan routes that bypassed Petra in the north. The last Nabataean king, Rabbel II (70-106), took this into account by moving the capital to the north, to Bostra in present-day Syria. Emperor Trajan finally defeated the Nabataeans in 106 and incorporated their empire into the Roman Empire as the newly created Roman province of Arabia Petraea with the capital Bostra.

At first, Gerasa in the north of today's Jordan competed with Petra as a trading city. In the 3rd century it finally succeeded in temporarily diverting the caravan trade to Palmyra in Syria. Petra lost more and more importance and prosperity, but remained settled until the early Byzantine period . Under Emperor Diocletian , Petra even rose again to become the capital of a Roman province - Palaestina salutaris - and was therefore also the seat of a bishop in late antiquity . Several churches were built.

But the great time of the city was over. After several severe earthquakes in 363, 419, 551 and 747 and after the conquest of the region by the Muslims in 636, the last inhabitants left the city in the Middle Ages.

Theories of individual scholars such as Dan Gibson , according to which Islam was not founded in Mecca but in the region around Petra, are generally rejected by historical research. Petra fell into disrepair in the Middle Ages. Of the masonry buildings only the ruins of the main temple Qasr al-Bint , the Temenos gate , remains of the main street, floor mosaics of the Byzantine church and a few foundation walls of other buildings remained. The monumental rock tombs and the theater, on the other hand, which had been carved out of the red sandstone of the mountain walls, survived the centuries.

At the beginning of the 12th century, crusaders temporarily built two small castles near Petras: Vaux Moise and Sela ' , outposts of the large crusader castle of Montreal, a few kilometers away . At the time of the Crusades also was a Latin Archdiocese of Petra, which is based in Kerak , had the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem was under and by the Catholic Church to this day as Titularerzbistum Archbishop of Petra will continue. Until its conquest by the Muslim Ayyubids under Sultan Saladin in 1188/1189, the area around Petra belonged to the rule of Oultrejordain of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem . In the centuries after the Crusaders, only migrating Bedouins sought refuge in the city's empty tombs from time to time. Around 1600 the B'doul tribe settled permanently in Petra and the surrounding region.

Petra today

View from inside the urn grave

No European had set foot in Petra since the time of the Crusades. Around 1800, only a few scholars knew rumors of a legendary "city carved out of the rock" in the Middle East. For Europe, Petra was only rediscovered in 1812 by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss traveler to Arabia . More than 100 years later, Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote in his work The Seven Pillars of Wisdom : "Petra is the most wonderful place in the world." But he was of the opinion that any description should fade before you experience the city yourself.

Archaeological excavations in Petra only began in the 1920s. A little later, the touristic development of the ruins began.

Excavations

After Burckhardt, other European travelers visited and described Petra in the 19th century. Scientific research into the area began around 1900. In 1897 and 1898, the archaeologists Rudolf Ernst Brünnow and Alfred von Domaszewski undertook two trips to Arabia, during which they measured Petra and created the first modern map of the city. In 1907, the Arabia researcher Alois Musil from Moravia published the results of a first scientific expedition in his work Arabia Petraea , which took stock of the antiquities visible at the time. During the First World War, Petra was admitted by the German-Turkish Monument Protection Command under the direction of Theodor Wiegand . Even then, assumptions were made that seem to be confirmed by new excavations: The monumental facades carved into the rock were not solitaires, but parts of larger building complexes, some of which consisted of masonry structures.

The first excavations on the Petras site took place in 1929. More followed in 1935-1937 and 1954. In 1958, the British School of Archeology began excavating the city center. Archaeologists have been on site since then. Under the leadership of the Jordanian Antiquities Authority, American scientists from Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island) uncovered the remains of the main temple (Qasr al-Bint) in the city center and the area around the Temenos gate during an excavation campaign between 1993 and 2002 . In May 2011, German and English archaeologists discovered a luxurious bathing complex on the Umm al-Bijara, the city's highest mountain, which was probably part of a royal residence. To date, researchers have identified around 1000 buildings and building remains on an area of ​​around 20 square kilometers. It is estimated that only 20 percent of ancient Petra have been excavated so far.

In 2016, Sarah Parcak , an expert in aerial archeology , discovered the remains of a structure on satellite images that was about 800 m from the city center and was probably a temple from the time Petra was founded. In the aerial photos, a flat, approx. 56 m × 49 m large, rectangular hill can be seen, which only slightly rises from the surroundings. A two-tier platform was identified on it, on which a building open to the east stood. A monumental staircase lined with columns formed the entrance. Shards found during an excavation allow the building to be dated to around 200 BC. Since most of the other buildings from this phase were built over later, it is hoped that the find will provide further information about the early days of the Nabatean Empire.

tourism

Plan of today's Petra: Siq (6), Khazne (7), Roman theater (9), tombs of the king's wall (10–15), street of columns (19), Qasr al-Bint (22), museum (23), Ad Deir (26)

Petra is now considered one of the greatest attractions in the Middle East . Its development for modern tourism began in the 1930s. At that time the first hotels were built near Petra, some even in the city itself, some directly in front of the Roman Theater. These building sins have now been eliminated.

In order to be able to use Petra better for tourism, the Jordanian government forcibly resettled the Bedouins from the B'doul tribe between 1968 and 1985 , to whose area Petra belongs. Until then they had used the cool, shady grave structures as apartments. Today the B'doul live in the surrounding villages, especially in Wadi Musa . The majority of them live from Petra tourism, for example as tour guides. They continue to use some of their former rock dwellings as souvenir shops.

Because of its unique buildings, Petra has served as a film set several times, e.g. B. in Ray Harryhausen's 1975 fantasy film Sindbad and the Tiger's Eye and in the third film in the Indiana Jones series by Steven Spielberg . The last scenes of Indiana Jones and the last crusade were made in the Siq and in front of the Khazne al-Firaun , the exterior of which represents the facade of the temple of the Grail.

After the 1979 Camp David Peace Agreement , Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt . In the period that followed, Petra experienced a steadily growing influx of day tourists from the Egyptian holiday resorts on the Gulf of Aqaba . After 1989, Spielberg's film, which made Petra known to a larger audience in America and Europe, provided an additional boost.

Most of the hotels for the numerous tourists are located in the surrounding village of Wadi Musa

In the 1980s, a modern visitor center was built outside the city, well in front of the entrance to the Siq. In 1993, Jordan placed an area of ​​around 100 square miles around Petra under protection as a national park. After the country had signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1994, a number of modern, sometimes luxurious hotels were built in the vicinity of Petra, especially in Wadi Musa. Jordan used a loan from the World Bank for 23 million US dollars to develop the region for tourism. The country's tourism industry hoped to attract more long-term holidaymakers to the region. But first of all day tourism increased again, this time from the direction of Israel. Before the second Intifada began in 2000, day vacationers from Israel and the West Bank made up 57 percent of visitors to Petras. In the record year 2000, a total of around 1 million tourists were counted.

As a result of the serious unrest in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , the number of visitors fell dramatically, although Jordan is still considered a relatively safe and peaceful travel destination after the suicide bombings in Amman on November 9, 2005. For a long time it was unable to redeem the peace dividend that the country had promised itself from Petra tourism, among others. It was only after Petra was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a global survey in 2007 - albeit not recognized by UNESCO - that there was another rapid increase in visitor numbers. In 2012 the Jordanian Tourism Association advertised the 200th anniversary of the “rediscovery” of Petra.

Damage and dangers

Many monuments in Petra show significant damage due to salt weathering . Apart from such weathering processes , earthquakes pose the greatest risk . This risk arises from Petra's location in the Jordan Rift , which is part of a plate-tectonic transform system that extends from the northern end of the Red Sea to northeast Turkey .

The main architectural monuments

Around 800 monuments and sacrificial sites have been preserved in and around Petra. The monuments are shaped by Nabataean, Greco-Hellenistic and Roman influences. Style elements from all three cultures are often mixed up in one and the same building.

The "treasure house"

The Khazne al-Firaun

→ Main article : Khazne al-Firaun

At the confluence of the Siq in the valley basin stands the most famous structure of Petra, the almost 40 meters high and 25 meters wide Khazne al-Firaun , built in the Hellenistic style . The "treasure house of the Pharaoh", as it was called by the Bedouins , was actually one of numerous rock tombs . It was possibly created for the Nabatean king Aretas IV, who in the 1st century BC. Ruled. Other researchers, however, date the khazne to the 2nd century AD, to the time of the emperor Hadrian . A small tholos , a round temple, flanked by two half-gables rises above a portico made up of six Corinthian columns . There are weathered remains of relief figures between the columns. Bullet holes can be seen on the urn on the top of the round temple. They go back to shotgun shots by Bedouins who once tried to break open the supposed treasure container. The urn, like the entire building and the other royal tombs of Petra, consists mainly of solid rock.

The Roman Theater

The Roman Theater of Petra

On the way from Khazne al-Firaun to the center of Petra, on the left is the Roman Theater , which was also carved directly from the rock. Depending on the source, there were 45 rows of seats for five to ten thousand spectators. So that no water could collect in the arena when it rains, the Nabataeans installed a sophisticated drainage system. The typical Roman style of the theater can be seen, for example, on the raised stage. The back wall of the stage, which was provided with columns, was two-story and decorated with frescoes, statues and marble friezes. A 25 meter high wall closed off the theater from the outside. When it was built in the 1st century, some grave chambers were uncovered that had previously been driven into the rear rock massif. In ancient times poorer inhabitants of the city were buried in such shaft graves. The theater was probably destroyed by an earthquake in 363 AD. In 1961 it was rediscovered and excavated by American archaeologists.

The tombs of the King's Wall

The king's wall

The so-called King's Wall rises to the northeast of the theater. Halfway up there are 13 monumental grave temples that are interpreted as royal tombs due to their size and decoration. These include the “ palace grave”, the largest complex in Petra, the “Corinthian grave”, the “soldier's grave” and the “ urn grave ” from the 2nd or 3rd century. Its rock hall contains three burial niches. It also has a forecourt surrounded by columns, which can be reached via a brick substructure. To the north of the so-called royal tombs is the somewhat smaller "Tomb of Sextius Florentinus". The architectural styles of the tombs reveal Nabataean, Greek and Roman influences.

The former city center

The "Säulenstrasse", the former main traffic axis of Petra, runs perpendicular to the Königswand in a westward direction. While the grave temples carved into the rock have survived thousands of years, the houses of the Nabataeans have long since crumbled. Left and right of the columned street, however, remains of the market, the "Temenos Gate", a Byzantine basilica and several temples have been preserved. The largest of these, Qasr al-Bint Fara'un from the 1st century BC. BC was possibly dedicated to the main Nabatean gods Dushara and Al-Uzza . The current Arabic name means "palace of the pharaoh's daughter" and goes back to a later interpretation by the Bedouins.

The rock tomb Ad Deir

The rock temple Ad Deir

→ Main article : Ad Deir

A mountain path leads past the modern museum in the west of the valley basin through Wadi Kharareeb to the rock temple Ad Deir, which is outside the city proper . Its name, in German "monastery", goes back to the fact that monks settled there in the Middle Ages. Unlike the Khazne Firaun , the Ad Deir is not hidden, but high on the mountain and impresses not least because of its size. It is 39 meters high and 47 meters wide; The urn on the top of the round temple alone is 9 meters high. Because of its simple but monumental style and its secluded location, the Ad Deir is one of the most impressive works of Nabatean architecture.

Other buildings and places of worship

On the peaks of the surrounding mountains are the remains of former sacrificial sites of the Nabataeans. The High Sacrifice Place, for example, is located on the summit of Jebel Attuf. There, the rock was leveled to form a rectangular courtyard surrounded by flat banks. A small rectangular sacrificial platform rises in the middle. The Nabataeans made offerings to their gods on it. Outside the urban area of ​​Petra there are other Nabataean settlements with remains worth seeing, including the Siq el-Barid , the metropolis’s original trading point. Also in Wadi Musa itself - where the tourist accommodation is today - there are numerous archaeological sites such as the obelisk tomb at the entrance to the Siq . In the vicinity of Petra, the 1400 meter high peak of Jabal Hārūn rises, which according to tradition is said to correspond to the biblical mountain Hor. A place of pilgrimage for the biblical Aaron was established there in Islamic times . The elder brother Moses is revered as the holy Nabī Hārūn in Muslim popular belief. To this day, pilgrims hope to find healing from diseases at his grave .

Movies

• Monuments of eternity: Petra, beauty in the rock massif. 81-minute documentary by Olivier Julien and Gary Glassman for Arte (France 2014).
• Indiana Jones - The Last Crusade. The Khazne al-Firaun can be seen in the film as the entrance to the hiding place of the "Holy Grail".
• Transformers - The Revenge. The Ad Deir is the tomb of the "Primes" there.

literature

• Fabio Bourbon: Petra. The mysterious rock city . Müller, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89893-564-7 .
• Gustaf Dalman : Petra and his rock sanctuaries (=  Palestinian research on archeology and topography . Volume 1 ). Hinrichs, Leipzig 1908.
• Zbigniew T. Fiema: Petra. In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Volume 27, Delivery 212, Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-7772-1519-8 , Sp. 349-387.
• Manfred Lindner (ed.): Petra and the kingdom of the Nabataeans. Habitat, history and culture of an ancient Arab people . 6th, revised edition. Delp, Munich a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-7689-0116-5 .
• Judith McKenzie: The Architecture of Petra (=  British Academy Monographs in Archeology . Volume 1 ). Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 1990, ISBN 0-19-727000-X (Reprinted edition. Ibid 1995; Reprinted edition. Ibid 2005, ISBN 1-84217-164-X ).
• Francesca A. Ossorio, Valeria Manferto: The rock city of Petra . Center of the Nabatean Empire. White Star, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-86726-116-6 .
• Frank Rainer Scheck: Jordan. Peoples and cultures between the Jordan and the Red Sea . 6th, updated edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7701-3979-8 .
• Stephan G. Schmid : The Nabataeans. Travelers between Lifestyles . In: Burton MacDonald, Russell Adams, Piotr Bienkowski (eds.): The Archeology of Jordan (=  Levantine Archeology . Volume 1 ). Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield 2001, ISBN 1-84127-136-5 , pp. 367-426 .
• Jane Taylor: Petra and the Sunken Kingdom of the Nabataeans . Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf a. a. 2002, ISBN 3-538-07136-5 .
• Thomas Maria Weber : Petra. Ancient rock city between Arab tradition and Greek norm . Ed .: Robert Wenning (=  Ancient World . Zabern's illustrated books on archeology . Special issue). von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-1983-5 .
• Th. Wiegand , W. Bachmann , C. Watzinger : Petra . In: Scientific publications of the German-Turkish Monument Protection Command . Issue 3. de Gruyter, 1921, ZDB -ID 546508-4 .
• Kurt Heinrichs: Diagnosis of the weathering damage to the rock monuments of the ancient city of Petra, Jordan (=  Aachen geoscientific contributions . Volume 41 ). Wissenschaftsverlag Mainz, Aachen 2005, ISBN 3-86130-961-0 .
• Anna Paolini, Azadeh Vafadari, Giorgia Cesaro, Mario Santana Quintero, Koen Van Balen, Ona Vileikis, Leen Fakhoury: Risk Management at Heritage sites. A Case Study of the Petra Archaeological Park. UNESCO 2012, ISBN 978-92-3-001073-7 . (PDF)

Web links

Commons : Petra  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Petra  - Travel Guide

• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
• Various paintings by Petra in the early 1800s (video)
• Bulletin of Nabataean Studies , Internet portal for Nabataean research (English)
• Archeology of Petra with numerous Images (English)
• Description of Petra ( memento of March 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
• Video about Petra from the SWR series "Treasures of the World - Heritage of Mankind" (14:48 min., With the complete film text for reading)
• Petra - A Brief History - with numerous Images
• Petra - Myth and Reality (English)
• Petra web directory ( memento of July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
• Iconicarchive photo gallery
• Ancient Petra - stone mystery in the desert. In: Spiegel Online. May 31, 2011 - with photo gallery
• Over 750 photos of Petra

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Patricia Crone, Michael Cook: Hagarism. 1977, pp. 22-24.
   Patricia Crone: Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam. 1987.
   Dan Gibson: Quranic Geography. 2011, pp. 221-379.
2. ^ JL Burckhardt: Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. 1922, chapter Description of a Journey from Damascus through the Mountains of Arabia Petræa and the Desert El Ty, to Cairo; in the Summer of 1812. (WEB version of the University of Adelaide Library)
3. ↑ Markus Becker: Archaeologists find bath house in the desert. In: Spiegel online. May 30, 2011.
4. ↑ Angelika Franz: New monument discovered in the rock city of Petra. In: Spiegel online. June 11, 2016, accessed June 12, 2016.
5. ^ Sarah Parcak, Christopher A. Tuttle: Hiding in Plain Sight: The Discovery of a New Monumental Structure at Petra, Jordan, Using WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 Satellite Imagery. In: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 375, May 2016, pp. 35–51, accessed June 12, 2016.
6. ^ K. Heinrichs, R. Azzam: Investigation of salt weathering on stone monuments by use of a modern wireless sensor network exemplified for the rock-cut monuments in Petra / Jordan - a research project. In: International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era. Volume 1, No. 2, June 2012, pp. 191-216.
7. ^ Y. Klinger: Seismic behavior of the Dead Sea fault along the Araba valley, Jordan. In: Geophysical Journal International. 142, 2000, pp. 769-782.
8. ^ Fabio Bourbon: Petra. The mysterious rock city. Müller, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89893-564-7 , pp. 56-57.