"... match me such a marvel, save in Eastern clime
A rose-red city, half as old as time."

A brief history of the ancient city runs like this. 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 as far as Syria and Saudi Arabia. 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 under emperor Trajan 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 the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited it.

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. Siq, means cleft or channel and the entrance to the site is very narrow in some places, making this name very appropriate for this ancient geological fault line. 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. Flash flooding in this area has always been a problem in these mountainous valleys and in the 1960s, much of the anti flooding work that the Nabataeans had built was re-established to make the region safe once more. As you enter the Siq you will begin to appreciate the natural beauty of the site which Im sure was one of the factors that drew the original inhabitants to settle here. The natural ore in the Sandstone rocks presents an vast array of colours, the natural iron gives a red tint to much of it and other ores such as copper and sulphur add yellows and blues, greens and browns that make for a marbled effect through out the canyon.

Behind 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. What is remarkable about this plain tomb though is the natural array of colours that is to be found running through the walls and ceiling of the room. No artist or craftsman could have made a more glorious interior than the one that nature provided. 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.

If like most people who visit the site you are only here for a day trip, this is probably the limit of what you will see, but it is only a fraction. As our guide Waleel put it so succinctly, " I have given you a bit of the apple, one day you must come back to savour the rest of the fruit". For there is a lot more to see, but really you need to be based in the area and be prepared to spend a whole day or even to the bask in its glory. For example, 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.. The heart of Petra lies about the open ground of the Wadi Musa. A broad track from the Khazneh leads to the main street of Roman Petra, which was paved with cut stone and lined with columns. Towards the amphitheatre is an open marketplace and a nymphaeum or public fountain. At the opposite end is the Temenos Gateway, which marked the entrance to the courtyard of the Temple of Dushara. The Temple, popularly known as the Qasr al-Bint Firaun ("The Castle of Pharaoh's Daughter"), was a large free-standing structure, built of massive blocks of yellow sandstone. It has been extensively restored. Dushara was the principal god of the Nabataeans; his partner, the fertility goddess Atagartis, was worshipped at the Temple of the Winged Lions, which faces the Temple of Dushara from a low rise to the north-east of the Temenos gateway. In Roman times, these temples would have been taken over for the worship of the appropriate Roman gods, possibly Apollo and Artemis respectively. In the city's Byzantine period, it is likely that they were also adapted for Christian worship. The Temple, popularly known as the Qasr al-Bint Firaun ("The Castle of Pharaoh's Daughter"), was a large free-standing structure, built of massive blocks of yellow sandstone. It has been extensively restored. Dushara was the principal god of the Nabataeans; his partner, the fertility goddess Atagartis, was worshipped at the Temple of the Winged Lions, which faces the Temple of Dushara from a low rise to the north-east of the Temenos gateway. In Roman times, these temples would have been taken over for the worship of the appropriate Roman gods, possibly Apollo and Artemis respectively. In the city's Byzantine period, it is likely that they were also adapted for Christian worship.