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Petra
- Brief History of Petra
- The location of Petra
Petra (from the Greek, meaning 'rock') lies in a great rift valley east of Wadi 'Araba in Jordan about 80 kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It came into prominence in the late first century BCE (BC) through the success of the spice trade. The city was the principal city of ancient Nabataea and was famous above all for two things: its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. It was locally autonomous until the reign of Trajan, but it flourished under Roman rule. The town grew up around its Colonnaded Street in the first century CE (AD) and by the mid-first century had witnessed rapid urbanization. Following the flow of the Wadi Musa, the city-center was laid out on either sides of the Colonnaded Street on an elongated plan between the theater in the east and the Qasr al-Bint in the west. The quarries were probably opened in this period, and there followed virtually continuous building through the first and second centuries CE.
The Treasury
According to tradition, in ca. 1200 BCE, the Petra area (but not necessarily the site itself) was populated by Edomites and the area was known as Edom ("red"). Before the Israelite incursions, the Edomites controlled the trade routes from Arabia in the south to Damascus in the north. Little is known about the Edomites at Petra itself, but as a people they were known for their wisdom, their writing, their textile industry, the excellence and fineness of their ceramics, and their skilled metal working.
The next chapter of history belongs to the Persian period, and it is posited that during this time the Nabataeans migrated into Edom, forcing the Edomites to move into southern Palestine. But little is known about Petra proper until about 312 BC by which time the Nabataeans, one of many Arab tribes, occupied it and made it the capital of their kingdom. At this time, during the Hellenistic rule of the Seleucids, and later, the Ptolemies, the whole area flourished with increased trade and the establishment of new towns such as Philadelphia (Rabbath 'Ammon, modern Amman) and Gerasa (modern Jerash). Infighting between the Seleucids and Ptolemies allowed the Nabataeans to gain control over the caravan routes between Arabia and Syria. Although there were struggles between the Jewish Maccabeans and the Seleucid overlords, Nabataean trade continued.
The Temple of Winged Lions
With Nabataean rule, Petra became the center for a spice trade that extended from Arabia to Aqaba and Petra, and onward either to Gaza in the northwest, or to the north through Amman to Bostra, Damascus, and finally on to Palmyra and the Syrian Desert. Nabataean Classical monuments reflect the international character of the Nabataean economy through their combination of native tradition and the classical spirit.
But among the most remarkable of all Nabataean achievements is the hydraulic engineering systems they developed including water conservation systems and the dams that were constructed to divert the rush of swollen winter waters that create flash floods.
In 64-63 BCE, the Nabataeans were conquered by the Roman general, Pompey, whose policy was to restore the cities taken by the Jews. However, he retained an independent Nabataea, although the area was taxed by the Romans and served as a buffer territory against the desert tribes. Completely subsumed by the Romans under the Emperor Trajan in 106 CE, Petra and Nabataea then became part of the Roman province known as Arabia Petraea with its capital at Petra. In 131 CE Hadrian, the Roman emperor, visited the site and named it after himself, Hadriane Petra. The city continued to flourish during the Roman period, with a Triumphal Arch spanning the Siq, and tomb structures either carved out of the living rock or built free-standing. Under Roman rule, Roman Classical monuments abounded — many with Nabataean overtones.
The Colonnaded Street
By 313 CE (AD), Christianity had become a state-recognized religion. In 330 CE, the Emperor Constantine established the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople. Although the 363 earthquake destroyed half of the city, it appears that Petra retained its urban vitality into late antiquity, when it was the seat of a Byzantine bishopric. The newly excavated Petra church with its papyrus scrolls document this period, especially in the sixth century, a phenomenon less well-attested in other sites so far south of 'Amman. In this period there is also striking archaeological and documentary evidence for accommodation between Christians and the pagan aristocracy. Thereafter one can read the archaeology of a fragmented middle Byzantine community living among and re-using the abandoned limestone and sandstone elements of its classical past. The inhabitants during the Byzantine Period recycled many standing structures and rock-cut monuments, while also constructing their own buildings, including churches — such as the recently excavated Petra Church with the extraordinary mosaics. Among the rock-cut monuments they reused is the great tomb or the Ad-Dayr (known also as 'The Monastery'), which was modified into a church. With a change in trade routes, Petra's commercial decline was inevitable. An even more devastating earthquake had a severe impact on the city in 551 CE, and all but brought the city to ruin. With the rise of Islam, Petra became a backwater community. Petra was revealed to the western world in 1812 for the first time since the Crusades when it was re-discovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
Past Excavations
As one of the most spectacular sites in the Middle East, Petra has long attracted travelers and explorers. During the 19th century, the site was visited and documented by several Europeans, after J. L. Burckhardt’s initial visit. A synthesis of the site was published by Libbey and Hoskins in 1905, presenting one of the first overviews in print. Archaeological excavations began in earnest at the turn of the century, with the earliest scientific expedition being published in Arabia Petraea in 1907, by A. Musil. In the 1920's R. E. Brünnow and A. von Domaszewski surveyed the site and published an ambitious mapping project in their Die Provincia Arabia. This survey has since undergone many necessary revisions, the most recent of which was published by Judith McKenzie in 1990.
An early photograph of
the Treasury
Modern excavations continue to increase our understanding of the site and correct the work of earlier scholars. In 1958, P. J. Parr and C. M. Bennett of the British School of Archaeology began an excavation of the city center which remains the most informative and scientific to date. Recently, the Petra/Jerash Project, undertaken by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, the University of Jordan, the University of Utah, and Swiss archaeologists, have excavated a number of monuments at these two sites. Architectural remains now visible at Petra indicate a thriving city, however, despite almost 100 years of excavation, only one-percent of the city been investigated.
The Great Temple was first explored by Brünnow and von Domaszewski, but it was Bachmann, in his revision of the Petra city plan, who postulated the existence of a “Great Temple,” aligned with the Colonnade Street, lying on the hillside to the south. He speculated that the temple was approached through a monumental Propylaeum with a grand staircase leading into a colonnaded, terraced Lower Temenos, or sacred precinct. Another broad monumental stairway led to a second, Upper Temenos. At its center was the temple, with yet another flight of stairs leading into the temple proper. While no standing structures were revealed before these excavations, the site is littered with architectural fragments, including column drums, probably toppled by one of the earthquakes which rocked the site. Given the promise of the Great Temple precinct and its importance in understanding Petra’s architectural and intercultural history, it is remarkable that it remained unexcavated until 1993 when the Brown University investigations began.
The Great Temple Tour
Please click on the Image Map to the left to visit parts of the temple, or you may click on the listed components of the precint below:
The Propylaeum
The Lower Temenos
The East Colonnade
The East Exedra
The West Colonnade
The West Exedra
The Upper Temenos
The Great Temple
The Theatron
The Great Temple contains eclectic exquisite art and architecture from the Nabataean period and demonstrates that the values of the Nabataeans of Petra during this period who felt that aesthetic decoration of structures with frescos and architectural sculpture was sufficiently significant on which to expend time, money and energy. This blending of different cultures is seen in this palatial building and its precinct with the use of elephant heads, frescos, elegantly carved pilasters and capitals. There is a high level of skill and technology possessed by her builders as well as the high level of organized government that would be needed to plan the building of this monumental structure. The Great Temple is one of the key sites in the Nabataean Petra, and it is a significant site for our knowledge of the development of Petra. The lives of the Nabataeans were influenced by a unique blend of cultures. The study of the Great Temple is essential to the understanding of many different aspects of the archaeology of Petra. Such an interpretation when considered in relation to what is known about other Nabataean sites can effectively enrich the web of knowledge we possess regarding both Petra and the people whose lives ultimately created it. Each of our seasons of excavation has proved to be provocative and propitious as many questions were raised and many extraordinary artifacts were recovered.
The Great Temple represents one of the major archaeological and architectural components of central Petra. Located to the south of the Colonnaded Street and southeast of the Temenos Gate, this 75602 m precinct is comprised of a Propylaeum (monumental entryway), a Lower Temenos, and monumental east and west Stairways which in turn lead to the Upper Temenos — the sacred enclosure for the Temple proper.
The Petra Great Temple was first explored by R. E. Brünnow and A. von Domaszewski in the 1890s; but it was W. Bachmann, in his 1921 revision of the Petra city plan, who postulated the existence of a "Great Temple." No structures were evident before the Brown University 1993 excavations under the direction of Martha Sharp Joukowsky, and the precinct which is constructed on an artificial terrace was littered with carved architectural fragments toppled by one of the earthquakes which rocked the site.
In the Lower Temenos are triple colonnades on the east and west with a total of 96 to 120 columns! These lead into east and west semi-circular buttressed Exedrae. Here in the Lower Temenos, large, white hexagonal pavers were positioned above an extensive subterranean canalization system which has been traced from the Temple Forecourt under the Lower Temenos, the
Aerial photograph of the Great Temple, looking South Looking south from the Lower Temenos at the temple
Propylaeum, and the Colonnaded Street to the Wadi Musa. Discovered near the West Exedra was a capital decorated with Asian elephant-heads; in addition to the thousands of architectural fragments, there are coins, limestone facial frieze elements, lamps, Roman glass, and ceramics which include figurines, Nabataean bowls, small cups, and juglets. Elaborate floral friezes and acanthus-laden limestone capitals suggest the temple was constructed in the beginning of the last quarter of the first century BCE by the Nabataeans who combined their native traditions with the classical spirit. The structure was enlarged later in the Nabataean period in the first century CE. The Great Temple was in use until some point in the fifth century CE, the Byzantine period.
The Great Temple had its columns and walls red-and-white-stuccoed which must have had a dramatic impact when set against its rose-red environment. It is tetrastyle in antis (four columns at the front) with widely-spaced (ca. seven meters, 21 ft.) central columns at the entrance, and two end columns located about five meters (15 ft.) to the east and west, respectively. Approximately 15 meters (45 ft.) in height, the porch columns plus the triangular pediment and the entablature, hypothetically place its height to a minimum of 19 meters (57 ft.).
Looking south from the Lower Temenos at the Temple.
The Great Temple measures 35 meters (105 ft.) east-west, and is some 42.5 meters (127.5 ft.) in length making it the largest freestanding structure in Petra.The podium rests on a forecourt of hexagonal pavers; a stairway approaches a broad deep pronaos (entry), which in turn leads into side corridors that access a 550-630 seat bouleuterion (council chamber), theatron/ odeum discovered in 1997. The Pronaos entry is marked by two columns which are the same diameter (1.50 meters, 4.5 ft.) as those at the temple entrance, but are larger than either the eight flanking the cella walls or the six at the temple rear which have diameters of 1.20 meters (3.6 ft.). In the interior north are massive anta walls resting on a finely carved attic bases. To the south is a two-or-three-storied complex dominated by a large, central vaulted arch and twin stepped arched passages leading to paved platforms, plus a series of steps which accessed the rear of the
bouleuterion, plus a series of steps which access the temple corridors and exit. There are exterior paved walkways on the temple east and west, where sculpted facial fragments and fine.
The Propylaeum
The Propylaeum is the monumental entrance gateway to the temple precinct. It consists of a flight of steps leading into the hexagonally-paved Lower Temenos.
Although the Propylaeum Steps have been surveyed, their dates and construction have not been securely phased. The Temple Complex underwent dramatic spatial changes during its life span, and these are also reflected in the Propylaeum Steps. Their present appearance is not to be confused with the original access to the precinct, for they post-date the erection of the east-west retaining wall facing the Colonnaded Street. Subsequently modified after the street was paved in ca. 76 CE, their present orientation reflects their re-building at the same time or slightly later than the Street. At that time, they served as the entrance from the street into Temple Precinct. The location of the earliest Propylaeum entrance is problematic; specific dates for the construction of these steps is unclear. Further archaeological investigations will be designed to locate structural evidence in this area.
The Propylaeum Steps are in a state of disarray, however, the lower eight steps that face the Colonnaded Street seem to stand largely as they were in antiquity. The upper steps are largely eroded.
The Propylaeum steps (looking south).
To the west of the Propylaea Steps, an arched walkway or corridor, was found in 1998, which was constructed parallel to the Colonnaded Street, was excavated by Katrina Haile in Trench 51 to a 3.50 m depth. Between the upper and lower east-west retaining walls, this corridor was constructed earlier than the present day steps leading from the Colonnaded Street into the Temple precinct. The excavators noted that the Propylaea Steps wall was constructed with a number of voussoirs (arch ashlars), and that the upper east-west retaining wall was an original terrace wall of the precinct. The lower retaining wall, however, was probably contemporary to the building of the steps and the Colonnaded Street. These observations will have to be confirmed by future excavation.
The Propylaeum, the Colonnaded Street at bottom, the Lower Temenos at top.
Large amounts of roof tiles suggest that this area was originally covered. Tesserae were found as well as decorative plaster and coins. Architectural fragments numbered 75, and of these six elephant sculptural elements were recovered, which suggests that the elephant capitals associated with the Lower Temenos colonnades also may have been part of the Propylaeum architectural program.
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