[Curiosities] Petra (ancient city)

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Petra (Greek πέτρα (petra), meaning "stone"; Arabic البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ) is a former ancient city, located in Jordan. It is one of the most famous archeological sites in the world, due to the temples dug directly into the rock, the best known being the "Treasury" ("Al Khazneh"), in Greek style, with a height of 42 m, where the final part of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

In ancient times the city was called Rekem and is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is believed that it was built in the 6th century BC by the Nabataeans, a Semitic people, and was their capital until 106 AD, when it became part of the Roman Empire, becoming the capital of the province. Arabia Petrea.

The city continues to flourish in the next century, then declines and is abandoned, being destroyed in 363 by an earthquake. The ruins became a curiosity in the Middle Ages, being visited by Sultan Baibars of Egypt in the thirteenth century. The first European to visit and describe them was the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, in 1812.

In 1985 Petra was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. It is also one of the 7 new wonders of the world.