The Walk to the Treasury on the Way to Petra

Petra: The Walk to the Treasury

April 27, 2017

The city of Petra was the capitol of the Nabothean Empire starting in the 1st century BCE, but it was abandoned by the middle of the 7th century CE.  It was rediscovered by Johannes Burckhardt, a Swiss explorer in 1812.  It is known as the "rose-red city" because of the color of the rock from which many of the structures in the city and on the route to the city are carved.

A "thaniya" is a small crack in a mountain. The city of Petra had two thaniyas, or passages through the mountain. The main one is known as the "siq."  The route in to Petra starts at the "Bab Al Siq," or gateway to the siq.  It is a broad pathway with several interesting features.  

The first of these are three large "god-blocks" standing 6 to 8 meters high. Many believe they were shrines for the gods who guarded Petra's water supply, but the Muslim Bedouin called them "djinn blocks."   One is pictured below.  They were believed by the Nabothians to house djinnis, supernatural creatures in early Arabian and, later, Islamic mythology considered to be demons.  They were also known as jinnis, anglicized to "genies."  One could think of them as genies in the box! 

Along the way are numerous caves, some with stairs built up to their entrances.

The most impressive structure in the Bab Al Siq is known as the Obelisk Tomb because of the four obelisks carved into the upper part of the structure.  They guard the entrance to the Tomb is just below, which leads into a rectangular burial chamber hewn from the rock.  The lower half of the structure has a separate entrance into a dining room, known as a triclinium, where feasts were held to honor the dead.  The interior is a single room with benches carved out of the rock on three sides.

 Below are pictures of the main siq, starting with our group entering it.

We even had music along the way.  This Bedouin was playing an unusual single-string instrument.

On the left hand side of the siq is the water channel. It used to be covered, but long ago ancient floods washed away the cover stones. 

Part of the way there is also a water channel on the right, as well.

At the end of the siq there is the first look at the Petra's most famous facade, Khaznat el-Faroun, "The Treasury of the Pharaoh."  

The building stands over 40 meters high and is brilliantly decorated with intricate Corinthian capitals, figures and friezes.

The name of the Treasury is derived from a local legend that the funerary urn at the top the facade (shown below) was supposed to contain a treasure left by a pharaoh.

The facade is decorated with figures from classical mythology.

It appears that the Treasury building is bigger than it previously appeared.  There is a lower story that is only partially excavated. The view below is taken looking down through a wire mesh.  Perhaps in the near future work will be done to uncover the lower level.