“The Victorian clergyman, John William Burgon, famously described the ruins of Petra in Jordan as "A rose-red city, half as old as time," The magic and the romance of Petra remain today, attracting visitors from all over the world to this lost and hidden city. Its romantic location helped Petra to be chosen to feature in the film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as the alleged resting place of the legendary Holy Grail. If you have seen that film, or any of the many others in which the ruins of Petra are the star, you will see that Petra's mystery is almost tangible. If only its stones could speak, what stories they could tell us of once-great kings and of gods and goddesses long since forgotten, along with the men and women who worshipped them. Their magic and their mystery can even speak to us of the Creator of all things, who made even the men and women who designed this hidden city. Petra is without doubt the Kingdom of Jordan's most famous tourist attraction. Easily reached as a day trip from the coast at Aqaba, Petra most usually forms part of a larger itinerary, but can nonetheless be reached from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Since 1985 it has been one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, along with such greats as the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids at Giza. A multi-million dollar project is now underway to improve access to the whole site for visitors. So just what, then, is Petra and wherein lies its magic? It is, in fact, a whole settlement carved out of the very desert rock where it stands, by the ancient Nabatean civilisation. This area is visited by flash floods and the Nabateans had discovered ways of controlling this water supply by the use of dams and cisterns. It was their ability to store the water that enabled them to use their artificial oasis as a source of trading with the surrounding tribes and with the people who travelled along the trade routes both to the North and the South. Their city is quite literally built into the rock. Many of the buildings have extraordinarily intricate facades carved directly out of the rock face. Once you have entered them, you are inside the very mountain itself. Part of Petra's spellbinding attraction is the very way you come across it. No film producer could have invented such a magical set. The whole place is approached from the east through a natural fissure in the rock, at places only three metres wide, which forms a narrow gorge. This natural geological feature, known as the Siq or shaft, was formed by a split in the sandstone. Its appearance now is breathtaking. Leaving the rest of the world behind, with all its cares, you travel through this narrow gap into the rock and then, when it opens out, you are faced with Petra's most elaborate ruin of all, known as Al Khazneh, the Treasury. Built out of the sandstone cliff, it stands majestically before you, almost mocking Time itself, as though nothing could ever change it. At the foot of the mountain, a little further on, is a massive theatre and then the valley opens out onto the plain and reveals the whole of the city of Petra, with its many tombs. The whole place is made complete by being enclosed on three sides by rose-red mountains. Archaeologists and historians have tried, without success, to date this ancient city. Many have found possible references to it in the Bible, but this cannot be proved beyond doubt. All are agreed that the earliest date for the settlement cannot be further back than the sixth century BC. By the middle of the 2nd century AD, the Nabatean civilisation had become one more part of the vast Roman empire and the importance of Petra for trade and a source of water declined. The magical city fell into disuse and the sands of Time blew over its deserted streets and alleys, hiding a once proud city from the world of men. As well as the magic of a visit to the place, Petra can teach us all something. It quite obviously reminds us all that all of life and all of its glories are fleeting. Dynasties come and go, but Time marches on. Egypt's recent history teaches us that no earthly ruler can stop the advance of Time. Once great cities and empires, as well as kings and presidents, follow one another into the pages of the history books. Petra invites us to put our own lives and activities into a greater perspective and to think not just of this world, but of the world to come. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, teaches at Al-Azhar University and is the author of nine books about Islam. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com, join him on Facebook at Idris Tawfiq Page and listen to his Radio Show, “A Life in Question," on Sundays at 11pm on Radio Cairo 95.4 FM.
