Petra Rediscovered

Petra’s mysterious beauty and dramatic story have long captivated the imaginations of historians and art lovers.<strong>Petra Rediscovered</strong> represents t... » 

Petra’s mysterious beauty and dramatic story have long captivated the imaginations of historians and art lovers.Petra Rediscovered represents the most complete picture yet of this beautiful city, one of the greatest marvels of the ancient world. From the third century BC until the first century AD the city, with its magnificent rock-cut tombs and temples, flourished astride one of the major trade routes of the Middle East, the road that ran through the Great Rift Valleys and the Nagev to the Red Sea. Petra’s people, the Nabataeans, traded in the spices that were carried from Arabia, Persia and India, but a change in the trade routes in the fifth century saw the city slide into decline and in 551 a devastating earthquake all but destroyed it. Not until 1812 was Petra rediscovered by the Western world, and only a tiny fraction of its riches have been unearthed and studied. This magnificent volume presents all the latest artistic and archaeological discoveries and scholarly research on this astonishing city. Published to accompany a major travelling exhibition, it showcases some 150 of the most important objects discovered in the past century. Essays by leading authorities in ancient Near Eastern archaeology discuss every aspect of Nabataean society and present a thorough analysis of Petra’s most famous buildings and monuments, including The Khazneh, The Great Southern Temple and The Temple of the Winged Lions. «