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General Information
An Outline on the Jordanian GEM for Heritage Address: Jordan- Petra-Touristic Street. Telefax: 0096232159996.
The Jordanian GEM is interested in Petra heritage, in particular, and the Jordanian heritage, in general. It works on collecting fathers' and grandfathers' (family) belongings and it is considered the connecting link between the old Nabateans and the new Nabateans. Most of these belongings shall be witnessed on our website here in the near future. The whole world can overview our heritage, civilization and culture. This civilization is an expansion to the civilization of our grandfathers' , sustainable throughout generations.
Location
Petra (the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom) is Located at longitude (35 37 and the latitude 19 30 north and at the south of Jordan and at a distance of (262 kms) south of the capital of Jordan (Amman) and (133 km) north away from Aqaba Gulf and at mid-position between the main trade routes connecting Egypt and Arabian Peninsula south of Damascus in the north and east of the Arabian Gulf to the west coasts in the Mediterranean Sea.
Petra overlooks Wadi Araba. Her gate, Wadi Musa, is distinguished for its rosy colored mountainous nature with abundant of valleys and springs. Petra lies on 3000-feet -high above sea level plateau. Her spectrum rainbow colored rocks are crossed by a group of valleys and high summits such as Prophet Aaron Mountain) at the eastern part of the city. It was called so because Prophet Aaron (pbuh) grave is located there, the 260-foot-high mountain, Umm Al- Bayyarah, at the south-eastern part and the 3000-foot-high mountain, Mabrouk, at the north-eastern part of the city. The area of Petra Archeological Conservation is 264 square kilometers.
Weather and Climate:
Weather features the general weather of Jordan, but there are some little differences as a result of Petra geographic and Topographic nature that makes it hot and dry in summer where the maximum temperature average will be 40?c, but in winter, the climate will be moderate. A variable quantity of rain falls in some seasons and sometimes reaches 85% out of the general average.
Accumulative snow falls in December, January and February. Petra gate region and the area surrounding Petra ruins will be cloudy. Petra is called "The Foggy Sky" city. Out of the clouds that appear in the sky of the region are the medium layered clouds (formed of several layers of various heights) in winter and spring.
Winds blows occur in several directions at the same time. The rare wind types that blow on Petra region including "Alfohin" winds are known as mountain winds but they are formed as a result of the mountains existence. They are the winds that fall from the mountains summits to their bottom and flow along the valleys in the form of cold or moderate breeze as it has lost a part of its heat while falling. These winds blow on the region in summer and they help in alleviating the high temperature. They are called western winds as mountains and hills are located in the western side.
In spring , the weather will be moderate tending to be rather cold at night and hot some days because of the seasonal winds "Al Khamasin" and the region nature. The atmosphere pressure starts and tends to have complete stability.
Temperature gradually get higher to enter summer season where the temperature degrees are high to record 40?c. Then, the Creator (Allah) ability interferes by forming and blowing the western, light and relatively cold Al Fohin winds.
Rains may fall in spring. These falls are distinguished for being warm. These rains are a result the weather instability conditions.
The City…….The Legend
Petra, the rosy city, built by Nabateans by carving in rock 2000 years ago, is one of the old world wonders. The visitor will be greatly astonished by the variety of its ruins which extend to cover 10000 years of civilization humanitarian achievements. Nabateans reached south of Jordan in the late seventh century and the early six century B.C. They considered Petra a holy place for burying their deceased. Later, they converted it to be the capital of their Kingdom.
King Harith, the third (87-62 B.C) had expanded the area of his Kingdom to include Damascus city in the north. Nabataeans' kingdom, in its climax, during the first century B.C and the first century A.D , included Sinai Desert, Al-Nacab, Jordan and north Arabian Peninsula. The region enjoyed tranquility and security together, the thing that made trade flourish on all levels. Consequently, the economical situation and civilization development improved.
Al-Harith the fourth (called his people lover), may be the most famous king of Nabateans. The years of his sovereignty (9 B.C-40 A.D) witnessed the development of Petra, the rosy city, to be a world commercial capital inhabited by about 30000 people.
In the second century A.D, Petra witnessed an active architectural movement featured in obvious technical vitality including a clear mixing of the Greek-Roman technical elements with the Nabataean Arabian civilization. But, soon, the situation changed as a result of the proximity of Rome to her new Arabian ally in Tadmur (Palmyra) to capture all the trade routes. So, the Nabataean Kingdom glory and greatness began to regress and diminish. Things got worse when Petra was exposed to several earthquakes in the middle of the sixth century.
In 629 A.D, Muslim forces troops advanced into Jordan coming from the Arabian Peninsula. Soon, the Umayyad Caliphate capital in Damascus was established in 660 A.D.
Petra didn’t draw the attention of Umayyads; it had been deserted a long time ago and ruined to be forgotten till the end of the 11th century A.D.
So, rosy Petra, from the 7th century till the 11th century, as well as the rest of region cities, became inhabited by farmers, camels and livestock owners.
During the 12th century A.D, the Crusaders built two fortresses in Petra region: Wu’eira fortress and Al-Hubais fortress. So, the rosy city recovered her consideration, trade and strategic importance especially after releasing the region from the Crusaders occupation by the Muslim leader, Salahuddin Al-Ayyoubi in 1189 A.D. However, the rosy Petra returned to the world of oblivion once again for 300 years by being subjected to the Ottoman state influence in the early 16th century A.D.
Petra, the legendary city, was discovered by the Swiss European traveler, John Louis Burkhart, in 1812 A.D.
In 1929 A.D, the first archeological excavations were conducted in this legendary city. In 1950, the Jordanian General Department of Archeology, in cooperation with universities and world scientific centers of archeology, conducted excavation, repair and survey of big parts of the city including about 800 houses constructed or carved in rocks ruins going back to the Adomian, Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras.
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