Temples and Tombs of Petra

Destination: Petra, Jordan

Travel guidebook summary

Petra’s temples and tombs — carved into the sandstone cliffs of Jordan’s Negev desert — are a sight to be seen. They stand witness to the greatness of the Nabataean civilization and its East-West connections, which yielded a creative mix of Mesopotamian and Greek styles.

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Message from the author

“Petra’s story is a crazy one: an ancient bedouin people, boosted by flourishing trade across the Arabian peninsula, look to Mesopotamia and Greece for architectural inspiration. However, rather than constructing stone-built structures consistent with the prototypes, they build rock-cut ones. And this creates something quite unique. We made this twist one of the primary themes in this guidebook and I think travelers will find this particularly valuable as they try to make sense of the evolving style of the city’s facades.”

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Guidebook details

Petra’s temples and tombs — carved into the sandstone cliffs of Jordan’s Negev Desert — are a sight to be seen. They stand witness to the greatness of the Nabataean civilization which thrived from 312 BCE – 106 CE. Just as the Nabataeans’ trading network brokered goods between East and West, its architecture bridged styles, yielding a creative mix of Mesopotamian (East) and Greek (West) traditions. It is yours to discover.

What’s in this guidebook

    • Comprehensive look at Petra’s art and architecture. We provide an overview of Petra’s art and architecture, isolating trademark features that you will see again and again as you make your way through the old city’s highlights. As part of this review, we highlight those features that were likely borrowed from Mesopotamian and Hellenistic prototypes. To make things come alive, we have packed our review with high-resolution images.
    • A tour that goes deeper on the most important sites. Following our tradition of being the most valuable resource for culture-focused travelers, we offer a detailed tour of the premier sites. For each, we present information on its history, a detailed plan that highlights its most important architectural and artistic features, high-resolution images and a discussion that ties it all together.
    • Advice for getting the best cultural experience. To help you plan your visit, this guidebook supplies logistical advice, maps and links to online resources. Plus, we give our personal tips for getting the most from your experience while on location.
    • Information the way you like it. As with all of our guides, this book is optimized for intuitive, quick navigation; information is organized into bullet points to make absorption easy; and images are marked up with text that explains important features.

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