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Nabatean-Roman Theater, 1st Century AD. Petra, Jordan. Dug out from the sandstone mountainside next to the main street of Petra, the cavea could seat up around 8,000 spectators after the Romans enlarged it slicing through some of the existing tombs. The stage wall was also Roman...
ARTIFACT / Photography
The Treasury seen from the Siq, Petra, 1st Century AD. One of the most elaborate rock-cut tombs in the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom, as most of the surviving buildings and tombs in the city, the facade was carved out of the cliff. This was the first glimpse of Petra on arrival...
ARTIFACT / Photography
Treasury chamber portal and round window, Petra, Nabatean Kingdom, 1st c. AD. Jordan. The two side portals are richly decorated. The pilasters end in floral capitals as those of the upper order of the building. Large volutes carry a wide cornice with winged creatures at the corners.
ARTIFACT / Photography
Corinthian Tomb, Petra, Jordan, 40-70 AD. One of the four "Royal Tombs", monumental sepulchres carved into the pink sandstone cliff, and based on the structure of the Treasury, its heavily weathered facade was designed in an architectural blend of Greek and Nabataean styles...
ARTIFACT / Photography
Pocket sundial from 2nd century AD Rome. Inside, on an axis, was a pointer and 4 discs, each with 2 diagrams on the front and back, showing different polar altitudes. It had to be held so that the sunbeam shone through the slit in the side, and the time could then be read on a scale
ARTIFACT / Photography
Erosion hides the lesser known fact that, before digging out the Treasury, the Nabateans chiseled the mountainside flat. The Treasury could have been centered on that huge vertical surface, but they placed it exactly so travelers would see it when arriving through the gorge. And awe.
ARTIFACT / Photography
Closer look of one of the chamber portals behind the columns with Corinthian capitals of the Treasury in Petra, Nabatean Kingdom, 1st c. AD. Jordan. 2,000 years after it was shaped, much of the exquisite detail of the carvings that adorn both the capitals and the portal survives.
ARTIFACT / Photography
Ad Deir, the Monastery, Petra, Nabatea, Jordan, 3rd c. BC. After an 800 step climb into the mountain, you find arguably Petra's greatest monument, both older and larger than the Treasury. Named for some crosses scraped inside by Byzantines, its original purpose is a mystery...
ARTIFACT / Photography
Amphitheater, Roman city of Augusta Emerita, Merida, Spain. Constructed in 8 BC to complement the theater built next to it some 7 years earlier. This fighting ground was used until the fall of the Empire in the 4th century and ended partially underground. It was uncovered in 1912...
ARTIFACT / Photography
Goddess of Hayyan, Nabatean Kingdom, 1st-2nd century AD, Jordan. This limestone carving is the most human-like example of an eye betyl found in Petra so far. The betyl is not a representation of the God or an idol, but a medium of the presence of the God so it can be venerated...
ARTIFACT / Photography
