PETRA, a magnificent ancient city of Jordon

 

"Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished." 


 

They seem no work of Man's creative hand,
Where Labour wrought as wayward Fancy planned;
But from the rock as if by magic grown,
Eternal—silent—beautiful—alone!
Not virgin-white—like that old Doric shrine
Where once Athena held her rites divine;
Not saintly grey—like many a minster fane
That crowns the hill, or sanctifies the plain:
But rosy-red,—as if the blush of dawn,
Which first beheld them were not yet withdrawn:
The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,
Which Man call'd old two thousand years ago!
Match me such marvel, save in Eastern clime,—
A rose-red city—'half as old as time!'
                 ~ Poem by: John William Burgon (1845)

 

 

This very old ancient city is located in no other then the Holy Land of the Arabs, Christians and Jews. Built back in 1200 BC designed by a group of people that go way back to 586 BC known as the "Nabataeans".  These people pretty much carved out the Jordanian mountains to build their own city with their own tools which makes them extremely intelligent. I guess that's easy to see with these kinds of architectural ruins that were designed with technology to harness natural springs in order to sustain fertile crops, lush gardens and an impressive system of pools and reservoirs, all of which could support over  a good 20,000 residents.  Most of the people where highly educated and just about everyone was instructed to learn how to read and write including shepherd boys out in the fields. I find that kind of fascinating being these people didn't write so much on scrolls but rather on their own rock wall caves. 

 to be continued....

Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 3:44AM by Registered CommenterAngie Alaniz | Comments Off