The Bedouins and more specifically Petra.

I don't remember if it were a series of lucid dreams or just thought visuliazations recall, but I have a soft spot for Petra.It's like a spot for me that from a time long ago I liked to spend a few days and nights in.I remember being in a room carved out in a mountain maybe 3-4 stories high looking out at the marketplace and in and amongst the high cliffs and soft music being played and sweet wine being available and seeing the lights from oil lamps in all the carved out rooms lighting up the place.I felt very tranquil and safe there.Like I never wanted to leave.I was always a welcomed gueest here, seems I frequented the place often.I remember calling it sanctuary.

To tell you the truth I know hardly anything about Petra, except for seeing some pictures and youtube clips, from one of the clips I know the harmonics are very good.

I'm a newbie to the forums and I'm still trying to figure things out....lol, I'm a slow learner for that stuff.But if anyone out there knows any information on mainly Petra, I would welcome and appreciate the info.

Peace

The ancient Nabataean city of Petra was recently voted as the seventh wonder of the ancient world. New7Wonders, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll said that over 100 million votes were placed. All of us here at nabataea.net were delighted with the recognition this ancient site will now have. While most people votes because of personal preference rather than choosing places that had major significant impact in ancient history, we believe that in time Petra will become known as more than just a 'pretty place' with impressive ruins. Hopefully peple will soon realise the breadth and depth of the wonders of this special place. If you are interested in specific details, you can find them throughout nabataea.net. The menu at the left of this page will help you navigate the more than thirty web pages that we have specifically designated for this fantastic site. If you start at the top of the menu, you can move through the city, starting from the parking lot outside of Petra Park. There are some places where you can take side paths, but don't get side-tracked from the main menu... and then of course there are hundreds of other pages on this site about the ancient Nabataean people who built Petra, as well as the amazing merchant empire that impacted much of the world from China to Rome.
The Number of Tombs
There are over one thousand burial monuments in Petra and several hundred others in the other burial cities. Most of these were for family and tribal units. Thus the tombs could have contained tens of thousands of people. Added to this, there are extensive Nabataean graveyards located near Petra and the other cities where the more common people were buried. This adds up to a lot of graves.The Nabataeans wealthy were mostly buried in five Nabataean burial cities. There were three cities in the Sinai/Negev, one in the inner kingdom (Petra) and one in Saudi Arabia. These cities are also important cities, in that they were located at the junctions of major trade routes.

Therefore, it appears that the Nabataean dead were transported to these cities for proper burial. Most likely there was something in Nabataean culture or religion that encouraged people to think of them spending eternity along side of their family and relatives.

The Builders of the Tombs
From the inscriptions we see that the tombs were made by Nabataean sculptors and not by imported slaves or laborers.

A City of Tombs
Was Petra originally a religious city, or was it an urban center for the Nabataeans. That probably depends on when you are talking about. It appears that originally it was more like a religious city. It functioned as the center for the twice-yearly pilgrimages and festivals, and it also functioned as a burial city. It was complete with several temples, a festival theater, a nymphaeum, a bathhouse, a sacred way, a monumental gate, many pools, and several other public buildings. The temples and other public buildings occupied the central valley, where the Royal Tombs were situated.

Along with this, the people who maintained Petra had to live there. This included priests, sculptors, grave diggers, temple attendants, administrative staff for the many public buildings, merchants who sold temple and burial paraphernalia, and other support people who ran services that provided things like food and water. If there was a royal court in Petra, then this would have entailed another whole group of people. These people alone may have numbered several thousand, along with their spouses and families.

Some writers have estimated that Petra might have had a population of 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. Interestingly enough, few academic sources substantiate these figures. (originally derived by a journalist). There was a limited amount of room within Petra's city walls. If we calculated, say, 10 people to a household, this would come to at least 2000 large houses. The problem with this is that there was very little room within the city proper for private housing. The great majority all of the buildings uncovered to date have been public buildings. As an example, consider the market places. For years, part of Petra was deemed as having upper, middle, and lower marketplaces. When archaeologists decided to excavate the lower market in 1998, they discovered a series of public pools, gardens, and waterworks.

Most archeologists, however, now believe that Petra was a large, urban center. The Petra Scrolls clearly tell us of the crowded living conditions within the city during the Byzantine era, but little is known of Petra during its purely Nabataean days from around 60 BC to 200 AD.

As the Nabataeans were nomadic people who traditionally lived in tents, it is assumed that for the first several hundred years of their occupation of the Inner Kingdom that they lived in tents, and did not erect stone houses. This is true in most of the Nabataean cities. It is only during the latter part of the Nabataean kingdom that suddenly the Nabataeans began constructing houses, and then they were often of incredible size, varying from 600 to 2000 square meters.

So, did people live in cities surrounded by the dead? The answer is not clear, but it may have been that most of the Nabataeans lived in tents scattered across the countryside, or in small centers such as Selah. Many also lived in smaller villages raising camels and horses. This would have required large tracts of grazing space. Others would be away with the caravans or trading ships.

So it only makes sense that they would cluster their public buildings around one spot, where the temples and Royal courts and tombs were located. As for housing, perhaps for many years, and particularly during public festivals, the majority of people lived in tents.

Replies

Sunrise March 19, 2010 at 4:35pm

I found a quiet good information about Petra and I wanted to post it with all photos,so I posted it as a new discussion.
Sunrise March 19, 2010 at 4:23pm

The ancient Nabataean city of Petra was recently voted as the seventh wonder of the ancient world. New7Wonders, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll said that over 100 million votes were placed. All of us here at nabataea.net were delighted with the recognition this ancient site will now have. While most people votes because of personal preference rather than choosing places that had major significant impact in ancient history, we believe that in time Petra will become known as more than just a 'pretty place' with impressive ruins. Hopefully peple will soon realise the breadth and depth of the wonders of this special place. If you are interested in specific details, you can find them throughout nabataea.net. The menu at the left of this page will help you navigate the more than thirty web pages that we have specifically designated for this fantastic site. If you start at the top of the menu, you can move through the city, starting from the parking lot outside of Petra Park. There are some places where you can take side paths, but don't get side-tracked from the main menu... and then of course there are hundreds of other pages on this site about the ancient Nabataean people who built Petra, as well as the amazing merchant empire that impacted much of the world from China to Rome.
The Number of Tombs
There are over one thousand burial monuments in Petra and several hundred others in the other burial cities. Most of these were for family and tribal units. Thus the tombs could have contained tens of thousands of people. Added to this, there are extensive Nabataean graveyards located near Petra and the other cities where the more common people were buried. This adds up to a lot of graves.The Nabataeans wealthy were mostly buried in five Nabataean burial cities. There were three cities in the Sinai/Negev, one in the inner kingdom (Petra) and one in Saudi Arabia. These cities are also important cities, in that they were located at the junctions of major trade routes.

Therefore, it appears that the Nabataean dead were transported to these cities for proper burial. Most likely there was something in Nabataean culture or religion that encouraged people to think of them spending eternity along side of their family and relatives.

The Builders of the Tombs
From the inscriptions we see that the tombs were made by Nabataean sculptors and not by imported slaves or laborers.

A City of Tombs
Was Petra originally a religious city, or was it an urban center for the Nabataeans. That probably depends on when you are talking about. It appears that originally it was more like a religious city. It functioned as the center for the twice-yearly pilgrimages and festivals, and it also functioned as a burial city. It was complete with several temples, a festival theater, a nymphaeum, a bathhouse, a sacred way, a monumental gate, many pools, and several other public buildings. The temples and other public buildings occupied the central valley, where the Royal Tombs were situated.

Along with this, the people who maintained Petra had to live there. This included priests, sculptors, grave diggers, temple attendants, administrative staff for the many public buildings, merchants who sold temple and burial paraphernalia, and other support people who ran services that provided things like food and water. If there was a royal court in Petra, then this would have entailed another whole group of people. These people alone may have numbered several thousand, along with their spouses and families.

Some writers have estimated that Petra might have had a population of 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. Interestingly enough, few academic sources substantiate these figures. (originally derived by a journalist). There was a limited amount of room within Petra's city walls. If we calculated, say, 10 people to a household, this would come to at least 2000 large houses. The problem with this is that there was very little room within the city proper for private housing. The great majority all of the buildings uncovered to date have been public buildings. As an example, consider the market places. For years, part of Petra was deemed as having upper, middle, and lower marketplaces. When archaeologists decided to excavate the lower market in 1998, they discovered a series of public pools, gardens, and waterworks.

Most archeologists, however, now believe that Petra was a large, urban center. The Petra Scrolls clearly tell us of the crowded living conditions within the city during the Byzantine era, but little is known of Petra during its purely Nabataean days from around 60 BC to 200 AD.

As the Nabataeans were nomadic people who traditionally lived in tents, it is assumed that for the first several hundred years of their occupation of the Inner Kingdom that they lived in tents, and did not erect stone houses. This is true in most of the Nabataean cities. It is only during the latter part of the Nabataean kingdom that suddenly the Nabataeans began constructing houses, and then they were often of incredible size, varying from 600 to 2000 square meters.

So, did people live in cities surrounded by the dead? The answer is not clear, but it may have been that most of the Nabataeans lived in tents scattered across the countryside, or in small centers such as Selah. Many also lived in smaller villages raising camels and horses. This would have required large tracts of grazing space. Others would be away with the caravans or trading ships.

So it only makes sense that they would cluster their public buildings around one spot, where the temples and Royal courts and tombs were located. As for housing, perhaps for many years, and particularly during public festivals, the majority of people lived in tents.
Sunrise March 19, 2010 at 4:17pm
Sunrise March 19, 2010 at 3:56pm

Thanks for the post,James!Petra have been a quiet great civilization centuries ago and it's a good subject to post about as well...I will look up for info...:)
marikaki March 19, 2010 at 10:40am

hey james, do you mean Patra in northern Peloponnese, Greece?
where is Petra?
- James Borg > marikaki March 19, 2010 at 2:36pm
  
  Right now they call it part of Jorden.But the place they dates back to the 6th century BC.So they say.They found it fairly recently 1800's.They meaning acheologists.I guees if you lived there or in the vicinity you may of known of it rather than saying it's a new discovery.This is the link to wikipedia but who knows?
  Well I do know of certain beings that would know????? (smiling) . What I'm saying is what is written in history may not be correct.Plus time and place for me is hard to decipher at times from visiualizations or lucid dreaming back then we had the sun as time and time was more or less open to morning,afternoon or nightfall.Guees we were not late with open windows like that in time.Anyway enough of me rambling on.
  Here's the link on it from wikipedia
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
  
  Peace.

This reply was deleted.

Ancient Civilizations

The Bedouins and more specifically Petra.

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