0:21 [music] The desert. An inhospitable [music] landscape for many, but a way of life for a select few. There was one civilization [music] that didn't just survive these sands, but thrived here. These ancient lords of the desert who used camels to traverse this [music] unforgiving land, the Naboteans. And they are remembered for building one of the [music] great wonders of the world. I'm traveling to [music] Jordan to explore the extraordinary history of the
1:08 Naboteans and their magnificent rock cut city Petra. I'll be finding out how they created one of the ancient world's greatest trade centers here at the edge of the desert. From the advanced engineering they used to the strange gods they worshiped, I'll be discovering more about the mysterious people who called Petra their home.
2:02 Petra lies in the modern state of Jordan in a region of mountains and deserts About 50 mi [music] north of the Gulf of Akoba, it sits between the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the lands of the Middle East. After its heyday 2,000 years ago, for a long time, Petra was kept a secret, only known by local Beduin tribes. [music] But in 1812, a Swiss archaeologist, [music] Johan Ludvig Burkhart, dawned a Beduin outfit and snuck in. Burkhart weaved his way through this narrow canyons surrounded by tall rocks on either side escorted by local
2:49 Bedawin. He recorded the experience in his journal. I was without protection in the midst of a desert where no traveler has ever before been seen. After proceeding for 25 [music] minutes between the rocks, we came to a place where the passage opens. On the side of the perpendicular rock directly opposite, an excavated morselum came in view. The situation and beauty of which are calculated to make an extraordinary impression upon the traveler. What Burkart [music] had stumbled upon was this.
3:38 It's still the best known [music] building in Petra known as Alakazn in Arabic which translates as the treasury thanks to an apocryphal tradition that it housed [music] hidden riches. In fact, it's not a treasury at all, but almost certainly a moraleum literally carved into solid rock. It's 25 m wide and nearly 40 m tall. This might immediately conjure up images of Indiana Jones in the last crusade. But we think that this was probably the tomb of a Nabotean king, probably of King Aritas IV, who arguably was the
4:26 greatest Nabotian king of them all. King Aritas IV [music] ruled between around 9 BC and 40 AD. He battled the Jewish ruler Herod Antipass who [music] executed John the Baptist and won favor from the Roman Emperor Augustus. He received the title [music] lover of his people. It was under Aritas's rule [music] that the Naboteans enjoyed a golden age. His fabulous reputed tomb reflects his great power, but also contains features influenced by other ancient civilizations. I want to point out some key features [music] of the treasury just to show how magnificent it is. First off, let's have a look at the lower floor. You see
5:12 straight away those six massive columns. They are a type called a Corinthian column because those beautiful tops. They're roughly 10 m tall. Right above that very Greek temple-like in its design, you have what looks like a continuous freeze and you can see the decorations. You can see cups and winged lines. So mythical creatures. Then we go up to the second story and right in the center you have [music] that circular structure. Once again very Greek inspired. This is what we call a thos. And either side you might be able to see those reliefs of figures. One [music] on the left, one on the right. They have skirts on and they may well be [music] carrying axes. So, it's likely that those reliefs depicts.
6:08 I'm getting [music] special access to enter an area that people aren't usually allowed to go into. I'm heading inside [music] the treasury. You climb up these steps through the Corinthian columns and you immediately you're in this massive entrance way. There's a side chamber to my left, a side chamber to my right, and then the main event, this massive 8 m high entrance. Originally, there would have been a door that doesn't survive. And inside, this was where Aratas would have been buried. Wow. You enter into this massive room and at first glance it does look quite barren.
6:54 However, to me, well, the devil is in the detail. For instance, right next to this either side of this chamber, you can see the outline of those two very nabayan looking columns. The columns have distinct tops or capitals thinly decorated with flowers and are very [music] different to the more elaborate Corinthian columns outside. Faintly they protrude from the rock. But what I love the most are the walls themselves. When you feel them, they're incredibly smooth. And remember, this was cut out of the rock. And yet these people, they managed to keep these walls beautiful to touch even today. It's testament to the exquisite craftsmanship
7:40 that went into building this monumental space. [music] The interior feels plain yet grand using just the layered beauty of the rock itself. But there is so much more to Petra than the Treasury. This giant city stretched for miles. And it didn't just consist of tombs. Petra was a world of the living as well as the dead. Full of temples, shopping streets, government buildings,
8:26 and entertainment. It's estimated that more than 20,000 [music] people lived here at its height 2,000 years ago in the reign of Aritas IV. But Petra didn't exist in isolation. Too often we forget the bigger story of the mysterious civilization who built it. The Nabotayan civilization boasted nomadic origins and thrived in this harsh environment,
9:11 exploiting the wealth of lands far beyond these deserts. This was one of the great gateways into Arabia, connecting that peninsula with the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. Imagine groups of traders and camels, these ancient caravans filing through this landscape, bringing precious goods with them. But as picturesque as this landscape is today, let's not kid ourselves. This was a tough land back in ancient times, unless [music] you were a Nabetean. Much less is known about the Naboteans compared to other ancient civilizations,
9:56 but we do have tentalizing clues to help us shift away the sands from their story. Consistently, ancient historians like the Greek Diodoris highlights the Nabotayans's desert survival skills. These skills allowed them to dominate the lucrative Arabian trade routes with the help of a very special animal. The camel was instrumental to the Nabotan way of life. Diodoris recorded how they raised and pastured camels in the desert. And it may well be that it was their ancestors who first domesticated these beasts in this area of the world. Now, camels were built to minimize the amount of water that they lost. Not only that, they were
10:42 incredibly strong. They could carry roughly three times the amount of a packor. And if going tough, well, they could be a source of food and of milk. They were the ultimate desert companion. And so, it's no surprise that the camel became the symbol of the Nabotans. Camels were the ships of the desert. They were controlled by the Naboteans and enabled them to create and nurture one of the most lucrative global trade networks in antiquity. Using nomadic tracks across thousands of kilome, they transported exotic goods from India, southern Arabia, Ethiopia, and Somalia
11:28 all the way to the Mediterranean. Jordan remains a center of global trade networks. Do you have any frankincense? >> And you can still track down valuable trade goods from antiquity in its busy markets. So what types of goods would the Nabotans have traded? Well, there would have been spices. There have been precious metals like gold and copper. There was even this this black sticky tarlike substance called bitchmen that they got from the Dead Sea. And of
12:14 course, there was incense, these sweet smelling aromatics made from dried tree resin. Items such as myrrh and of course frankincense. The Greek [music] historian Diodoris recorded how the Naboteans obtained incense from southern Arabia and brought these precious aromatics across the desert caravan routes and up to the Mediterranean coast to be traded on to the Greco Roman world. The Roman geographer [music] Piney the
12:59 Elder described the incense route as covering just over 2,000 km. Frankincense tapped from trees in Yemen could take 65 days to [music] complete its journey to the Mediterranean coast. And the great trading [music] hub on this route was Petra. [music] >> [music] >> This everexpanding city got rich riding on the back of the camel [music] caravans, battling their way across this wild, hot terrain. Petra was a living and breathing [music]
13:45 city and this was right at the center of it because behind me you have the remains of a monumental arch constructed in the first century AD and we are walking along the colonaded street. This was right at the heart of Petra, hence its name. Now you need to imagine Petra some 2,000 years ago. All along here there would have been color, there would have been statues, there would have been fountains. And right up these stairs, [music] well, that was the great commercial hub of ancient Petra.
14:36 This huge forcourt probably belonged to the main administrative building at Petra. It's speculated that officials gathered on these seats to decide important matters of the Nabotean kingdom, matters of government and business. By the first century AD, Petra had become one of the greatest trade centers in the world. Traditionally, its beginnings are believed to have been 400 years earlier in the 4th century BC, but its origins are mysterious. [music] What motivated the Naboteans to settle here and build this great city? Dr. Matthew Vincent has been excavating
15:23 at Petra with the American Center of Research, digging for clues about its beginnings. Matthew, what do we know about the whole emergence of Petra? >> All right, the short answer is we know nothing. And that that's the part that distresses people, right? Uh there's so much more to be discovered. As we know, this site is hardly touched. Like unfortunately, like this place only a few percentages have have even been dug. 85% is still under the ground. There's so much more to discover at this point in time. Uh some of the current theories say that is probably a century before. So rather than the fourth century, we maybe we have earlier fifth century work. But if we try to sum it up to the basic points, first off, the Nabotans are involved in the trade routes. Now
16:08 whether they are simply the traders themselves or they're capitalizing on trade routes bringing people in moving their products from the far east say for example the incense roots bringing in the frankincense the myrr moving those out to the Mediterranean so they're moving from what probably was originally local nomadic tribes who might have just been involved in sheep hering and then they capitalize on trading and they start settling in here and things start growing. Um, but it's probably happening a lot earlier than what we know. >> Yeah, because the word nomadic always gets thrown around with the Nabotans, doesn't it? And then they become settled and live in great cities like Petra. I mean, do we know much at all about that process? It's not instant, I'm guessing. [laughter] >> I mean, it's one of those things. It's, you know, we want it to be binary. We want to imagine that there's a moment
16:54 where there's no Nabotans and suddenly they're there established. There's some sort of catastrophic catastrophic event that just simply positions them to be in the place where they're at. But it's definitely a gradual process. You know, at this point in time, research is suggesting maybe it's actually a hundred years earlier than we previously thought. We have evidence for Nabotans actually mingling with the local tribes here. So, the Nabotans are perfectly positioning themselves. They're strategists. They know what to do. They're politically positioning themselves to be with the most powerful tribes in the area. And they're growing and growing and growing. So we can only imagine as that process is happening, sure maybe they were nomadic beforehand, but even then what does nomadic even mean for some of these tribes, right? Whatever the case, they knew how to leverage a moment, leverage a trade
17:40 route and grow from that. But everything positioned themselves to stop being nomatic tribes, settle in one area, and begin to grow a much more sedentary life. >> How important do you think Petra was for the early Nabotans? >> Fundamental. Petra is perfectly positioned at that time. It is literally the access of many trade routes coming together in one place. And of course, there's the natural resources. There's good agricultural land around here. There's an abundance of water as they managed it. And so, they're able to not only just take advantage of the trade routes, but actually ek out a life here thanks to their engineering and their ingenuity. And sure, it takes them hundreds of years to get there, but they do arrive there. And that says everything about who they are and their
18:26 persistence and their tenacity and their desire to really just succeed as a people, as a tribe. The success of the Nabotayans wasn't only due to their monopolization of trade through this region. They also [music] controlled another vital resource, water. Mountains tower over Petra. The city is perfectly located to catch water from rainfall and natural springs [music] flowing from all around and the Naboteans had the skill to harness it. The Greek geographer Strabo recorded how Petra abounded with water sources and the archaeology certainly supports that because wherever you look in Petra you can usually see the remains of the
19:13 complex water system if you know where to look. We are currently in the seek, this winding canyon just before the treasury. And down here you have this deep channel. This was where water would have flowed. So imagine you're one of those people walking into Petra. You're walking through this canyon and to your side you would have heard the trickling of water flowing down this channel. This incredible water system consisted of over 125 m of channels and pipes.
19:59 It's been estimated it could provide up to 8 L of water per inhabitants per day. It's made Petra a fertile paradise in this unforgiving land. A city full of gardens, orchards, and ponds. >> Here's the thing. Water in this part of the world is power. People come and visit Petra and they think of the city of the dead. They walk through the seek, these beautiful kilometers of near silence. Right now, I want you to just shift gears for a moment and just think about the power these guys are flexing to borrow from modern terminology. Right? The same thing if you go to Granada today, you go to the Alhhamra, you hear water everywhere. The same thing would have
20:45 been here. The entire seek, the entire entry into Petra would have been filled with the sound of water. This place would have been filled with plants, vegetation, pools, baths, the works over there. We have basically a curated sort of waterway, a river. So again, like you would have come in here, this would have felt so full of life. And again, imagine you've just spent two months in the desert on your camels moving your goods from here. You're hot. You're tired. You haven't showered or bathed for who knows how long. I don't want to know. I don't want to even imagine it. But you get in here and all of a sudden there's a flex. There's a power. They're saying like we are people who not only like control the land, control trade routes, [music] we control water. It's a massive flex on
21:30 the side of the Nabotian. This water system was built to sustain and or anyone who flooded into this trading metropolis. Diodoris recorded how the Nabetean stored large amounts of water [music] in incredible underground tanks or systems lined with waterproof cement, making them the only people for whom the desert was safe. All right, Matthew, you've taken me to the side of the temple that's not a temple. What have we got in front of us here? >> It's a little bit difficult to imagine, but if you can just sort of close your eyes for a moment and actually imagine
22:16 that we've got a massive pool out here, nearly 50 m squared, right? This would have been lush. Just imagining the sound again of water. You're in the middle of downtown Petra, the center of the city, and you've got the water moving through here, the massive pools. We've got sistns here, sistns behind us, channeling all over this place to bring water right here into the center of the area. >> And I'm guessing, can we imagine there being lots of these types of water sources right in the center of Petra, not just here, but maybe the other side of the street too, all around? >> Absolutely. So, on the other side of the colonated street, we actually have what's basically a river kind of built into the area here. And again, they're channeling the water. As you look through the entire site, everywhere you look, there's always some sort of channeling happening. They were
23:02 absolutely brilliant hydraulic engineers. They knew how to do the damning. They knew how to do the channeling, but unlike the Romans, they don't modify the landscape to to meet their needs. They actually adapt their needs to the landscape, and they know how to bring in the water using the natural landscape as a as a resource. The tenacious Naboteans did not go unchallenged for control of this land. Swiftly, their reputation as wealthy desert lords spread. As early as the 4th century BC, mighty neighboring superpowers were already eyeing up their treasures, determined to take them for themselves. One of my favorite stories about the Nabotans is also one of the earliest
23:48 when they successfully fended off invasions led by a very powerful warlord called Antiggonus. Antigonist the oneeyed. He was one of the great generals following Alexander the Great's death. Antiggonus he saw how rich and wealthy the Naboteans were. It's 312 BC and he sent two armies against them. But on both occasions, the Nabotayans fended off Antigonus' forces in the desert and ultimately Antiggonus was forced to come to terms. Now, what I love about this story is twofold. Firstly, Antiggonus and his forces, they were the superpower of the time. So, the Navatayans, even though they were greatly outnumbered, they were able to fend off the superpower. But also, what's important is the success of the Navatayans then.
24:35 That is key in ensuring their independence. An independence which would prove vital in them building the great monuments that dominate Petra today. Antiggonus's failed invasions marked the arrival of the Greeks on the Nabotan stage. For centuries after the Nabotans neighbored great henistic superpowers to their north and west, the Seucids in Syria, the Tomies in Egypt, and then ultimately the Romans. The Naboteans became greatly influenced by these [music] other cultures. As more and more people came to Petra,
25:21 it was only a matter of time before these visitors left their own mark on this city. This is the key entertainment building here at Petra. It's the theater. I must admit I feel quite small down here. But straight away when you come [music] into the center, you realize the Greek influence on this particular structure. I'm standing now in an area called the orchestra and I can see rows of seats in front of me and almost a dividing line about a half the way up. This lower level was most likely where
26:08 high officials where the wealthy would have been positioned when they were here and they were watching performances down where I am now in the orchestra. And above that almost halfway line up there you see a bigger wall and above that would have been where everyday Nabotans would have sat for those performances. You can see the remains of rock cut tombs above the theater to my right as well. Those are older buildings and this new theater was almost plopped right on top. And we know that there were a few tombs that had to be kind of removed or were placed under when this theater was added. When first built, Petra's grand would have fitted about 3,000 [music] people.
26:54 It was later extended to hold a whopping 8,000 [music] across 45 rows of seats. But what kinds of performances were put on here? Almost certainly plays, although we [music] must admit we don't know of any Nabotan plays. But given the Greek influence, we can imagine maybe Greek comedies or Greek tragedies happening. But it wouldn't have just been plays. There would have been also musical performances, whether that be a whole chorus or someone playing an instrument. Sitting here with the whole theater to myself, it takes a leap of imagination to picture this huge venue crammed with audiences 2,000 years ago, enjoying
27:42 entertainment from across the Mediterranean and the Levant. Amongst all these grand [music] monuments, it's easy to forget about the homes of the [music] Naboteans where they lived amongst this splendor. But some excavations [music] have focused on their domestic architecture. I'm visiting a prime location with archaeologist Sami Nawafl. Well, Sammy, this is quite the complex. I can see so many different rooms and this looks like a hallway in front of us. This seems like it was one of the the big structures in Petra.
28:27 >> One of the big structures in Petra, one of the biggest villas or houses in the site. Uh consisted of uh different rooms and two sections. >> And who do we think then would have lived in this big house? We believed that the we're Nebatian big family lived in this house. A wealthy Nepatian family. >> You can understand why a wealthy family would want to build a massive house up here. You can really get it when you look around. The views are absolutely stunning. >> It's amazing location. So, it's facing amazing view for the cliffs, the mountains [music] and the suburbs in the southern and the eastern portion of the site. other monuments and also [music] the royal tombs over there.
29:16 >> This grand villa known as the mansion is also home to a feature the Navatans got from the Romans, a private bath house. >> This is a very [music] important room which we believe that could be the uh uh steam room. This part in fact has the uh path Nepatian path or Roman path Roman style. You can see the hexagonal pavement here. >> Yes. Look at these. >> And you can see the hypocost. >> Oh, so that's that's a hypoc. So that's central heating underneath >> central heating under the floor >> on a day like this. It's boiling hot in the middle of the day. It makes you wonder if the Nabotans did they really need central heating? Did it ever really get cold? >> Of course, especially in winter time.
30:04 Very cold. nights time also it's cold >> even in summer season. >> It's such a striking house, isn't it? And doesn't it show the connections that the wealthy Naboteans had that they're they're bringing cultural influences from different parts of the Mediterranean like a hypercourse. I usually see this in a Roman villa, maybe in southern Britain or in Rome or in Italy. But here we have a hypercourse in this wealthy mansion at Petra. >> Of course, This Romano Nabotayan home is a reminder that Petra was a melting pot of cultures where Naboteans were joined by Greeks, [music] Romans, Egyptians, Judeans, Syrians, and more.
30:49 This was a multicultural cosmopolitan city full of art and architecture that took inspiration from all these different peoples. Petra was a city for the living, but all around looming [music] large close by houses, market stalls, and temples were reminders that Petra was also a city of the dead. Petra is home to more than 600 rock cut tombs, including great architectural wonders of the high and mighty like the so-called monastery and the treasury where I began my exploration. But there are also hundreds of smaller tombs for less highranking members of society.
31:37 So I've just come along a bit from the treasury and initially you pass more of those monumental tombs. But then you reach here it's much wider area and then you notice across the valley not a few but dozens and dozens of rock cut tombs. They are all cut from the living rock expertly sculpted from top to bottom by Nabotean stonemasons. Some are more elaborate than others. The contents [music] of the tombs were robbed in antiquity. We know the names of only a few of their owners. But I'm climbing up above the valley to find one that reveals [music] an insight
32:22 into power at the Nabotan royal court. I'm heading for the tomb of Unu. An inscription was discovered which revealed that this spectacular tomb was built for Unu who served as the Nabotan equivalent of a prime minister. Unu played his part well because his reward was this immaculate tomb for him and his family. His moraleum has Nabotayan, Greek and Roman styles combined. On its top is a classic Nabotan feature,
33:08 two sets of steps representing stairways to heaven. The facade would have been decorated with colorful plaster. Beyond the classical doorway lies the tomb itself. I'm finding out more from Petra archaeologist Ahmed Bakit Nawafle. Wow, Ahmed, this is stunning. I mean, what are these these slits in the wall? These massive slits we have in front of us. We are now inside the tomb of Onu. The slits we're seeing inside here are containing the graves themselves. You can count them. There are like 11 slits in there. So, we're talking about at least 11 family member from Onishu
33:53 families here. So you know the the graves inside the in here you can see them they are like some of them for two people some of them for one person. The bra customs actually when the Nabatians need to bury someone they took off all the clothes off and then they wash the body by water and then they should close all the holes in the body. give the body the good smell by perfuming it by some frankincense or so and then they wrapped the body in beautiful clothes the body in the graves and then they closed the graves by slaps and mud those were their burial customs actually so nabatias actually buried they did not they did not criminate or mummificate bodies
34:44 once you look more closely at Petra hundreds of tombs, you start to see a series of building styles, but this so-called obelisk tomb, named after the pointed pillars on top, is the only one of its kind and may have been created for the family of a Greek called Abdul Manos. But it's not just the outside that is intriguing. What I'm interested in is the room directly beneath the burial chamber. To me, this is a really exciting room because it hints at another great influence on tombs at Petra. And the first clue should be these three sets of
35:29 stone benches covering three sides of the tomb. One here, second one in the center here, and the third one right there. You also can notice that the the top the surface of them is slanted slightly inwards. Now, this was where 2,000 years ago, Nabotans reclined. They dined. They've been on cushions, on fancy furniture. They would have been drinking wine. They've been eating food. They would have been burning incense because this rather mind-blowingly is a tricenium. Now, why that's mind-blowing, Bill? A tricenium is something we normally associate with the Romans. I've seen something quite similar at Pompei. So this is a great example of how even the Romans inspire the Nabotayans when building some of these rock cartoons. And the Nabotans, they embraced this
36:14 part of Roman culture right here. But they also adapted it for their own purposes. Because yes, this was a place for feasting, for drinking, but it was mainly a place of ceremony, for toasting their dead relatives, maybe people who are being placed in the tomb, the obelisk tomb right above, and celebrating their journey into the afterlife. It's clear that the Naboteans believed life continued after death. Religion was a vital part of life here. Temples adorned the center of [music] Petra
37:02 and images of gods and goddesses were carved all over the city, hiding in plain sight in niches like this. But who were the deities worshiped here? Many of the carvings in Petra's museum are familiar from other classical cultures. There's a long freeze showing a garland of leaves and fruits being carried by mythical cupids, the sons of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. And there's also this colossal head. It likely depicts an important Nabotan god
37:48 called Dishara. Shown no different to the Greek chief god Zeus. The Nabotayans connected many Greek and Roman gods with their own representing them in classical looking sculpture. But at the same time they also continue to worship their gods in an older more traditional way. These intricately carved rectangular [music] stones are known as bettles. And this particular battle [music] is very special. The Nabetean goddess it depicts is unknown but it's a [music] star exhibit for Petra Museum director Ibrahim Farhat. >> Yeah, this is one of the Nabatian idol
38:34 which was found in Petra in 1975. This is one of the Neabatian gods by the way because Nebatines worship many gods and this is really very unique as you see. You can see all the details of the human beings. You can see the eyes, the nose and the mouth. >> Other battles were much more abstract. This one portrays little more than star-like eyes. >> But as you see in the second [music] one, you can't see the mouth. And maybe that's why you know this gods it's unique. can see all the human beings details >> making the god a human being in their imagination. >> That's right. [music] That's right. Yes. >> It's amazing to study this object up close. The face of a mysterious Nabotean goddess.
39:20 Beneath the face is an inscription revealing the man who dedicated this sacred stone. Hyenne, son of Naibat. We know nothing else about Hayenne but the inscription is written in Nabatan. >> Do we know much about the Nabotan language itself? >> Of course we do know a lot of the Nabatian in language from the Nabatian inscriptions because in Petra itself we found more than 300 inscriptions. >> Most of those inscriptions were mentioned like names, gods, memorial inscription and this is really one of the inscriptions. We knew that Nabatines they had 22 like letters and we knew that they used to write from right to left. >> Do we think that the Nabotan language is
40:06 that a predecessor to Arabic? Do we think? >> Of course Nabatian language was uh like one of the Seeatics languages by the way. Okay. And we knew that maybe the Arabic letters came from the Nabatian letters. That's why you know we do think that especially at the 4th century AD we do imagine that there is a theory that the Arabic letters came from the Nabatian letters. Religious worship would have been happening all across Petra and its rocky canyons. Like many other ancient religions, the Nabotans believed that their gods lived
40:52 above them. I'm climbing up in the footsteps of Nabotan priests to the top of a sacred mountain. [music] To be as close to their deities as possible, the Naboteans placed monuments and performed rituals up high. Two of the main gods of Petra were Dashara and Aluza. Dashara was the lord of [music] the mountain and king of the gods. His wife Aluza was the goddess of
41:40 power and the stars. They were the divine power couple of Petra. These two pointed pillars called nephishes high above the city might have represented them. They are close to one of the most important religious sites in Petra. After a long walk, you finally make it here, the top of the mountain. It's astonishing how high up we are above Petra. So imagine Nabeteans, loads and loads, a parade of Nabotans making their way up from the town below, weaving their way up this mountain side and finally arriving here for religious activity.
42:30 When you reach the summit, you're greeted by this massive rectangular slab of stone. This was an altar, the main altar. This was where important ritual [music] activities of the Nabotans would have happened. You can imagine a Nabotayan priest [music] walking up to where I am now and making offerings. Perhaps the burning of incense and that smell wafting up towards the heavens. Just to the side of the main altar, you have this smaller circular shallower altar carved into the rock. And this was likely where [music] libations were poured and sacrifices were made. And when I say sacrifices, I mean [music] animal sacrifices. There is no evidence
43:17 that the Nabotayans practiced human sacrifice. Looking out over this landscape, it's fascinating to think about the religious importance this mountaintop held for the Naboteans. In their eyes, they had much to thank their [music] gods for. By the first century AD, Petra and the Nabotan kingdom had become one of the most prosperous powers in the ancient world. But no golden age lasts forever. It wasn't long before another superpower eyed up Nabotan riches for themselves. And this time they succeeded. The Nabotan kingdom came crashing down in 106 AD, brought to an end by one of history's most famous destroyers of
44:03 empires, the Romans. This time it was the emperor Trajan. The Nabotan kingdom was transformed into the Roman province of Arabia Petraa. But Petra was no longer the capital. Instead, the Romans chose Bosra further north in present day Syria. Petra was no longer the favored [music] city in the desert. The Naboteans didn't resist the Romans. Petra may have ceased being the capital, but it remained important. A couple of decades after the takeover, Trajan's successor, Hadrien, visited here on his journeys [music] around the Roman Empire, renaming it Hriana Petra.
44:51 But this once great city would gradually decline. As the trade routes shifted, the merchants went with them and the allure of visiting fabled Petra faltered. A great earthquake in 363 AD destroyed much of the city and within a few centuries, Petra was all but abandoned. The Naboteans [music] vanished from history. The desert had finally claimed back this once wealthy city. Knowledge of this place faded into obscurity until Burkhart made that remarkable rediscovery just over 200 years ago. I have become fascinated with the story of the Nabotans and their interactions
45:38 with other great ancient civilizations. And it's by coming to a place like this, coming to Petra, [music] seeing architecture like the Treasury that you begin to realize the great extent of their amazing [music] achievements. But to me, the story of Petra, it isn't just about the Naboteans. It's about the ingenuity, the creativity, the ambition of human beings. How they were [music] able to create this great center of the ancient world in this seemingly inhospitable [music] environment. Petra. It amazed people back in antiquity and it continues [music] to ore us down to the present day.
47:12 >> [music] [music]
