"Petra's mysterious beauty and dramatic story have long captivated the imaginations of historians and art lovers. Recent excavations by the archaeologists Jean-Marie Dentzer and Christian Auge provide new information about this city, unique in history."--BOOK JACKET.

This book contains information about a rich historical site in Jordan. This ancient site was crafted using the cliffs of sandstone in the south of the country. The word "Petra" is of Greek origin and means "rock", which perfectly suits a city carved into the cliffs of Jordan. The Rediscovered City of Stone: Just a few hours south of the country's capital, Amman, the area was officially founded by the Arab tribe of nomads. This occurred centuries before Christ was born. This tribe was well known for their impeccable engineering, agriculture, trading, and of course, stone-carving skills. Much is still unknown about this ancient culture, but we know for sure that they were incredibly talented artists and engineers. At this city, a people called the Nabataeans created tombs, temples, halls and houses, aqueducts, and prestigious altars. They created a civilization that existed right in the midst of the Near East, an ancient area for trading and commerce since the routes for transporting spice and traveling trails all existed within the city of Petra. In its hay day, Petra housed about 20,000 people, called the Nabataeans. These ancient humans were known for coming up with a way to create a waterway system to fuel their city, perhaps the most impressive fact about this is that it was right in the middle of the desert. The lost city was discovered again in the 1800s, and more information as to how the ancient inhabitants lived are still being unearthed. We are now coming to discover exactly how this impressive city appeared thousands of years back. Scroll to the top of the page and click Add To Cart to read more about this extraordinary chapter of history

Model Petra Nemcova's charmed life was changed forever when the tsunami swept her boyfriend away, and left her with a broken pelvis and clinging to a tree for nearly eight hours. All of her proceeds from this book will be donated to the Give2Asia/Happy Hearts Fund helping to rebuild the areas hardest hit.

Until now, no study has been made of the construction techniques of the Nabataean freestanding buildings and the rock-cut monuments of Petra, Jordan (built from the 1st cent. BC to the 2nd cent. AD). Their technical features were documented by fieldwork,and this evidence was then analysed to determine precisely when and why these features appeared or evolved. This leads to explaining how the Nabataeans developed their architecture, and what types of construction techniques they used to bring Petra's architecture to its peak. The historical and geographical context for the architecture of Petra is presented, with a summary of previous scholarship on the site. The focus moves to the building materials used by the Nabataeans which are found toinfluence the construction techniques they developed. This is followed by a detailed discussion of quarrying and the rock-cut techniques. The procedures for dressing ashlar blocks and the facades of the rock-cut monuments are analysed to determine the tools used by the builders, as well as the lifting devices necessary for construction of the freestanding buildings. The technical aspects of the construction of walls, columns, floors, the anti-seismic and stabilising techniques developed by theNabataeans are considered. Finally, the construction of roofs is examined in detail. The results of the study reveal the sources of the building techniques used at Petra and why they were further developed there.THREE REVIEWS OF HOW PETRA WAS BUILT:J. J. Coulton, Formerly Reader in Classical Archaeology, University of Oxford. "Using his practical experience as an architect as well as extensive and detailed fieldwork, Dr Rababeh has provided an illuminating analysis of Nabataean buildings, showing how they drew on, and modified, previous Levantine and Hellenistic methods to suit local materials and local requirements." Judith McKenzie, author of The Architecture of Petra: "Other books cover the architectural styles of the monuments of Petra. Shaher er-Rababeh's is the first to focus on the subject of how they were built, both the rock-cut tombs and the freestanding buildings. He methodically presents the results of months of first-hand examination of the evidence. Each aspect of building construction is analysed making wide-ranging use of recent scholarship on ancient building techniques. Just as the Nabataeans made their desert environment habitable with complex water-collection systems, they refined local, Egyptian, Greek and Roman construction techniques to suit the city's rose red sandstone and other available building materials. Rababeh shows the Nabataean construction techniques were just as distinctive in their details as the style of their architecture - which they created from classical Alexandrian andNear Eastern elements. He makes interesting discoveries. The stone cut awaywhen the tombs were carved was used to erect the city's freestanding buildings.Rababeh shows how Petra has the earliest extensive examples of timber used tostrengthen stone masonry buildings, as later seen on the Ka'ba at Mekka."Ehud Netzer, author of Nabataeische Architektur: "This comprehensive study of the building systems in the Nabataean world is a pioneering work. It deals with all aspects from wall foundations to roof tiles; simple constructions and monumental ones; freestanding buildings and monuments cut into the rock. Shaher's new book widens our knowledge of the enchanted world of Nabataean architecture."

For more than four centuries the ancient kingdom of Petra, with its magnificent temples and rock-cut tombs, flourished at the intersection of two major trade routes running from Syria to the Red Sea and from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. The Romans absorbed Petra into their empire in 106 A.D., and in 363 A.D. an earthquake left the city in ruins, forgotten in the West until European explorers rediscovered it in the 19th century. Today--largely as a result of the astonishing finds from ongoing archaeological excavations--this beautiful site has become one of the most visited tourist destinations in the Middle East. Petra Rediscovered brings us the discoveries from those excavations, in a spectacular volume that accompanies a major traveling exhibition on the history and art of this evocative ancient city. Vibrantly illustrated with on-site photography--most newly shot for this book--Petra Rediscovered presents the latest archaeological revelations and scholarly research on the city and the Nabataean people. Essays in lively prose by archaeologists who have worked at Petra and researched the art, objects, and inscriptions found there will fascinate history and archaeology buffs, art lovers, and travelers, who will be newly inspired to visit this spectacular site.

Originally published in 1932, this classic book contains a wealth of information on caravan trade and cities. Beautifully written and supported by photographs, this book is highly recommended for inclusion on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the subject.