Courier Democrat., 1916-02-03
A CITY OF MYSTERY
Ancient Petra, In Arabia, Now In
Ruins and Deserted.
LIVED IN EARLY BIBLE TIMES.

Then 1t Was Famous and Wealthy
and a Place Where History Was
Made-lts Curious Temples. Tombs
and Dwellings Carved Out of Solid
Rock.
Petra, cut out of solid rock in a lone
some mountain valley in the Arabian
desert. Once a rich city, it is now an
abandoned ruin. 1t is so old that its
origin is lost to history, but it was
we'll known in early Bible times when
the Edomites inhabited it, and about
a century after the beginning of the
Christian era it was conquered by the
Romans. But few centuries later it
n was abandoned by civilization, and for
1,,35Go years it lay forgotten by the
world is,ntil the traveller BurcEhardt re
discovered in 1872.
SO inaccessible is its sfsntt1atii23' sfstt..1.a tio ~
though it once lay on Il trade route,
that not more than fifty travellers are
known to have visited it since Burck-
hardts time.
No rOmancer ever conceived such Il
place. All around arc barren noun
tains rocky, Wild and t.ackless. Be
yond the mountains stretches the des-
ert. A savage glen deepens into a long.
narrow gorge With perpendicular walls
one or two hundred feet in height Fol
| lowing this rayine for two miles, the
! adventurous traveller suddenly finds
| himself at a kind Of gateway in the
rocks, like the entrance to Il Roman
amphitheater.
Here he is confronted by temple
cut in the rock, with the most exquisite
Corinthian columns. and. entering the
doorway, he finds himself in the heart
of the hill, surrounded by subterranean
architecture of the most elaborate
beauty of form and workmanship. This
is the so called khasneh, or treasury.
supposed to have been built by the Ro-
/ man .cmperor Hadrian, who visited
Petra in the year 131 A. d. Although
| called Il treasury, it was 4 temple de-
voted to Isis. No description of this
strange building has ever excelled that
| given by Stephens. the first American
| traveller to see it:
"The whole temple, its columns, Or
naments, porticoes and porches are cut
out from and form a part of the solid
rock, and this rock, ut the foot of
| which the temple stands like a mere
print, towers several hundred feet
above, it's face cut smooth to the very
summit and the top remaining wild
land miSShapen, as nature made it. Nei-
ther the Coliseum ut Rome, grand and
interesting as it is, nor the ruins Of the
AcropoliS at Athens nor the pyramids
nor the mighty temples OF the Nile are
so often present to my memory"
But this is only an introduction to
the marvels behind. The gorge opens
out into narrow valley some three
miles i'll circumference, everywhere
sunk deep beneath the inclosing noun
tainS, and the walls of this valley are
filled with the remains Of other rock
cut temples. tombs and dwelling
places. In one place are the remains
Of an open air theater. Some Of the
structures cut in the face Of the rock
are several stories in height, while
their architectural details excite the
! wondering admiration of the beholder.
OF course they gain immensely in the
eyes OF the surprised visitor by their
situation and by the air of total ablu
donment which surrounds them. They
are at various heights above the floor
or the valley, and the uplifting Of the
eyes turned to study them adds to the
impression Of lonely majesty which
they make upon them.
1t is rare to meet amy human being
in the place. Sometimes Il few Arabs
are seen, but at night the voices of
wolves, HyenaS. owls and jackals may
be heard, and occasionally one of these
animals may be surprised lurking in the
dark interior of an open tomb. Large
IvenOmOuS SerpentS are also sometimes
met with.
1t is not surprising that some visitors
have applied to Petra, which has been
supposed to he the Selah of the Bible,
! the curses uttered by the Hebrew
prophets against the land of Idumea.
such as these: "And thorns shall come
jup in her palaces, nettles and rambles
in the fortresSes thereof, and it shall
be Il habitation for dragons and a court
for OWLS or, "Oh, thou that dwellest
i'll the clefts of the rocks, that holdeSt
the height OF the hill, though thou
shouldst make the nest as high as the
eagles | will bring thee down from
thence, saith the Lord."-Garrett P.
Serviss in New York Journal.