Evening star., 1928-03-15
HIDDEN CITY HELD
! REAL MOUNT SINAI
Petra, Near Dead Sea. Has
Buildings" Carved From
Sandstone Cliffs.

Discoveries which have led some
arclleologists to accept the view that
the hidden city of Petra. near the Dead
Sea, is the real Mount Sinai" from
which Moses obtained his laws. gives
that mysterious and unique city a new
interest. A bulletin from the National
Geographic Society tells of Petra and
its unusual site.
Petra is like fairy city hidden in a
mountain" says the bulletin. 1T is as
though a huge peak had been disem-
noweieo and the ancient city set down
in the chaSm,
The old entrance to the city, which
was an important factor In its strength,
can be used today. From a Semi-deSert
plain one enters narrow canyon which
Is mere cleft in towei ing walls of red
sandstone. Along the bottom of this
canyon little stream flows. The high,
Jagged walls. az many places overhang-
Ing, give the passage a gloom even at
midday. At one point the floor of the
r canyon narrowS to - feet, and at no
place Ii Is wider than 40.
After one has followed this tortuous
chaSm for two miles he comes out un-
expectedly into an open plain, approx
imately a mile across, entirely sur
rounded by sheer cliffs and precipitous
slopes. Through the center winds the
little stream, a municipal water supply
ages ago. On the level ground on each
side OF the stream rose the ancient city.
Buildings" Carved from Cliffs.
NEARLY ell traces Of the ancient struc-
lures that rose on the plain have dis
appeared. But against the cliff walls
remains unique and almost imperish-
able Pera. One-piece buildings have
kA ~ Ia -SNA-
and are almost as well preserved today
as when the ch;sels of their creators
were laid down.
One of the most striking OF these
creations is the So-called Treasury of
Pharaoh product Of the Greek pc
Tioo several centuries before Christ. The
front Of the edifice stands in deep relief,
Its pillars. capitals. pediment and super
structure intact. A doorway leads into
the cliff from which rooms were hol-
lowed.
Another carved masterpiece is the
rock-hewn Greek theater that seated
5000 spectators. Temples also are
carved in the cliffs: but the most nu-
merous OF the monuments are tombs.
Thousands of them look down on the
Petra plain. many showing the most
elaborate and exquisite carving.
AAClcut distributing ASHkct.
aPetra has been called by poets the
'rose-red city half as old as time Its
deeply coiored walls-rose, purple. yell
low, crimson-are indeed beautiful. and
the skillfui use of the colorcd strata In
the carvings shows that the Petra ar
fists made the most of the esthetic
possibilities. But Petra did not exist for
beauty alone II it had possessed a
chamber Of commerce in its heyday of
importance, that organization could
have boasted truthfully that Petra was
the worlds premier distributing center
and that its weekly bank clearinGs' ran
into many hundreds Of talents.
~The city was the SueZ and Panama
OF its day. meeting place for the chief
trade routes. Incense, spices and other
treasures Of the East came from India.
Persia and farther Arabia TO this safety
deposit city Of the desert From there
goods were distributed TO Egypt, Poles
tine and Syria. and through Tyre and
Sidon to the Mediterranean countries to
the West An important special traffic
Of the city was the furnishing of Dead
Sea bitumen 70 the enbalners Of
Egypt.
How far Petra reaches back into an