Strabo says, “the capital of the Nabatæi is called Petra; it lies in a spot, which is itself level and plain, but fortified all round with a barrier of rocks and precipices; within, furnished with a spring of excellent quality, for the supply of water, and the irrigation of gardens; without the circuit, the country is in a great measure desert, especially towards Judæa.”
Such are the ancient accounts of a city, which, for many centuries, has been to Europe as if it did not exist. According to this geographer it was a great and flourishing city, standing on a high rock in a plain, hemmed in and fortified all round with a barrier of rocks and precipices; and from this position it derived its name.
Very little is known of the history of this remarkable city, and of this little we have only space for a few incidents.
When Antigonus had got possession of Syria and Judæa, he sent one of his generals (Athenæus) against the people of Petra, because they had made several inroads into the country, and carried away a large booty. Athenæus succeeded so far, that he got possession of the town and likewise all the spoils deposited in it; but in his retreat the Arabs defeated his troops, regained all the spoils, and then took repossession of their city. When they had done this, they wrote a letter to Antigonus, complaining of the injustice with which Athenæus had treated them. At first Antigonus affected to disapprove of Athenæus’ proceedings; but the moment he could assemble a sufficient number of troops, he despatched his son, Demetrius, into Arabia, with orders to chastise the Petræans with the utmost severity. This, however, was easier to be said than done. Demetrius marched thither, it is true; but as he could not succeed in taking their city, he found himself compelled to make the best treaty he could, and march back again. A further account is given, by another writer:—“When Demetrius[91], by order of his father Antigonus, sate down before Petra with an army, and began an attack upon it, an Arab accosted him after the following manner:—‘King Demetrius: what is it you would have? What madness can have induced you to invade a people, inhabiting a wilderness, where neither corn, nor wine, nor any other thing, you can subsist upon, are to be found? We inhabit these desolate plains for the sake of liberty; and submit to such inconveniences as no other people can bear in order to enjoy it. You can never force us to change our sentiments, nor way of life; therefore, we desire you to retire out of our country, as we have never injured you; to accept some presents from us; and to prevail with your father to rank us among his friends.’ Upon hearing this, Demetrius accepted their presents, and raised the siege.”
The city was, in the time of Augustus, the residence of a monarch, and considered the capital of Arabia Petræa. The country was conquered by Trajan, and annexed by him to the province of Palestine. In more recent times, Baldwin I. king of Jerusalem, having made himself also master of Petra, gave it the name of the Royal Mountain.
The probability that the ruins of Wady Mousa are those of ancient Petra, is thus stated by Colonel Leake:—“The country of the Nabatæi, of which Petra was the chief town, is well characterised by Diodorus as containing some fruitful spots, but as being, for the most part, desert and waterless. With equal accuracy, the combined information of Eratosthenes, Strabo, and Pliny, describes Petra as falling in a line drawn from the head of the Arabian gulf (Suez) to Babylon; as being at the distance of three or four days from Jericho, and of four or five from Phœnicon, which was a place now called Moyeleh, on the Nabatæan coast, near the entrance of the Ælanitic Gulf; and as situated in a valley of about two miles in length, surrounded with deserts, inclosed within precipices, and watered by a river. The latitude of 30° 20´, ascribed by Ptolemy to Petra, agrees moreover very accurately with that, which is the result of the geographical information of Burckhardt. The vestiges of opulence, and the apparent date of the architecture at Wady Mousa, are equally conformable with the remains of the history of Petra found in Strabo, from whom it appears that, previous to the reign of Augustus, or under the latter Ptolemies, a very large portion of the commerce of Arabia and India passed through Petra to the Mediterranean, and that armies of camels were required to convey the merchandise from Leuce Come [Leukè Komè], on the Red Sea, through Petra, to Rhinocolura, now El Arish. But among the ancient authorities regarding Petra, none are more curious than those of Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome, all persons well acquainted with these countries, and who agree in proving that the sepulchre of Aaron in Mount Hor was near Petra. From hence it seems evident that the present object of Mussulman devotion, under the name of the tomb of Haroun, stands upon the same spot which has always been regarded as the burying-place of Aaron; and there remains little doubt, therefore, that the mountain to the west of Petra is the Mount Hor of the Scriptures; Mousa being, perhaps, an Arabic corruption of Movra, where Aaron is said to have died.”
Till within these few years, these ruins have been to Europeans, as if they did not exist. In 1807, M. Seetzen, travelling under the name of Morse, made an excursion into Arabia Petræa, as far as what he calls the frontiers of Idumea, but he did not approach the ruins of the capital[92]. The first traveller, who gave to modern Europe any knowledge of this city, was Burckhardt. In this journey, made in the summer of 1812, he encountered many dangers and difficulties; not so much from the inaccessible nature of the country, as from the rapacity and prejudices of the Arabs, who conceive that their ruined towns are all filled with hidden treasures; and that European visitors come for the sole purpose of carrying these away. “I see now clearly,” said his guide, “that you are an infidel, who have some particular business among the ruins of the city of our forefathers; but, depend upon it, we shall not suffer you to take out a single para of all the treasures hidden therein; for they are in our territory, and belong to us.” With these difficulties, Burckhardt had little opportunity of doing more than merely ascertaining, that such ruins as those of Petra did actually exist. “I was particularly anxious,” says he, in his journal, under date of August 22, “of visiting Wady Mousa, of the antiquities of which I had heard the country people speak in terms of great admiration; and from thence I had hoped to cross the desert in a straight line to Cairo; but my guide was afraid of the hazards of a journey through the desert. I therefore pretended to have made a vow to slaughter a goat in honour of Haroun (Aaron), whose tomb I knew was situated at the extremity of the valley; and by this stratagem I thought that I should have the means of seeing the valley in my way to the tomb. To this my guide had nothing to oppose; the dread of drawing upon himself, by resistance, the wrath of Haroun, completely silenced him.” Farther on, speaking of the antiquities of Wady Mousa, the same traveller says, “Of these I regret that I am not able to give a very complete account. I well knew the character of the people around me. I was without protection in the midst of a desert, where no traveller had ever before been seen; and a close examination of these works of the infidels, as they are called, would have excited suspicions that I was a magician in search of treasures. I should at least have been detained, and prevented from prosecuting my journey to Egypt, and in all probability should have been stripped of the little money which I possessed, and, what was infinitely more valuable to me, of my journal-book. Future travellers may visit the spot under the protection of an armed force; the inhabitants will become more accustomed to the researches of strangers, and the antiquities of Wady Mousa will then be found to rank amongst the most curious remains of ancient art.”
We shall now give some account of the travels of Mr. Banks, and the party by whom he was accompanied.[93] Having quitted the tents of the Bedouins, with whom they had sojourned for a few days, they passed into the valley of Ellasar, where they noticed some relics of antiquity, which they conjectured were of Roman origin. Here they rested with a tribe of Arabs. The next day they pursued their journey, partly over a road paved with lava, and which, by its appearance, was evidently a Roman work, and stopped that evening at Shuback, a fortress in a commanding situation; but incapable, by decay, of any effectual defence against European tactics.
In the neighbourhood of this place they encountered some difficulties from the Arabs, but which, by their spirit and firmness, they overcame, and proceeded unmolested till they reached the tents of a chieftain called Eben Raschib, who took them under his protection. This encampment was situated on the edge of a precipice, from which they had a magnificent view of Mount Gebel-Nebe-Haroun, the hill of the prophet Aaron (Mount Hor); and a distant prospect of Gebel-Tour (Mount Sinai), was also pointed out to them. In the fore-ground, on the plain below, they saw the tents of the hostile Arabs, who were determined to oppose their passage to Wady Mousa, the ruins of which were also in sight.