Petra (Arabic: ٱلْبَتْرَاء, romanized: Al-Batrāʾ; Ancient Greek: Πέτρα, “Stone”), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu, is a historical and archaeological city in southern Jordan. Petra lies on the slope of Jabal Al-Madbah in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of the Arabah valley that runs from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.
Though the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary has existed there since very ancient times. The area at and around Petra is believed to have been inhabited as early as 9,000 BC.
By 2010 BCE, some of the earliest recorded farmers had settled in Beidha, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement just north of Petra. Petra is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts and the Amarna letters as Pel, Sela or Seir.
The Edomite site excavated at the top of the Umm el-Biyara mountain at Petra was established not earlier than the seventh century BCE (Iron II). The Nabataeans were archaeological, religious and linguistic a nomadic northern Arabian tribe. They might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom, as early as the 4th century BC.
The Nabataeans were accustomed to living in the barren deserts, unlike their enemies, and were able to repel attacks by taking advantage of the area’s mountainous terrain. They were particularly skillful in harvesting rainwater, agriculture and stone carving. They invested in Petra’s proximity to the trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.
Petra flourished in the 1st century AD, when its famous Khazneh structure – believed to be the mausoleum of Nabataean king Aretas IV – was constructed, and its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 inhabitants.
On December 6, 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site. In a popular poll in 2007, it was also named one of the 7 Wonders of the World. The PAP (Petra Archaeological Park) became an autonomous legal entity over the management of this site in August 2007. The Bidouls belong to one of the Bedouin tribes whose cultural heritage and traditional skills were proclaimed by UNESCO on the Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2005 and inscribed in 2008.