SEIR (vvf 'rough,' 'shaggy').— 1. The name of a mountainous district cast of the 'Arabah, j)eopled by the Edomites. It was originallj- occu- pied by liorites or 'cave-dwellers' (Gn 14" [where read, after LXX and Sam., ryt? -nci for b oyin of MT] 36''" [in the latter passage Seir is personified a) the eponymous ancestor of the indigenous inhabit-
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SEIRAH
SELA
ants]). As Mt. Seir (-I'vi? i?, ri tpos (ri) 2i;(e)/(), Gn 36*'-, Dt 2'- " al.) is practically synonymous with Edom (cf. Gn 32' ' the hind of Seir, tlie field of Edimi,' DUN rryf Tyi" [-in, yri ^rjclp X'^P"' 'iioti/x), it will suHice to refer for further details to art. Edom. 2. Quite ditrerent is the Mt. Seir (tJ 'Aa-ffdp, A --n^ip) nientioned in Jos 15'° amongst the points deliuinj; the boundaries of Judah. The name may still be preserved in that of the ruins at Sdris, S.W. of Kiriath-jearim (cf. the name SupTit in LXX A [but B 'Euiivs] of Jos 15"). See Robinson, BJiP^ lii. 154 If.; Buhl, GAP 91, 167 ; Dillm. Jos. ad loc. J. A. Selbie.
SEIRAH (nTvi'C, with the article ; B ZfTEipiDffa, A 2feipui(?a ; SciriUh). — The place to which Ehud escaped after killing Eglon, king of Moab (Jg 3-"). It \\as in the hill-country of Epliraim, and appar- ently not very far from Gilgal. Its site was un- known to Eusebius and Jerome {Onom. Seipwfli, Sirotha), and it has not yet been identified.
C. W. Wilson.
SELA (yljo 'the clilf ; irH-pa, Is 16' 42" ; y^^n, i, irirpa, Jg l^*, 2 K 14').— The capital of Edom or Mt. Seir, situated in a valley amidst the Edoraite moun- tains, five days' journey {of 12 miles each) by the Arabah from 'Akabah (Elath), and 6 from the Dead Sea by the same route.* Its identification as the capital of Edom may also be inferred from its proximity to Mount Hor (if we are right in identifying this with Jcbel Haronn), which rises in a grand escarpment immediately to the N.W. of the ancient city, and whicli, as observed by Dean Stanley, is one of the few spots connected with the wanderings of the Israelites which admit of no reasonable doubt (Sinai and Palestine, 86). According to Strabo, Petra was the metropolis of the Nabatffians, and it is described as a city situated in a valley, decorated with gardens and toimtains, but bounded on all sides by rocks.f
Description. — Petra is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable of the ancient cities of the East, not only for its position, shut in by mountains and formidable rocky precipices from the outer world, but for the peculiar character of its archi- tecture and the degree of preservation in which the structures themselves have come down to us through many centuries. It lies along the course of the Wady Masa,t a stream which descends by a narrow gorge called the StK from the tableland of Edom at the margin of the great Arabian desert, and which ultimately finds its way into the wady el-Jeib, and thus to the Dead Sea, in a north-westerly direction. On issuing from the Sik, the valley suddenly opens out into a plain, about 1000 yards across,§ bounded by stupendous cliffs of red and variegated .sandstone, into which several other valleys enter from the north, west, and south, also lined by lofty clifls, through one of which the river escapes by a channel almost as narrow as that by which it entered. This central plain, of a rudely quadrangular form, contains several ruined temples and foundations of habitations. On all sides the nearly vertical walls of rock are covered by works of art — not
* There is no doubt in the mind of the present writer that Petra of tlio present day is the Sela of the OT, the Greelt name being the equivalent of the Semitic ; and the importance of the place in ancient times, together with its situation, point to it afi the capital of that part of Arabia. But see Moore, Judges, 56 f., and cf. art. Rock, No. 4.
t Urbum in rejfiorie plana, et hortis fontibusque instructom, cinctam tamen rupibiis undique (lib. xvi.).
t How this stream obtained its name, unless from the fancy of the Arabs, it is impossible to say ; but it cannot be admitted that it ever had any connexion with Moses, the Israelitish leader. It is one of the (grounds on which Dean Stanley (Sinni, p. 92) endeavours to make out that Petra is Kadesh-barnea ; but to this point we shall rttum further on.
i Measured by scale from Laborde's plan near the centre of the quadrangle.
built up of hewn stone, but cut out of the living rock itself ; while a few ruined structures occupy sites rising directly from the valley. This style of architecture, not unknown in other Eastern countries, siuh as the Valley of the Nile, Penin- sular Indi.t, and Asia Minor, here attains a variety and magnificence elsewhere unreached ; and as tlie tombs appear to predominate in number above other kinds of structures, — not excepting the temples, — Petra has been likened by travellers to a vast necropolis, where the inhabitants could never issue fortli from their dwellings without being confronted with monuments of death.
It would be out of place here to attempt to describe even some of the finest examples of ancient architecture to be found in Petra, which call to mind the varied styles of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. We will only observe that in hewing out the porticoes, columns, and architraves or crowning parts of the buildings, the architects commenced at the top and worked downwards ; so that, as the face of the rock was not absolutely vertical, the hewn portions became more and more deeply set into the mass of the rock itself. To this protection, caused by the projection of the original face on either side, as well as sometimes overhead, may be attributed the degree of pre- servation of the structures themselves. The fol- lowing are the more important of the monuments as known by their present names : — (1) el-Khnznf, a portico of a tomb with Corinthian columns at the entrance to the Sik ; (2) the Theatre ; (3) the Tomb, or Temple of the Urn ; (4) Corinthian Tomb ; (5) Great Tomb, with three rows of columns; (6) Tomb with Latin inscription*; (7) Ruin of Triumphal Arch ; (8) Ruined Basilica (Zob Phiroun) ; (9) Temple {Serail Pliirown) ; (10) Large Tomb (cd-Deir) ; (11) Isolated Column. All the lateral valleys entering the great central plain have their walls perforated with tombs, and a few habitations, the entrances to which are adorned with soilptured facades, while niches for statues are to be observed at intervals. Amongst the most interesting objects is the Roman Theatre, cut out of the solid rock on the western side of the city, and estimated to have aHbrded seats for 3000 sjiectators ; and lastly, the Circular Arch, which spans the Sik high above the floor, which was doubtless constructed as part of an aqueduct to carry the waters of the brook to the higher parts of the citv.t For figure of the recently dis- covered higli pU'i; e of Petra, see SANCTUARY, p. 396*.