Outline of the history of Petra. — The history of Petra has yet to be written. The following are some of the leading historical events : —
(1) Its history commences in the time of Abra- ham, when Chedorlaomer, king of Elara, with his allies, swept over the region of Mount Seir, then inhabited by the Sorites (or cave-dwellers), Gn 14".
(2) Esau settled in Mount Seir on separating from his brother Jacob, and the country was henceforth ruled by his descendants, the Edomites (Gn 36').
(3) At the time of the Exodus the Edomites appear to have been a powerful nation under a king ; and on the Israelites requesting permission to pass through Mount Seir, by the king's higli- way, on their journey towards the plains of Moab, they were refused, and the Edoiiiites made a demon- stration of force to resist the passage (Nu 20"'").
• Oi\'ing the name of the Roman ^vernor, Quintus P™- textus Florentinus. who died in the city probably in the rei^ of Hadrian, a.d. 117-180.
t A rude plan of the city is riven by Burckhardt : but a mucb more full and perfect one by Laborde, together with numerous views and illustrations of the works of art. The beautiful draw- ing's of David Roberts need only be referred to. The wonderful colouration of the sandstone rock (' the Nubian sandaUine ' of the Cretaceous age), in which the prevalent red is varied by wavy hands of pink and yellow in one direction and of purple to blus in the other, has called forth the admiration of all travellers.
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(4) In later times they were suHiciently powerful to maintain wars with the kings of Israel and Judah. At an early stace they were brought into subjection by David, who put garrisons in the Edoiiiite strongholds (2 S 8") ; but, in the days of Joraiii, Edoiu revolted from the rule of .ludali (2 K >)-■"), and, altliough defeated, maintained their independence and set a kin^ over themselves. After their defeat by Amazian in a great battle in the Valley of Salt on the shore of the Dead Sea, Sela, the capital, was captured, and re-nanied by the conqueror Jokthecl (? ' protection of God '), 2 K 14'. At the end of the 4th cent. li.C. Edom came into possession of the Xabatwans, one of the two chief tribes descended from Ishmacl. These established a powerful dynasty, successfully re- sisting the attacks of Antigonus (Diod. Sic. xix. 731, ed. 1604), and encouraging commerce and works of art. One of their kings, Aretas, was father-in-law of Herod Antipas, and durin" tlieir sway many of the monuments of Petra which have come down to the present day were constructed.
(5) The sway of the Nabatieans was terminated by the capture of the city, and the reduction of Arabia Petr.-ca to a Koman province by Trajan's general, Hadrian, from wlioiii the capital received the name of Hadriana, as appears from the legend on the coins of this period (Dion Cass. lib. 68). Under the fostering care of the empire it prob- ably attained to the summit of its commeicial prosperity and grandeur.
(6) Christianity appears to have been introduced into Petra at an early date, though it is impossible tc verify the tradition that the city was visited by St. Paul on his retirement to Arabia after his conversion. Petra, however, became the seat of a bishopric, and Athanasius mentions Astcrius as bi.^hop of Petra early in the 4th cent. (loin, ad Antior.h. 10: 'AtrWpios Wfrpuiv t^s 'Apa^^ias, et al.) ; again we find Petra mentioned as the metropolis of the episcopal province of Palestina Tertia, which included a large number of towns or villages, all of which seeni to have since disappeared. {Ex- cerptn from MS in the Vatican, quoted by Keland, i 160).
(7) With 'the decline and fall' of the Roman empire a period of decadence for Petra set in, which was hastened by the invasion of ChosroiJs, king of Persia, in the middle of the 6th cent. ; and its ruin was consummated by the desolating wave of Mohamme<lan conquest which swept over Arabia Petra-a from A.D. 629 to 632. The Christian inliabitants were either massacred or compelled to embrace the faith of the conqueror, and their temples and monasteries were reduced to ruins. Of the large number of ecclesiastical buildings which existed at the beginning of the 7th cent, in Arabia, only the monastery of Mount Sinai remains to the present day. Henceforth Petra became a city of^ ruins, absolutely lost to the view and knowledge of the outer world for several centuries during the Middle Ages till rediscovered by Sultan Beybars of Egypt towards the close of the 13th cent. It is now only the home of the liedawin ; and the terrible predic- tions of the prophet, 'Thus will I make Mo)int Seir an astonishment and a desolation ' (E/.k 35'), have been lilenilly fulfilled. Dean Hurgon has well expressed this desolation in the following lines:
• How chanjfed— how fallen 1 All her (florv (led. The Widow'd City inouniB her many (k-au. * Like eome fond ht-art which (ravuit disease hath loft Of all it livi'd for— all it loved— l.crclt ; Mute in iu an^iHh : struck wiih pane's too deep For wordji to utt«r, or lor teara to weep.*
Petra, 1846.