Agripp. 1612], ii, 233. 234). His name, as connected with astrology, was in high repute early in Greece, and in Rome in her degenerate days. This we learn from the praises bestowed on him by Manetho (v, 10), who,
indeed, in the prologue to the lirst and fifth hook- of
his Apotelesmatica, professes only to expand in (ireek the prose rules of Petosiris and Nechepsos ("divini i 11 i viri atque omni admiratione digni"), ami from the refer- ences of Pliny (Hist. Nat. i, 23 ; vii. 19). Bui the host proof is the fact that, like our own Lilly. Petosiris b< came i he common name for an astrologer, as we find in Aris- tophanes, quoted by Athenseus (iii. 1 1 1. c) in the forty- sixth epigram of Lucilius (Jacobs, Anthol. Grate, iii. 38), whence we learn the quantity, and in Juvenal (vi, 580). Marsham has a full dissertation on Nechepsos and Petosiris in the work above quoted i p. 17 1 181). - Smith, Diet. ofGr. mill Rom. Biog. and Mythol. iii. 21:'.. Petra (in the earlier (ireek writers Ukrpa or t) \\i- roa, but hi the later a'i nirpai) was the capital of the Nabathsean Arabs in the land of Edom, .'11111 seems to have given name to the kingdom and region of .1 rnhia A- there i- mention in the < »ld Testament of a stronghold which successively belonged to the Amor- ites (Judg. i. 36), the Edomites (2 Kings xiv, 7), and ih. iloabiti - 1 l-.i. x\i. 1 : com p. ill lleh. eh. xlii. 11), and bore in Hebrew the name of S?D, Sela, which has the same meaning as Petra in Greek, viz. "a rock," thai circumstance has led to the conjecture that the P. Ira of the Nahallkcans had been the Sela of Edom. See Si. 1. ah. This latter name seem-, however, to have passed away with the Hebrew rule over Edom, for no further trace of it is to he found; although it is slill called Si la by I-aiah 1 x\ i. 1 1. These are all the certain
10 - ot 1 he pia.e in Scripture. Arc* is said by Jose-
phus to have been a name of Petra ( .1 nt. iv. I. 7] : hut probably we should read 'Apiriip for Wok// (yet see
Amu: Bib. 11,/'. for 1833, p. 536, not.). See A.RK1TE.
1. History. The earliest notice of this place under the name Petra by the (ireek writers is connected with the i.'iei that Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors, sent two expeditions againsl the Nabathssans in Petra 1 1 hod. sic. xix, 'j I 98). The tirst of these, commanded
PETRA
41
PETRA
by Athenaeus, ami the second by Demetrius, changed the habits of the Nabathaeans, who had hitherto been essen- tially nomadic, and led them to engage in commerce. In this way, during the following centuries, they grew up into the kingdom of Arabia Petrsea, occupying very nearly the same territory which was comprised within the limits of ancient Edom. In the first expedition, Athe- nffiua took the city by surprise while the men were absent at a neighboring mart or fair, and carried off a large booty of silver and merchandise. But the Nabathaeans quickly pursued him to the number of 8000 men, and, falling upon his camp by night, destroyed the greater part of his army. Of the second expedition, under the com- mand of Demetrius, the Nabathaeans had previous in- telligence; end prepared themselves for an attack by driving their flocks into the deserts, and placing their wealth under the protection of a strong garrison in Pe- tra; to which, according to Diodorus, there was but a single approach, and that made by hand. In this way they succeeded in baffling the whole design of Deme- trius. For points of history not immediately connected with the city, see Edomites ; Nabathaeans. Strabo, writing of the Nabathaeans in the time of Augustus, thus describes their capital: "The metropolis of the Nabathaeans is Petra, so called ; for it lies in a place in other respects plain and level, but shut in by rocks round about, yet within having copious fountains for the supply of water and the irrigation of gardens. Be- yond the enclosure the region is mostly a desert, espe- cially towards Judsea" {Geoff, xvi, p. 90*5). At this time the town had become a place of transit for the pro- ductions of the East, and was much resorted to by for- eigners (Diod. Sic. xix, 95; Strabo, /. c). Pliny more definitely describes Petra as situated in a valley less than two miles (Roman) in amplitude, surrounded by inaccessible mountains, with a stream flowing through it {Hist. Nat. vi, 28). About the same period it is often named by Joseph us as the capital of Arabia Petraea {War, i, (>, 2; 13, 8; etc.). Petra was situated in the eastern part of Arabia Petraea, in the district called un- der the Christian emperors of Rome Palrestina Tertia ( Vet. Rom. Itin. p. 74, ed. Wessel ; Malala, Chronogr. xvi, 400, ed. Bonn). According to the division of the an- cient geographers, it lay in the northern district, Geba- lene; while the modern ones place it in the southern portion, Esh-Sherah, the Mount Seir of the Bible. Pe- tra was subdued by A. Cornelius Palma, a lieutenant of Trajan (Dion Cass, lxviii, 14). Hadrian seems to have bestowed on it some advantage, which led the inhabit- ants to give his name to the city upon coins; several of these are still extant (Mionnet, M< </. A ntiques, v, 587 ; Eckhel, Doetr. Num. ii, 503). It remained under the Roman dominion a considerable period, as we hear of the province of Arabia being enlarged by Septimius Seve- rus, A.D. 195 (ibid. Ixxv, 1, 2 ; Eutrop. viii, 18). It must have been during this period that those temples and