242 Captains Irby and Mahgles''s Account of the Necropolis 



the vanity of some obscure individual in a remote comer 

 of the Roman empire, has something in it surprising and al- 

 most unaccountable. The interior was disposed of in one large 

 and lofty chamber, having six recesses, with grooves in them at 

 the further end. 



On the establishment of Christianity, these six recesses have 

 been converted into three for the reception of the altars, and 

 the whole apartment has been made to serve as a church ; the 

 fastenings of the tapestry and pictures are still visible on all 

 the walls, and near an angle is an inscription in red paint, re- 

 cording the date of consecration.' These were the only vestiges 

 of a Christian establishment that we were enabled to discover 

 throughout the remains of Petra, though it was a metropoli- 

 tan see. 



Diodorus Siculus has a long account of the expedition sent 

 by Antigonus against the Nabataei. He mentions that their 

 riches were very great in gold and spices, and that such of 

 them as were feeble and infirm, were left s-^r/ rmg Usr§ag, which 

 he calls afterwards a place of prodigious natural strength, but 

 without any walls ; and distant two days"* journey from any 

 inhabited place. In the second expedition, it is said there 

 was but one way of access to it, which was artificial. The 

 loftiness of the post is afterwards mentioned. It is difficult to 

 apply this description to Wady-Mousa. Upon some of the 

 high points of rocks that rise about the skirts of the city, and 

 tower above them, the remains of walled forts are visible from 

 below ; and as it is probable there was an acropolis, it must 

 be looked for in some of these. 



Two days were spent in these ruins from day break until 

 dusk, and yet it will be seen by what has been said, that this 

 time was very insufficient to complete an examination of them. 

 It was impossible to remain any longer ; for although Abou 

 , Raschid attended personally with us the whole time, yet hav- 

 ing forced us to decline visiting Abou Zetoun in so abrupt a 

 manner, and having but few attendants, he was never at his 

 ease, and constantly urged us to depart. On the first after- 

 noon, we undertook the ascent to the little edifice, which is 

 visible to all the country round, upon the very highest and 

 most rugged pinnacle of this range of mountains, and is called 



