PETRA 



6090 



PF.TRARCH 



Petra (Gr., rock). Ruined capi- 

 tal of the Nabataeans. Known also 

 as Sela, Joktheel, or Reqera, it lies 

 under Mount Hor, between the 

 Dead Sea and the Akaba Gulf. An 

 extraordinary gorge leads to a 

 masterpiece of Greek art, the 

 Khazne Fir'aoun, a rose-red temple 

 with graceful columns, and sculp- 

 tures of winged war-maidens, Arab 

 warhorses, and war dances. Beyond 

 is a mountain-ringed oval space, 

 about one milelong and f m. broad. 



Here stood the vanished city of 

 Petra, which is represented by 

 thousands of rock tombs, ranged 

 in tiers on the iridescent sandstone 

 flanks of encircling mountains. 

 Royal tomb fronts, rising to 65 ft., 

 with decorated windows, large 

 sculptured porches, and two or 

 three storeys of pillars, copy the 

 lost palaces. In noble mansions of 

 death survive the dwelling-places 

 of merchant princes, and square 

 cottages of commoners are repre- 

 sented by small, plain-fronted 

 tombs. In the oldest work, pylons 

 indicate Egyptian influence ; later 

 carving shows connexion with 

 Persian art. The Syrian arch is 

 used, and the finest works are in 

 Greco-Roman style, dating from 

 the Augustan age. 



As an Edom stronghold, Petra 

 was carried with immense slaughter 

 by the Judeans, under Amaziah. 

 in the 9th century B.C. In Assyrian 

 and Babylonian invasions it be- 

 came the refuge of the Nabataeans. 

 They used the valley as a burial 

 place and treasure store, and it was 

 raided in 312 B.C. by Macedonians, 

 and later by Pompey's Romans. 

 But the nomads held the desert line 

 from Damascus to the Red Sea, 

 controlling most of the commerce 

 between the Indian Ocean and 

 the Mediterranean. Winning the 

 favour of Augustus by a victory 

 over Cleopatra's Red Sea fleet, they 

 completed their practical monopoly 

 of the trade of the Orient. 



Petra, the rock city of Edotn. 1. Temple of El-Deir, hewn horn the living 



rock. 2. Tomb of the Three Storeys, the largest sepulchral monument. 3. 



Rock-hewn building called the Treasury. 4. Theatre, cut out o! the cliff, 



with 33 tiers of seats, accommodating 3,000 spectators 



In A.D. 105 Trajan captured the 

 city. What he wanted was its 

 wealth and trade. All he obtained 

 was the shell of it, for the Nabat- 

 aeans shifted their commerce to Pal- 

 myra (q.v.). Treasure hunters began 

 to break into tombs, and Saracens 

 of the 7th century A.D. wrecked 

 the town in search of buried spoil. 

 In addition to the empty funeral 

 caves, little remains, even in ruin, 

 except the temple in the gorge, a 

 great amphitheatre, and the wreck 

 of a colossal classic temple on the 

 mountain top of El-Deir. In the 

 Great War Petra was used as a 

 base by Col. T. E. Lawrence (q.v.), 

 in his attack on the rly. and the 4th 

 Turkish army. Edward Wright 



Bibliography. The Jordan Valley 

 and Petra, W. Libbey and F. E. 

 Hoskins, 1905; Arabia Petraea, A. 

 Musil, 1907-8. 



Petrarch (Ital. Petrarca) (1304- 

 43). Italian poet and humanist. 

 Son of a notary, who was exiled 

 with Dante from Florence, he was 

 born at Arezzo, Tuscany, July 20, 

 1304. Christened Francesco, he 



changed his family name of Petrac- 

 co to Petrarca. Taken to Avignon 

 at the age of nine, he was educated 

 there, at Montpellier, and at Bo- 

 logna. He early displayed a love 

 for the classics, but studied for the 

 law, which, after his father's death 

 in 1326, he abandoned for letters. 



He took minor orders, found 

 generous patrons, particularly in 

 the Roman house of Colonna, and 

 won the friendship of Azzo di Cor- 

 reggio. In 1327, in the church of 

 S. Clara, Avignon, he first saw the 

 Laura who inspired his muse, and 

 " made to bud forth with the 

 noblest sentiments all the seeds of 

 virtue which nature had sowed in 

 his heart." This lady, to whom 

 he addressed some 300 sonnets, has 

 been doubtfully identified with 

 Laura di Noves, the wife of Hugo 

 de Sade. She was the mother of 

 eleven children when she died of 

 the plague in 1348. 



While pursuing ardently his 

 Latin studies, the writings of 

 Cicero, Virgil, Livy, and Seneca, 

 and regarded by his younger 



