ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA. 141 



by his side ; for the Arabs, notwithstanding his dis- 

 guise, discovered him by his gray hairs and his ma- 

 jestic mien. The Romans Avere compelled to aban- 

 don the siege ; a repulse which the historians of 

 the times ascribe to the violent storms of wind and 

 hail, the dreadful flashes of hghtning, and the swarms 

 of flies that infested the camp of the besiegers. Un- 

 der several of the later emperors, Petra appears to 

 have continued the seat of wealth and commerce. 

 Strabo did not visit it himself, but he describes it 

 from the account of his friend Athenodorus the phi- 

 losopher, who spoke with great admiration of the 

 civilized manners of its inhabitants, of the crowds 

 of Roman and foreign merchants, and of the excel- 

 lent government of its kings. The city, he adds, 

 was surrounded with precipitous chffs ; but rich in 

 gardens, and suppUed with an abundant spring,* 

 which gave it a distinction from all the rocks in the 

 vicinity, and rendered it the most important forttess 

 in the desert. Pliny describes it more correctly, as 

 a town nearly two miles in extent, with a river rim- 

 ning through the midst of it, and situated in a vale 

 enclosed with steep mountains, by which all ap- 

 proach to it was cut off. 



"With the decline and fall of the Roman power in 

 the East the name of Petra almost vanishes from 

 the page of history. About the period of the Cru- 

 sades, it was held in such esteem by the sultans of 

 Egj'pt, on account of its great strength, that they 

 made it the depositoiy of their choicest treasures ; 

 and. in course of these religious wars, its possession 

 was strenuously contested by the Turks and Chris- 

 tians, who regarded it as the key that opened the 

 gates of Palestine. From that time it was known 

 only as the seat of a Latin bishop. Its once crowded 

 marts ceased to be the emporium of nations. The 

 obscurity of nearly a thousand years covered its 



* Called Thamud by Edrisi (Geog. Nubian.)) hence the old 

 tube of Thanpudeni probably took their name. 



