142 ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA. 



rains. The very place where it stood became a 

 subject of controversy. That it was the Rekem of 

 Moses and Joshua, Rakeme of Josephus, and the 

 Hajr of the Arabs, all synonymous Avith the Petra 

 of the Greeks (a rock), was generally admitted ; but 

 until the present century its situation was unknown, 

 or mistaken for the town of Kerek, near the border 

 of the Dead Sea, which was also a strong fortress 

 of the Nabathseans at the time of their first acquaint- 

 ance with the Greeks and Romans. That Kerek 

 was then the capital of Petraea appears probable 

 from Strabo's description, who says, that when 

 besieged by Demetrius the Arabs placed their old 

 men, women, and children on a certain rock (firt 

 Tivk TTirpac), steep, without walls, admitting only of 

 one access to the summit, and situated 300 stadia 

 from the Lake Asphaltites. This position does not 

 quite agree with the site of Petra, which is twice 

 that distance from the Dead Sea, and about eighty- 

 three Roman miles from Ailah or Akaba. 



For the discovery and description of these inter- 

 esting ruins geography is indebted to Burckhardt, 

 who travelled through the mountains of Petraea in 

 1812. They were afterward visited (in 1816) by 

 Captains Irby and Mangles, in company with Mr. 

 Bankes and Mr. Legh ; and more recently by two 

 distinguished French travellers, MM. Leon de La- 

 borde and Linant, whose talents have done for the 

 tombs and temples of Petra what the splendid illus- 

 trations of Wood and DaM^kins did for those of Pal- 

 myra.* The first sentiment that struck the mind 

 of all these visiters was that of astonishment at the 



* Voyage de I'Arabie Petr^e, now in course of publication. 

 Irby and Mangles's Travels, p. 407-437. Adventures of Gio- 

 vanni Finati, vol. ii. chap. v. Macmichael's Journey to Con- 

 stantinople, p. 228, &c. Seetzen passed through Idumasa in 

 1806, '-where he expected to make several discoveries, but the 

 fates decided otherwise." Zach's Corresp. p. 47. Burckh. 

 Trav. in Syria, p. 422. 



