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The National Geographic Magazine 



these regions and peoples what Rome 

 was to the Romans and Jerusalem to the 

 Jews. Horites, Edomites, Nabatheans, 

 and Romans have all rejoiced and 

 boasted in the possession of this unique 

 stronghold and most remarkable city of 

 antiquity. 



When Rome's power waned and the 

 fortified camps on the edge of the desert 

 were abandoned, no doubt the soldiers 

 were withdrawn from such cities as 

 Petra. Then the Romanized Nabatheans 

 or Nabatheanized Romans held their 

 own against the desert hordes as long 

 as they could, and went down probably 

 about the same time as the Greek cities 

 of the Decapolis (636 A. D.). From the 

 time onward Petra's history becomes 

 more and more obscure, and for more 

 than a thousand years Edom's ancient 

 capital was completely lost to the civi- 

 lized world. Until its discovery by 

 Burckhardt, in 1812, its site seems to 

 have been unknown except to the wan- 

 dering Bedouin. 



THE SIK OR ENTRANCE DEFILE 



The entrance to the Rock City is the 

 most striking gateway to any city on 

 our planet. It is a narrow rift or defile, 

 bisecting a mountain of many-hued sand- 

 stone, winding through the rock as 

 though it was the most plastic of clay. 

 This sik, or defile, is nearly two miles 

 long. Its general contour is a wide semi- 

 circular swing from the right to the left, 

 with innumerable short bends, having 

 sharp curves and corners in its general 

 course. 



The width of the Sik varies from 

 twelve feet at its narrowest point to 35 

 or 40 feet at other places. Where the 

 gloomy walls actually overhang the road- 

 way and almost shut out the blue ribbon 

 of sky, it seems narrower, and perhaps at 

 many points above the stream the walls 

 do come closer than 12 feet. Photo- 

 graphs of these narrower and darker 

 portions of the defile are impossible. 

 Only where the walls recede and one 

 side catches the sunlight (see photo., 

 p. 285) was it possible to secure any views 



that would reveal the actual beauties 

 of the place. Then no camera could be 

 arranged to take in the whole height 

 of the canyon. The height of the per- 

 pendicular side cliffs have been estimated 

 at from 200 to 1,000 feet. Heights, like 

 distances, in this clear desert air are 

 deceptive, but after many tests and ob- 

 servations we are prepared to say that 

 at places they are almost sheer for 300 

 to 400 feet. 



Seen at morning, at midday, or at mid- 

 night, the Sik, this matchless entrance to 

 a hidden city, is unquestionably one of 

 the great glories of ancient Petra. Along 

 its cool, gloomy gorge file the caravans 

 of antiquity — from Damascus and the 

 East, from the desert, from Egypt and 

 the heart of Africa. Kings, queens, and 

 conquerors have all marveled at its 

 beauties and its strangeness. Wealth un- 

 told went in and out of it for centuries, 

 and now for over thirteen hundred years 

 it has been silent and deserted. 



Pharaoh's treasury 



The first time we picked our way into 

 this matchless defile we wandered on 

 amazed, enchanted, and delighted, not 

 wishing for, not expecting, that anything 

 could be finer than this, when a look 

 ahead warned us that we were approach- 

 ing some monument worth attention, 

 and suddenly we stepped out of the nar- 

 row gorge into the sunlight again. 

 There in front of us, carved in the face 

 of the cliff, half revealed, half concealed 

 in the growing shadows, was one of the 

 largest, most perfect, and most beauti- 

 ful monuments of antiquity — Pharaoh's 

 Treasury (see photo, p. 286). Almost 

 as perfect as the day it came from be- 

 neath the sculptor's chisel, fifteen hun- 

 dred or two thousand years ago ; colored 

 with the natural hues of the brilliant 

 sandstone, which added an indescrib- 

 able element to the architectural beauty; 

 flanked and surmounted by the cliffs, 

 which had been carved and tinted in 

 turn by the powers of nature ; ap- 

 proached by the mysterious defile — it is 

 almost overpowering in its effect. 



