THE KUSR FARON. 
This gives the central view of the City. On the right lie the ruins of the Triumphal 
Arch, whose site was near the brook, and fronting to the east. Its style is florid and 
corrupt. It seems to have formed the approach to the Palace, or pile of building 
in the centre, called by the Arabs Kusr Faron (Pharaoh’s Castle). Its age is dubious, 
but it has the distinction of being the only structure of mason-work now standing in 
the valley. Joists of wood are, in different parts, let in among the courses of stone, 
intended, doubtless, to receive the fastenings for ornaments of stone or stucco. The 
walls are chiefly entire, but the columns of the northern front, which were composed 
of separate pieces, are gone. The distribution of the interior into chambers and stories 
shows that it was not a temple. This edifice, even in its dismantled state, has an 
interest, from its probably supplying some idea of the general architecture of the larger 
buildings of Petra. South of the Kusr stands a lone pillar, the last of a temple, of 
whose other pillars the fragments lie scattered around. Those objects are the only 
relics in the midst of a great tract of ruins. The course of the bi'ook, when it has 
emerged from the Chasm, is through a strip of level land, on the north and south 
of which the ground rises into irregular eminences, and those again backed by a steeper 
ascent. It is this lower tract, half a mile square, which formed the actual circuit of 
the original City; the access being open on the north and south, where, however, we 
may presume that it was defended by walls, and the east and west being shut in by 
the cliffs, and capable of being approached only by the “Chasms.” 1 The site was 
thus “ an area in the bosom of a mountain, swelling into mounds, and intersected 
with gullies, but the whole ground of such a nature as might be conveniently built 
upon, and with neither ascent nor descent inconveniently steep.” 
The whole area was once evidently occupied with buildings. Along the immediate 
edge of the stream, its wintry violence has cleared away the ruins; but higher up, 
the whole space on both sides is covered with foundations and fragments. The stones 
are hewn, and the houses must have been solid and well built. They cover a space 
perfectly capable of accommodating thirty or forty thousand inhabitants. 
To the left of the Kusr Faron is the rock which Laborde regards as the site of the 
Acropolis. The conjecture is probable, from the commanding position of the rock, 
and from the known habit of ancient nations to have a place of strength in the midst 
of their cities. But there is no further evidence. The crag is now inaccessible, though 
this does not preclude ascent in more ancient times. The Artist thinks that he discovered 
fragments of building on its summit. 3 
The rising ground on the left and front is covered with ruins 
1 Biblical Besearches, ii. 523. 2 Irby and Mangles. 3 Boberts’s Journal. 
