Petra Theatre

Making my way downhill through a series of steps, I found myself in a very narrow canyon barely a metre wide in some sections and the rock faces towering above filtering limited light. The path ahead was somewhat rough and uneven with a fissure beside it that was sprouting with pretty pink bushes. The path narrowed further until more stairs led me down to the city centre of Petra.

Located in a basin and surrounded by mountains, Petra was at the centre of two major trading routes: 1. connecting the Gulf of Aqaba in the south to the Dead Sea in the north and 2. Connecting the Persian Gulf from the east to the Mediterranean in the west. Caravans travelling the routes would look for supplies and water stopping in Petra as the midway point. The Nabateans recognised the opportunity before them and charged taxes on the caravaners and fees for services supplied, subsequently getting involved in trade themselves. Petra flourished, giving the Nabateans the means to build their rock-cut temples and royal tombs.

The main street began with Qasr al-Bint, a religious temple that was one of the best preserved and largest freestanding buildings to survive. Next I passed the Great Temple. Built in the early first century AD, the Temple was a large complex of around 7,560 m². A steep set of stairs led to the entry of the temple, which consisted of a small theatre, a residential quarter, roman baths, water tanks, places of worship and rows of columns. 

As the street curved there was a turn off to see the Royal Tombs, a collection of four grand tombs grouped together in the cliffs. The first one is the Urn Tomb carved with two columns on either side of a massive entrance and a chamber that is 56ft (17m) deep. Outside was a courtyard flanked by a 5 column colonnade on one side and a small gift market on the other.

The next one was the Silk Tomb and although not particularly interesting architecturally what made this tomb impressive was its marbled façade in shades of red, pink, white and grey. The marbling effect was so striking that it has been likened to watered silk. Moving onto the Corinthian Tomb, it has sadly been weathered so extensively that the once polished façade and precisely cut columns are slowly returning to their natural state. 

Finishing with the Palace Tomb, this three storey building at 160ft (49m) wide and 150ft (46m) tall is one of the largest façades in Petra. What makes this one unique is that part of the structure is actually built above the rock face whilst the rest of it is carved into the rock. It is the only such structure in Petra. The first storey consists of four irregular entrances flanked by columns with the outer two entrances having arched pediments as opposed to the triangular ones on the inner two. The second storey had 18 columns unevenly spaced. The third storey was above the existing rock and was constructed with blocks making it prone to decay along the left side of the building. What little remains shows signs of even more columns although not quite as elaborate as those on the lower levels.

Heading back to the main street I made my way to the theatre. It was largely carved out of rock with the exception of the stage and exterior walls that were constructed from blocks. The semi-circular seating had a diameter of 310ft (95m) and was carved in three distinct sections with passageways in-between. Beneath the seats were a network of passages to help exit the auditorium via barrel-vaulted entrances located on either side of the theatre. Able to accommodate 8,500 people, the seating order was dictated by social rank with the lower seats reserved for the elite. The theatre was positioned in such a way that it brought as many tombs as possible into view. When the Romans annexed Petra in 106 AD, the theatre was enlarged by cutting through some of the older tombs that are still visible in the smoothed rock face at the back of the seating area.