 Situated in present-day Jordan and hidden amidst nearly impenetrable mountains to the east of the valley connecting the gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea, stands the ancient city of Petra. One of the world's most visually stunning architectural sites, Petra meaning The Rock in Greek, is an abandoned necropolis of temples and tombs cut into towering cliffs of red, pink and orange sandstone. The so-called monastery of Idir found in Petra and along with the iconic wonder of Alhasna are simply majestic. These things are remnants of a civilization that fizzled out under circumstances that we know little about and in fact, there wasn't any written history of this place for a period of 600 years. It was completely forgotten about and habitation did not resume here until the construction of these things would have taken years and the theory is that the stone workers started at the top of the Envision Project and worked to the bottom. A hazardous feat of engineering brilliance and what strikes us is the fact that this is unnecessary in today and now in such a remote yet strategic location and you must consider that when Petra was carved from The Rock then this very ancient sites must have been the work of an advanced culture who had at their very disposal the tools and the equipment to carry out these projects and at this place during that time it would have been a glorified oasis rich with a water supply. Oh, and in the middle of nowhere this was a hidden city in the desert. This place was constructed in the first century according to scholars but little is known about it only being rediscovered in modern times in 1812 by a Swiss explorer as European fascination with all things ancient spread across the Middle East. The civilization credited with the construction of Petra were the Nevitians who emerged as a significant power in the Near East during the late Hellenistic and early Roman Imperial era. Diodorus characterizes this civilization as a nomadic people and suggests that they were of Arabic origin. Numerous studies have been undertaken in An attempt to better define what was their actual specific origin. The bulk of the evidence places their homeland somewhere in modern Saudi Arabia from which they migrated along the coast and finally settled at Petra. This however proved to be an ideal location for the first Nevitian king Aritas the first to launch his destiny. Tucked away in the Wadi Musa Valley Petra guaranteed security to its inhabitants. The primary entrance to the city was through the Sik a narrow gorge about three kilometers long a hundred meters deep and narrowing in places to a width of only three meters. Therefore the passage to the city need only be guarded by only a few men and could be blocked with boulders to prevent enemies from entering. As masters of hydraulics they created an intricate system of cisterns, tunnels, cashmints and a gravity fed pipeline fed by the An Musa. Consequently at their height these people were able to provide sufficient water for 30,000 people despite an annual rainfall of only six inches. Petra's position at the crossroads of trade gave this location the power to control the principal caravan routes which traffic gold, precious stones, myrrh and other exotic things and so as the Nevitians grew rich from their caravan trade the former nomads became sedentary city dwellers. Many archaeological remains from Damascus to the Sinai bear witness to their urbanizing activities. However their capital Petra remains the most spectacular example. It is thought that Petra prospered for 276 years under this dynasty reaching its zenith under Aritas IV. However upon rebel the 2nd's death in 106 AD the Nevitian kingdom was annexed by Rome. Since Petra was not on the pilgrims route to Mecca what livelihood the city had went into a rapid decline. According to certain traditions it was Myriam the sister of Moses that died and was buried here. Her mountaintop shrine was still shown to pilgrims at the time of Saint Jerome in the 4th century but its location has not yet been identified since some scholars have suggested that the temple of Adir may be the site of her grave but this was certainly not the original or the primary use of the temple and there is no mention of Petra in any record beyond 1276. After 1276 it seems both the east and west had long forgotten the ancient city and its location and history ceased to appear in any written context. Most scholars of the following eras viewed Petra's existence as little more than a legend and indeed it was only stories of the lost city in the desert that existed in oral legends. Consequently it wasn't until Petra's rediscovery in 1812 by the Swiss explorer that the myth of a rose red city that was half as old as time became a reality. Yet the majesty and architectural astonishment of the place remains to this day and for all time as it is now a UNESCO heritage site under the protection of all of humanity. That's the idea anyway and in 2007 it was listed as one of the new wonders of the ancient world being named ahead of Easter Island statues and Chichen Itza in Mexico. What do you guys think about this anyway? Comments below and as always thank you for watching.