English subtitles for clip: File:Petra, Hauptstadt der Nabatäer (CC BY-SA 4.0).webm

1
00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:03,776
Petra, the rock city
in the Jordanian desert,

2
00:00:03,806 --> 00:00:07,584
has been a UNESCO
World Heritage Site since 1985.

3
00:00:07,755 --> 00:00:12,285
It was hewn from solid rock
and was the capital of the Nabataeans.

4
00:00:16,846 --> 00:00:20,256
It lay in the middle of the network
of oriental trade routes

5
00:00:20,286 --> 00:00:23,289
and was a magnificent
metropolis during antiquity.

6
00:00:23,921 --> 00:00:27,249
The Nabataeans were
in the first millennium BC

7
00:00:27,289 --> 00:00:30,248
came from Yemen to the East Bank.

8
00:00:30,500 --> 00:00:33,216
Her raids on caravans were feared.

9
00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,537
Later they offered escorts to the dealers
and started exchanging goods themselves.

10
00:00:40,276 --> 00:00:44,228
They became rich
and built themselves a luxurious city.

11
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,546
It included rock temples,
a processional street,

12
00:00:49,581 --> 00:00:53,020
free-standing temples,
a Byzantine basilica

13
00:00:53,058 --> 00:00:55,314
and unique mausoleums.

14
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000
Petra was strategically brilliant:

15
00:01:00,467 --> 00:01:05,500
Because it could only be entered 
through a narrow gorge, called the Siq.

16
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,912
So the city was impregnable.

17
00:01:08,500 --> 00:01:11,447
In the walls on the side
you can see gullies,

18
00:01:11,486 --> 00:01:14,294
part of a sophisticated canal system.

19
00:01:14,732 --> 00:01:17,586
The Siq leads directly
to the treasure house.

20
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,500
So called because people
suspected it contained treasure.

21
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,000
Today archaeologists know
that it is the tomb of a royal family.

22
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,031
Here you can clearly see Greek influences

23
00:01:32,065 --> 00:01:36,485
like Corinthian columns,
two half-gables and a round temple.

24
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,281
The relief figures are
unfortunately badly weathered.

25
00:01:41,514 --> 00:01:45,811
Around the second century BC
expansion of the rock city began.

26
00:01:46,067 --> 00:01:49,617
It had more than
20,000 residents at its peak.

27
00:01:50,654 --> 00:01:55,768
The Romans, built a theater
and made Petra the capital of a province.

28
00:01:57,097 --> 00:02:01,251
Frankincense from Arabia,
silk from China and spices from India

29
00:02:01,279 --> 00:02:03,296
had made the Nabataeans rich.

30
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,490
Archaeologists continue to research 
the rock city of Petra in Jordan.