Date:

Siq al-Barid – ‘Little Petra’

Siq al-Barid, also called ‘Little Petra’ is a Nabataean site in the Ma’an Governorate of Jordan that features rock cut tombs, stone-built architecture, and a complex system of hydrological engineering.

Siq al-Barid was founded by the Nabataeans (also called Nabateans), a nomadic Bedouin tribe from the Arabian Desert who moved their herds across the desert in search of pastures and water.

- Advertisement -

The Nabataeans emerged as a distinct civilisation and political entity between the 4th and 2nd century BC, centred on the city of Petra which developed into a major trading hub reaching as far as China, Egypt, Greece, and India.

The kingdom became a client state of the Roman Republic in the first century BC and was annexed into the province of Arabia Petraea by the Roman Empire in AD 106.

Image Credit : Carole Raddato – CC BY-SA 2.0

Archaeologists propose that Siq al-Barid was founded in the 1st century BC, serving as a suburb of the nearby Petra city complex 6km to the south.

Located in a 450-metre wadi, Siq al-Barid was accessed via a narrow rock cut passageway on the eastern entrance, whilst a staircase on the western side led to a secluded mountain pass.

- Advertisement -

Within the wadi is a series of tombs, temples, cisterns, and banqueting halls (tricliniums) cut into the natural sandstone walls, suggesting that the site served as a resort for entertaining merchants and traders on their stopover in Petra.

Image Credit : Carole Raddato – CC BY-SA 2.0

Siq al-Barid has some of the only surviving Nabataean paintings, such as the Painted rock-cut Biclinium which depicts faux architectural elements reminiscent of some Pompeian wall paintings, and scenes of intertwining vines, flowers, figures, birds, and insects.

Several erotes (winged gods associated with love and the cultivation of wine) are also depicted that participate in viticulture management, using ladders and pruning hooks, carrying baskets of gathered grapes that lends weight to the attribution of the space as a centre of Dionysiac worship.

With the decline of the Nabataeans, Petra and Siq al-Barid were largely abandoned around the 8th century AD.

Header Image Credit : Carole Raddato – CC BY-SA 2.0

- Advertisement -

Stay Updated: Follow us on iOS, Android, Google News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, and our newsletter

spot_img
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan is a multi-award-winning journalist and the Managing Editor at HeritageDaily. His background is in archaeology and computer science, having written over 8,000 articles across several online publications. Mark is a member of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), the World Federation of Science Journalists, and in 2023 was the recipient of the British Citizen Award for Education, the BCA Medal of Honour, and the UK Prime Minister's Points of Light Award.
spot_img
spot_img

Mobile Application

spot_img

Related Articles

Blocks from the Lighthouse of Alexandria recovered from seabed

Archaeologists have recovered twenty-two stone blocks from the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Gravestone depicting 13th century knight unearthed in central Gdańsk

Archaeologists from ArcheoScan have unearthed a rare gravestone depicting a medieval knight during excavations in the centre of Gdańsk, Poland.

Angler unexpectedly fishes out a mysterious medieval sword

An angler fishing in the Vistula River in Warsaw has made an unexpected discovery, a medieval sword dating back hundreds of years.

Archaeologists uncover elite Hellenistic residence in North Macedonia

Excavations by the Museum of Kumanovo near the village of Mlado Nagoričane in the municipality of Staro Nagoričane have uncovered a Hellenistic-era residence dating to the 4th century BC.

Cache of Roman footwear unearthed at Magna Roman Fort

Magna, also known as Carvoran, is a Roman fort situated at the edge of the Whin Sill in Northumberland, England.

Ancient mortuary cave found hidden within desert mountains

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a pre-Hispanic mortuary cave within the Ocampo Natural Protected Area (ANP) in Coahuila, Mexico.

Preserved shipwreck contains 2,000-year-old ceramic treasures

A recently discovered shipwreck off the coast of Adrasan, Turkey, has yielded a collection of ceramic treasures dating to the Late Hellenistic–Early Roman period.

Ancient boomerang found in Polish cave stuns scientists

A study of a Palaeolithic boomerang found in Poland's Obłazowa Cave has been dated to 42,000 years ago, making the discovery the oldest example in Europe and potentially the world.