The Lost Civilization of Petra [Hardcover]

"A rose-red city half as old as time" is the poet Dean Burgon's famous description of the ruins of the ancient city of Petra, deep in the mountainous desert south of the Dead Sea. Rediscovered by the outside world only in the 19th century, Petra is a place of mystery; its temples, carved into the living rock face, are beautiful, majestic and barely understood.

Who were the people who built Petra? When did they live here? How did they manage to live here, in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth? These are the questions posed by Udi Levy in The Lost Civilization of Petra and the answers are fascinating.

Petra was the capital of the Negev kingdom, an independent nation from at least a century before to at least a century after Christ, through the Nabateans lived there as nomadic shepherds for many centuries before and after that period. Levy explains the importance of the trade routes through his region joining Europe with Africa; he discusses the history of the Nabateans, the influences upon them, and their place in Middle Eastern society at the time of Jesus; and he describes at lenght what is known of their religious beliefs--including the fact that they were among the earliest Christians.

The only disappointment is that the chapter describing Petra itself is a mere 20-pages long. Against that, the book justifies its high cover price by its many stunning colour photographs of the desolate and awesome Nagev region, and of the unique carved temples in Petra. --David V Barrett

The Nabateans inhabited the Negev and Transjordanian desert around the time of Christ. A wealthy and largely peaceful people, they cultivated the desert and traded in spices and frankinsence from Saba, Persia, and India to the Mediterranean. They were among the first Christian converts who built some of the earliest churches in the Negev. All traces of this civilization disappeared for a thousand years until the rediscovery of its capital, Petra, in 1812.The ruined splendour of their temples and cities now draws visitors to Petra and Shivta from all over the world. So much about this ancient civilization remains veiled in mystery, however. Udi Levy provides a fully illustrated description of the Nabateans, their art, history and religion, and the desert agriculture in which they were so skilled. He weaves a fascinating picture of a peace-loving people developing their highly advanced culture in the war-torn region of Palestine. The book guides the reader through the best-preserved ruins and monuments of Petra and the desert cities of the Negev, and gives many practical tips for the visitor.

Udi Levy was born in 1952 in Jerusalem. He trained as an educator for children in need of special care in Switzerland before returning to Israel where he now works in a theraputic village near Beer Sheba at the northern edge of the old Nabatean kingdom.