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A visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan brings a return to respected and hallowed tradition of hospitality. The country evokes a simpler time, a sense of place and a cherished way of life.. Visitors come to Jordan to see the country's historical and archaeological treasures, as well as its natural beauty.

The most famous attraction in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is the archaeological remains of the spectacular rose-red city of Petra, some 160 miles south of Amman, the capital. A vivid description of this Nabatean city was aptly given by the Victorian traveler Dean Burgon, which hold to this very day, "Match me a marvel as in the Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time..."

The city of Petra was founded by the Nabateans in the second century BCE and served as the capital until 106 CE. Testifying to its centrality in the Nabatean kingdom is the appellation, which the historian Cassius Dio coined, "Arabia belongs to Petra."

Alexander Jannaeus captured the northern part of the Nabatean kingdom at the beginning of the first century BCE, but was halted by the forces of the Nabatean King Aretas III, who continued on his conquest and captured Southern Syria and made his way to Damascus. In the year 106 CE fortunes changed and the Nabatean kingdom was annexed by the Roman Empire and became known as Provinca Arabia.

To reach the remains of the Nabatean City a visitor must travel on foot, on horseback, or a donkey drawn carriage through the awesome Siq', an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone. It is a winding opening of a half- mile-long fissure between overhanging cliffs that seem to meet 300 feet overhead.

Near the end of the passage of the Siq, with great style, it makes one last turn and out of the gloom in the towering brightness appears Petra's monument, el Khazneh', the Treasury. This impressive monument is one of the most impressive remains of antiquity, carved out of solid rock from the side of the mount. The elaborate carved edifice supported by pillars is nearly 140 feet high and 90 feet wide.

Beyond el Khazneh', on both sides are hundreds of Petra's ornately carved and built structures, soaring temples, elaborate tombs and remains of a Roman amphitheater (with seating capacity of about 3000.), burial chambers, public buildings and paved streets, and the intact water channels and reservoirs. These splendid monuments of antiquity were rediscovered in 1812 and excavation has been carried out since 1929.

But Petra is not only about the Kingdom of

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