| It contains many architectural works influenced by Assyrian architecture, Pharaonic architecture and Greek architecture, especially in the construction of royal tombs, carved by the Nabataeans in rock, as well as tombs built with cut stone | The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge in places only 3—4 m 9 |
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| Towards the close of the 2nd century BCE, when the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms were equally depressed, the Nabataean kingdom came to the front | In 363 an earthquake destroyed many buildings, and crippled the vital water management system |
Threats to Petra The site suffers from a host of threats, including collapse of ancient structures, erosion due to flooding and improper rainwater drainage, weathering from salt upwelling, improper restoration of ancient structures, and unsustainable tourism.
| The property is under pressure from tourism, which has increased greatly since the time of inscription, particularly congestion points such as the Siq which is the main entrance to the city from the east | It remained in the hands of the Franks until 1189 |
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| [16] The latter has increased substantially ever since the site received widespread media coverage in 2007 during the controversial New Seven Wonders of the World Internet and cell phone campaign, started by a private corporation | The area is visited by flash floods and archaeological evidence demonstrates the Nabataeans controlled these floods by the use of dams, cisterns and water conduits |
Source: Outstanding Universal Value Brief synthesis Situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and inhabited since prehistoric times, the rock-cut capital city of the Nabateans, became during Hellenistic and Roman times a major caravan centre for the incense of Arabia, the silks of China and the spices of India, a crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia.
| The Architecture of Petra,1990,Newyork-oxford Mckenize | The habits of the original natives may have influenced the Nabataean custom of burying the dead and offering worship in half-excavated caves |
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| Then comes a series of tombfronts which terminate in a semicircular arch, a feature derived from north Syria |
After the Islamic conquest of 629—632 Christianity in Petra, as of most of Arabia, gave way to Islam.