The ancient city of Petra (9 BC – 40 AD), is a historic city in southern Jordan, which is one of the mysterious ancient city in the southern Jordanian desert, and one of Jordan’s most prestigious one of the Historic District.It is about 260 km from the capital, Amman, disappearing in the gorge between the Dead Sea and Aqaba Bay (today’s country of Jordan), located in the dry mountains 1,000 meters above sea level. It is almost all carved in the rock and be known for its colorful rock, so Petra is often referred to as the “rose red city”. In fact, the rock here, not just red, as well as light blue, orange, yellow, purple and green. July 7, 2007, Petra Jordan has been selected as the “new 7 wonders of the world”.

Pliny the Elder and other writers identify Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans,   Aramaic-speaking Semites, and the centre of their caravan trade. Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a perennial stream, Petra not only possessed the advantages of a fortress, but controlled the main commercial routes which passed through it to Gaza in the west, to Bosra and Damascus in the north, to Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf. Excavations have demonstrated that it was the ability of the Nabataeans to control the water supply that led to the rise of the desert city, creating an artificial oasis. 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. These innovations stored water for prolonged periods of drought, and enabled the city to prosper from its sale.

Although in ancient times Petra might have been approached from the south via Saudi Arabia on a track leading around Jabal Haroun, across the plain of Petra, or possibly from the high plateau to the north, most modern visitors approach the site from the east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge (in places only 3–4m wide) called the Siq, a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. At the end of the narrow gorge stands Petra’s most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh,  hewn into the sandstone cliff.

After the Romans took over Petra at 106 AD, the city is still very busy. But due to trade routes changed later, the importance of Petra greatly weakened. Eventually it was abandoned until 1812 before being discovered. Eventually it was abandoned, and found by Swiss J.L. Burckhardt until 1812.