DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0250
220
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
venient dwelling-places (see page 218). The rock-hewn amphitheatre is just below, towards
the north (see page 216). Beyond it the cliffs, still honeycombed with caves and tombs,
once more approach each other, till a little farther to the north they at last open into
the valley of Petra. The bed of the winter torrent pursues its way, and as it crosses
the valley winds among the ruins of the city of Petra, and then enters a defile in the western
hills.
From the west-north-west corner of the area a steep ravine ascends into the heart of the
mountains and leads to one of the most important monuments of Petra, Ed Deir (the Convent),
hewn in the face of a perpendicular rock, which forms one of a group projecting from the lofty
tableland of Edom. The long ascent by which this now isolated temple is approached is for
the most part along the edge of a precipice, which is carefully hewn, where the rocks admit of
it, into a continuous staircase, the steps of which are in more than one instance marked by
inscriptions in the so-called Sinaitic character. After many windings among tangled thickets
and round great blocks of sandstone, a platform two hundred and sixty feet square, partly
formed by excavation of the rock and partly by masonry, is reached; on the northern side of
it stands the Deir, withdrawn between two gigantic walls of cliff (see page 221). It is of
greater, magnitude than the Khuzneh (see page 212), being upwards of a hundred feet in
height. The capitals of the columns and the cornices have, apparently, never been completely
finished. In the interior, facing the entrance, is a recess a little above the floor, with a dais in
front of it, and a few steps leading up to it on each side. A rude staircase leads to the roof
of the Deir, and on the rocky platform with which the roof communicates is a circle of hewn
stones, and again, still beyond, is a solitary cell, hewn in an isolated cliff and joined to this
platform by a narrow isthmus of rock. It is said that the Deir stands more than a thousand
feet above the level of the valley basin of Petra, and the few travellers who have visited it
speak highly in praise of the picturesque view which its terraced roof commands. From it
can be traced the entire length of the steep defile, by which alone it can be approached, winding
among perpendicular rocks ; while nearly the whole extent of the site of the once splendid
city of Petra can be distinguished below. Towards the south-west, the summit of Mount
Hor (see page 217), called by the Arabs Jebel Harun (the Mountain of Aaron), appears
beyond the intervening cliffs. The domed wely over the traditional grave of Neby Harun
(the prophet Aaron) can be discerned on the highest point of the sacred mount.
On the levelled surface of a rock immediately opposite to and facing the Deir there are
the remains of what must once have been a stately temple. The bases of the columns
of the portico and colonnades on each side are still in situ, and in a vault beneath David
Roberts, the artist, saw a capital of one of the columns, which he describes as being of " white
marble and in the best taste."
The incidental references made by Josephus (Ant. IV., iv. 5, 6, 7) to Idumea and Petra,
in connection with his account of the death and burial of Miriam and her brother Aaron, are
very striking, and in conjunction with the Bible narrative lend special interest to these now
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
venient dwelling-places (see page 218). The rock-hewn amphitheatre is just below, towards
the north (see page 216). Beyond it the cliffs, still honeycombed with caves and tombs,
once more approach each other, till a little farther to the north they at last open into
the valley of Petra. The bed of the winter torrent pursues its way, and as it crosses
the valley winds among the ruins of the city of Petra, and then enters a defile in the western
hills.
From the west-north-west corner of the area a steep ravine ascends into the heart of the
mountains and leads to one of the most important monuments of Petra, Ed Deir (the Convent),
hewn in the face of a perpendicular rock, which forms one of a group projecting from the lofty
tableland of Edom. The long ascent by which this now isolated temple is approached is for
the most part along the edge of a precipice, which is carefully hewn, where the rocks admit of
it, into a continuous staircase, the steps of which are in more than one instance marked by
inscriptions in the so-called Sinaitic character. After many windings among tangled thickets
and round great blocks of sandstone, a platform two hundred and sixty feet square, partly
formed by excavation of the rock and partly by masonry, is reached; on the northern side of
it stands the Deir, withdrawn between two gigantic walls of cliff (see page 221). It is of
greater, magnitude than the Khuzneh (see page 212), being upwards of a hundred feet in
height. The capitals of the columns and the cornices have, apparently, never been completely
finished. In the interior, facing the entrance, is a recess a little above the floor, with a dais in
front of it, and a few steps leading up to it on each side. A rude staircase leads to the roof
of the Deir, and on the rocky platform with which the roof communicates is a circle of hewn
stones, and again, still beyond, is a solitary cell, hewn in an isolated cliff and joined to this
platform by a narrow isthmus of rock. It is said that the Deir stands more than a thousand
feet above the level of the valley basin of Petra, and the few travellers who have visited it
speak highly in praise of the picturesque view which its terraced roof commands. From it
can be traced the entire length of the steep defile, by which alone it can be approached, winding
among perpendicular rocks ; while nearly the whole extent of the site of the once splendid
city of Petra can be distinguished below. Towards the south-west, the summit of Mount
Hor (see page 217), called by the Arabs Jebel Harun (the Mountain of Aaron), appears
beyond the intervening cliffs. The domed wely over the traditional grave of Neby Harun
(the prophet Aaron) can be discerned on the highest point of the sacred mount.
On the levelled surface of a rock immediately opposite to and facing the Deir there are
the remains of what must once have been a stately temple. The bases of the columns
of the portico and colonnades on each side are still in situ, and in a vault beneath David
Roberts, the artist, saw a capital of one of the columns, which he describes as being of " white
marble and in the best taste."
The incidental references made by Josephus (Ant. IV., iv. 5, 6, 7) to Idumea and Petra,
in connection with his account of the death and burial of Miriam and her brother Aaron, are
very striking, and in conjunction with the Bible narrative lend special interest to these now