Petra and the Incense Road: Two Accounts That Disagree

Petra and the Incense Road

1Petra lies in rugged sandstone mountains in what is now southern Jordan, south of the Dead Sea. Deserts stretch to the east and south. Only a few inches of rain fall there in a year, almost all of it in winter, and summers are hot and dry. The main way into Petra is the Siq, a winding canyon about three-quarters of a mile long and in places only about 10 feet wide, with tall cliffs on both sides.

2Far to the south, in southern Arabia, grew the trees whose sap was dried to make frankincense and myrrh. Temples across the Mediterranean world burned these sweet-smelling resins, and buyers paid high prices for them. Camel caravans carried them north for weeks through dry country to ports such as Gaza, on the Mediterranean coast. Along much of the way water was scarce, and caravans depended on people who knew where to find it. The Nabataeans, an Arab people, came to control part of this route, around Petra.

3The trade made the Nabataeans rich, and their wealth drew enemies. About 312 BCE, Antigonus, one of the generals who fought over Alexander the Great's empire after his death, sent soldiers to seize Nabataean goods. According to ancient writers, the soldiers struck while many Nabataean men were away at a market and carried off incense and silver, but the Nabataeans chased them and destroyed most of the force. A second army soon gave up and went home.

4Archaeologists have found that the Nabataeans built dams, cut channels into the rock and dug cisterns to store winter rain and spring water. A channel along the Siq carried water into the city. Over time Petra filled with stone buildings, and grand tombs were carved into its cliffs; many of the most famous were probably made in the first century BCE or the first century CE. Rome took control of the Nabataean kingdom in 106 CE.

Account A (adapted from a translation of Diodorus, Library of History, Book 19)

The Nabataeans live in the open air. Their homeland is a wilderness with no rivers and few springs, where an enemy army can find no water. It is their custom not to sow grain, not to plant fruit trees, not to drink wine and not to build houses. They hold to this because they believe that people who own such things are easily forced by a strong ruler to obey.

They raise camels and sheep and move across the desert. Some of them carry frankincense, myrrh and other costly spices, which they receive from Arabia, down to the sea. They love their freedom. When an enemy comes near, they escape into the desert and use it as a fortress. They have dug cisterns underground and lined them with plaster. They cover the narrow mouths and mark them with signs known only to themselves.

Account B (adapted from a translation of Strabo, Geography, Book 16)

Petra is the chief city of the Nabataeans. It lies on ground that is level inside but guarded all around by rock, with steep cliffs on the outside. Within it there are plentiful springs, both for drinking and for watering gardens. Athenodorus found many Romans and other foreigners living there.

The Nabataeans are sensible people and eager to gain property. The community fines anyone who lets his property shrink and honors anyone who makes it grow. Their houses are costly and built of stone. Their land produces most fruits, except the olive. Incense and other goods are carried by camel from a port on the Arabian coast to Petra, and from Petra on to the Mediterranean Sea.