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WonderEngineering history fact

Petra, the rock-carved city of the Nabataeans in southern Jordan, could thrive in the desert thanks to its water engineering: channels, dams, cisterns and reservoirs that caught springs, rain and flash floods.

Jordan, 1st century AD

ArchitectureEngineeringClimateHistoryArchaeology

The story behind the card

The Nabataeans were an Arab people who grew rich from the caravan trade in incense and spices, and Petra was their capital. The city was at its height around the 1st century AD, until Rome annexed the kingdom in AD 106. In a region that gets only about 15 centimetres of rain a year, its channels, dams, tunnels and cisterns stored water through the dry months; the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the system supplied 30,000 to 40,000 people. As trade routes shifted and earthquakes struck, the city declined. The Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, travelling in disguise, brought it to European attention in 1812. UNESCO listed it in 1985.

Türkçe oku
Petra, Nabatîlerin güney Ürdün'de kayalara oyarak kurduğu kenttir ve çölde yaşayabilmesini su mühendisliğine borçludur. Kanallar, bentler, sarnıçlar ve havuzlar kaynak sularını, yağmuru ve ani selleri toplardı.
Ürdün, MS 1. yüzyıl

Nabatîler, tütsü ve baharat kervan ticaretiyle zenginleşmiş bir Arap halkıydı; Petra da başkentleriydi. Kent en parlak dönemini MS 1. yüzyıl civarında yaşadı; Roma, Nabatî Krallığı'nı MS 106'da topraklarına kattı. Yılda yalnızca 15 santimetre kadar yağış alan bu bölgede kanallar, bentler, tüneller ve sarnıçlar suyu kurak aylar boyunca saklıyordu. Amerikan İnşaat Mühendisleri Derneği (ASCE), bu sistemin 30.000–40.000 kişinin suyunu karşıladığını tahmin ediyor. Ticaret yolları değişip depremler kenti sarsınca Petra geriledi. İsviçreli kâşif Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, kılık değiştirerek gittiği kenti 1812'de Avrupa'ya tanıttı. UNESCO Petra'yı 1985'te Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne aldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Petra
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