|
|
|
... and the Encampment of the Oulad
Said
This plate shows the arrival of the caravan in the
encampment of the Oulad Said, friends of the Bern, Saul who escorted
Roberts on his journey through the desert.
The tribe was encamped, in tents at the foot of Mount Serbal, a
formation of red granite without a trace of vegetation. Roberts and
his travelling companions were fascinated by the patriarchal welcome
given them by the Arabs, who slaughtered a
kid in their honor. Roberts and his companions' trust in their hosts
was bolstered by the fact that the liedoiiins of the tribe, had,
since lime immemorial enjoyed the status of protectors of the
Convent of Saint Catherine.
|
|
Fortress of Aqaba
Roberts reached the fortress of Aqaba, where he
was received by the Governor, on the first of March. Situated at the
extreme north end of the gulf of the same name on the Red Sea, the
building as it stands today was built by the Egyptian Sultan Qansuh
Ghoury in the 16th century on a square plan, with heavy towers at
its corners. In Roberts' time it hosted a garrison of thirty; with
its springs of pure drinking water, the fortress was also used as a
storehouse providing supplies to pilgrims on the road to Mecca.
|
|
Petra. Ancient Watch-Tower
After having spent some days in Aqabu, where he
alternated drawing with finding solutions to the problems caused by
his failure to receive his letter of introduction to the Sheik of
the Alloweens, Roberts arrived in Petra on 6 March. One of the first
sights that appeared before his eyes as he came upon the city was
the ancient watch-tower with its two sole rooms, standing on a
massive rock looming over the desert.
|
|
Sight of Petra, South
Inhabited since 7000 BC, Petra, which in the
Biblical story was the land of Edom, saw the flowering of the
civilization of the Nabateans, a nomadic people who first
established camp there in the 7th century BC and exploited the
strategic position of
the site, a crossroads on the caravan routes along which were
carried such goods as spices, silk and incense from China, India and
Arabia. The Romans conquered Petra in 106 AD; the Arabs in the 7th
century; the Christian Crusaders built a fortress in their turn. But
the city was by that time already on the road to decline and its
very existence was completely forgotten by the Europeans shortly
afterwards. It was not until 1812 that the young Swiss explorer
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt "discovered" Petra. On his travels through
Jordan toward Cairo, Burckhardt, who knew the Arab language to
perfection and even successfully
masqueraded as a Muslim, from India, heard many Arab legends about a
hidden city in the impenetrable mountains, populated by Bedouins who
were extremely distrustful of strangers. In order to gain access to
the city without arousing undue diffidence, he expressed to his
guide his desire to make a sacrifice at the tomb of the prophet
Aaron - but upon his return to Europe he did not hesitate to make
public his discovery of what has been called the rose-colored city
of the desert.
|
|
Petra. Ruins of a Triumphal Arch
When Roberts made his journey, the discovery of
Petra was still a recent event, and - differently from today - it
was an extremely difficult undertaking for a European to visit the
city: In his journal, the artist described Petra as an
"extraordinary city ... situated in the midst of mountains and ...
abounding in every vegetable production." hi order to enter it
Roberts was forced, as visitors today still are, to ascend the Siq,
the tortuous ravine cut by the Wadi Mousa torrent or perhaps opened
by an earthquake, and to pass near the ruins of the triumphal arch
erected in honor of the Emperor Hadrian on occasion of his visit to
the city.
|
|
|
|
Pelra. Views of the Eastern End of
the Valley
A goodly number of the buildings in Pelra are in
truth great rupestrian sculptures. Since the era of the Nabateans,
the particularly malleable rock of the surrounding mountains
encouraged the inhabitants of the city to excavate rather than build
up their temples and their homes. This architectural solution was
simple only in appearance, however. Since the technique was such as
to make it impossible to make major alterations as work progressed,
the builders were forced to prepare detailed plans and lo follow
them closely.
The Palace Tomb shown in these drawings (which confirm Roberts" fame
as I he supreme "painter of architecture" of the English tradition)
is perhaps the most monumental among Petra's rupestrian sculptures.
The building, located in the area of the Royal Tombs, is laid out on
three levels. While the lower one was entirely excavated into the
living rock, the upper floors were in part built up using blocks of
stone.
The particularly majestic appearance of the facade as seen from
below relies on an optical effect that was carefully planned by the
designer to increase the sense of perspective: each successive story
was built to a lesser height than the one below it.
Some archaeologists believe that the edifice was built during Roman
times in imitation of Emperor Nero's Colden House.
|
|
The Theater, Petra
The theater of Petra, begun by the Nalmleans in
the 1st century AD but completed only by the Romans following the
annexation of the kingdom to the Empire, is the only example of a
Roman theatre entirely excavated into rock. The Latin architects had
thirty-three hemicycles cut into the soft pink sandstone to give the
complex a seating capacity of over seven thousand spectators. The
building, "in a wonderful state of preservation," as Roberts'
companion John G. Kinnear defined it in his own travel journal, was
realized at the expense of pre-existing monuments, in most cases
Nabatean tombs. The squared-off openings above the tiers of seats,
clearly visible in the lithograph, are loculi that were re-opened
with the precise aim of improving the acoustics of the theater and
the rainwater drainage system.
|
 |
|
|
