Petra, again

Last updated on: April 30, 2018 at 11:41 am by Dan Peterson

Petra, again 2018-04-30T11:41:56-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Treasury (al-Khazneh) at Petra, in Jordan (Wikimedia Commons)

We took our leave of (almost all of) our friends from the conference at the law school of the University of Jordan, met up with some new folks, and headed southward on the long drive toward Petra.

The Crusader castle of Montreal at Shawbak (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

En route, we made a brief stop at the Crusader castle of Shoubak or Shawbak, formerly known as Montreal or Mons Regalis.

Built in 1115 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem, “Krak de Montreal” or “Mons Regalis” enabled its owner to control the pilgrimage and caravan routes through the realm of biblical Edom between Syria and Arabia. Pilgrims and merchants needed to receive permission in order to travel past it. In other words, it represented a kind of protection racket.

Eventually, the castle came under the lordship of the execrable Raynald of Châtillon, who used it as a base from which to attack rich caravans passing by — which had previously been permitted to pass without harm. In fact, he was using the castle in order to outfit an expedition against Mecca itself. This infuriated the great sultan Salah al-Din, or Saladin, who laid siege to the Montreal in 1187. After two years, in May 1189, the garrison surrendered — but only, it is said, after they had sold their wives and children for food and after they had supposedly gone blind from a lack of salt. Characteristically, after taking the castle, Saladin returned their families to those who had surrendered.

We spent the bulk of the day, though, walking to and about the magnificent ruins of Petra.

The walk into Petra (via the famous “siq”) is among the most interesting in the world.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Unusually (in my experience here), rain and hail began pouring down just as several of us were exiting the siq. Some of our number had splintered off, and they showed up several hours later absolutely soaked and very chilled. The siq, which is essentially a potentially dangerous slot canyon like those down in Zion National Park, was suddenly flooded, with water flowing at least ankle-high. The emergency authorities had to bring our folks out via a combination of camels and motorized vehicles.

It was an experience not to be forgotten, and it demonstrates nicely how the Nabateans, who built Petra and its astonishing sculpted façades and complex water system, were able to survive out in what is otherwise an extraordinarily arid desert.

We had a good dinner tonight, though, and everybody is safe and happy. In fact, they found their adventure exhilarating.

Posted from Wadi Moussa, Jordan

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