Petra Tour: Bab as-Siq
In the necropolis along the path from the Visitor Centre to the deep gorge of the Siq, one can see remarkably unusual burial sites, including some of Petra's oldest.
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About 400 m from the entrance there are three large monolithic block tombs on the right (northern) side of the road. Native Bedouins tell that they were dwellings of djinn (ghosts) or cisterns (as-Sahrij), which could be related not only to their form, but also to a probable use in Byzantine times (see BD 9).
Six such block monuments exist in Petra, cut out of the rocks on all four sides. An exact dating is not possible, but they are probably from the 2nd century B.C., if not already from the 3rd century B.C., thus belonging to the oldest monumental tombs in the Nabataean capital. (Mouton & Renel)
These three block tombs in Bab as-Siq were catalogued as BD 9, BD 8 and BD 7 (from left to right). All three do not have the original shape and size, since they were modified later. Now they are still 6 to 8 m high.
© Photos, text: Haupt & Binder
In the necropolis along the path from the Visitor Centre to the deep gorge of the Siq, one can see remarkably unusual burial sites, including some of Petra's oldest.
The early Petra monolithic funerary blocks at Ras Sulayman and Bab as-Siq.
In: Men on the Rocks. The Formation of Nabataean Petra
Proceedings of a conference held in Berlin, 2-4 December 2011
Michel Mouton, Stephan G. Schmid (ed.)
Logos Verlag Berlin, 2013
ISBN 978-3-8325-3313-7
pp. 135 - 162
Rudolf-Ernst Brünnow and Alfred von Domaszewski: Die Provincia Arabia, Volume 1.
Verlag Karl J. Trübner, Strasbourg 1904.
The catalogue of grave facades and other monuments in Petra, compiled by the researchers during their travels in 1897 and 1898, still serves as a reference today - abbreviated BD or Br. with the respective number.