Petra Tour: Wadi Farasa East
Coming from Jabal al-Madhbah, the tour continues through the idyllic valley. Highlights are the Garden Triclinium, the Soldier Tomb complex, with the large colourful triclinium, and the Renaissance Tomb.
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On the cut-off smooth rock wall to the left of the Soldier Tomb, it is clearly visible which huge masses of rock had to be removed to widen the valley and build the façade. Some of the stones were used for the bricked areas of the complex, others possibly for residential buildings on the nearby ez-Zantur hill.
The cavity of a rock chamber and the five niches above the tomb are traces of earlier buildings, which had to give way to the newer monument.
Two basins as well as drainage channels directly above the tomb served to collect and drain off rainwater so that it would not run down the façade and destroy it. These basins are backfilled today (see the second photo above).
On the rocky outcrop on the right, eleven pit graves were cut into the rock. Four of them are in the middle of a circular structure, which probably was a stibadium (semicircular bench) before the pits for the graves were built in the early 2nd century AD. The large opening slightly to the left, just before the edge of the platform, is the entrance to a small triclinium.
© Photos, text: Haupt & Binder
Coming from Jabal al-Madhbah, the tour continues through the idyllic valley. Highlights are the Garden Triclinium, the Soldier Tomb complex, with the large colourful triclinium, and the Renaissance Tomb.