Petra (Jordan) a Worlds Marvel Fill the gaps with the following words: earthquake, well preserved, location,

, columns, revealed, tombs, stunning, to decipher, essential, trade routes, inhospitable, marvels, abandoned, artificial, the Mediterranean, carved, empire 180 km south of the Jordanian capital Amman Petra is a ______________ vision of craftsmanship. Here in the hot dry Wadi Rum desert temperatures often reach 45 C. And yet a wealthy and powerful people once thrived here. They were called the Nabataeans and they were the masters of waterways, ______________ and camel caravans. Most people would consider this an __________________ terrain and it seems an unlikely place to establish a city. But it is precisely positioned at the crossroads of trade routes between Arabia, Africa, Persia and _________________ . Camels are the life blood of the desert. They carry heavy burdens over long distances. Even though they move slowly they can travel for long periods without food or water. And for centuries they have been ________________ to desert communities such as the Bedouin, nomadic Arabs who first domesticated them. The monotony of this rugged terrain is broken by a narrow cleft in the canyon, a geological fissure in the sandstone. Its known as the Siq in Arabic, the shaft. Nearly 2 km long and just a few meters wide in places, in Petras heyday this was a perfect natural gateway, easily defended. At its end one of the most dramatic facades in the world is______________ . Al Khazneh or the Treasury is Petras most famous landmark. After millennia, it still retains a stately feel. Its an ornately ______________ stone edifice and one of some 800 structures of Petra. The craftsmanship is exquisite, from the _____________ to the capitals and from the sculptures to the pilasters. But by contrast, the interiors of many of Petras buildings are unadorned and empty. Most were not residences, they were not built for the living. They were palatial ________________ and funerary monuments for the citys wealthiest families. In Greek the word petra means rock. The name offers connotations and prominence. Indeed, it has survived earthquakes, abandonment and centuries of neglect, but it has nonetheless remained remarkably________________ . Archeologists have had difficulty establishing the date of the settlements founding, but they have been able _______________ some of the mysteries of Petra. Its unique ________________ allowed the Nabataeans to control the lucrative incense trade from Arabia, as well as gold and silver from as far away as Africa and the Far East. The canyon and the surrounding hills offered unique protection, but the key to the location was the Nabataeans mastery of water. They captured flash floods in systems and built an elaborate water management system which harnessed the life-giving flow of distant springs. Petra became an _____________ oasis in the middle of the hostile desert, an oasis that attracted traders. The city was the centre of power in the heart of the Arabian desert. By the beginning of 2 AD the Romans had occupied the area and absorbed Petra into their _____________ . The city adopted influences from its new rulers, adapting Roman architecture and urban planning. It flourished until a massive ____________ in 363 AD damaged the precious water system, Residents ________________ the city and it fell silent for hundreds of years. It was rediscovered in 1812 by a Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Petra became an inspiration to 19th century travelers and it was eulogized in the sonnet as the rose-red city half as old as time. Its the city that defied time. Petra is with us still a monument to the ingenuity of the ancients and one of the _______________ of mankind.