More historically verifiable evidence suggests thiit in 63 BC the Nabatean King Aretas defeated Pompey’s Roman Legions. The Romans controlled the entire area around Nabatea, however, prompting the later King Rabe! Ill to strike a deal: as long as the Romans did not attack during his lifetime, they would be permitted to move in after he died. In 106 AD the Romans claimed the Nabatean Kingdom and began to develop the city of rosy Nubian sandstone.

In its heyday, Petra may have housed 20,000-30,000 people. But after an earthquake in 363 AD, a shift in the trade routes to Palmyra (Tadmor) in Syria, the expansion of the sea trade around Arabia, and another earthquake in 747 AD, all but Petra’s rock-hewn tombs deteriorated to nibble. The city fell under Byzantine and then Arab control for a few centuries before the Crusaders tried to resurrect it by constructing a new fortress. By then, though, it had so declined that even its location was forgotten. A few explorers searched in vain for Petra, but not until Burkhardt schemed his way in was the city visited by anyone other than the Bedouin.

For decades, the resident Bedouin adapted to the influx of tourists by providing food and accommodations inside Petra for them. In 1984-85, however, the government removed them, out of concern for the fragility of the monuments. Virtually all of Petra’s Bedouin have been relocated to a housing project near Wadi Musa and spend their days hawking souvenirs at the site. Burkhardt had a big mouth.