Petra.+Lost+City+of+Stone

===Where is Petra located? === The Petra city is located in deserts of Jordan. === Who were its inhabitants? ===  The inhabitants were the Nabataeans.

What is/are its characteristics?
Petra is a city emplaced in a desert with gullies and cliffs. The Nabataeans took advantage of these geographical conditions and developed a technology for:
 * 1) Create natural sources.
 * 2) Maintaining fertile crops.
 * 3) Create lush gardens.
 * 4) A system of pools and reservoirs.

Other characteristics of the city of Petra is due to the great works of engineering and art of the Nabataean, which are temples, 3,000 rock-cut tombs, dwellings, banquet halls, altars and niches. These structures were elaborately carved, covered with stucco and painted with bright colors (brilliant facades).

How important were tombs in Petra? What did they mean?
<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The monumental tombs of Petra were very important, because its function was to commemorate important people. In Nabataean culture the scale and aesthetics in the tomb was a sign of wealth and the wealth families hired architects and masons to build the lush tomb.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How did this city become an urban center?
<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From its origin in a gathering site of the Nabataean merchants. Where they established a tent camp. Then in the first century BC Petra became an urban settlement.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How was this city organized/planned?
<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">From its early the city grew along the natural contours of the landscape. Then of the Roman occupation, in AD 106, Petra changes direction. The Romans imposed an urban grid. They created a straight road along the central marketplace, flanked by colonnaded porticos. This straight road, represent Rome's political presence in Petra.