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220
Ancient and Modern Watershed
Management in Petra
By Talal S. Akasheh
One of the most serious problems facing Petra today is the
seasonal flashflooding that occasionally occurs in the area,
threatening man and monument alike. These flashfloods were
as much a problem in antiquity as they are today, as the Nabataean’s
ingenious hydrological systems, designed to control the flooding,
attest. The author presents the results of a survey designed
to document some of the dams built by the Nabataeans and a
computer-based modeling of the watersheds with a view to offering
a possible modern solution to this ancient problem.
225
Desert Oasis: Water Consumption
and Display in the Nabataean Capital
By Leigh-Ann Bedal
Revelations of an ornamental garden with a monumental pool
and associated waterworks in Petra’s city center leads
to an understanding of the extensive Nabataean water catchment
system and the water display apparent in a variety of installations
scattered throughout the city as an expression of Nabataean
prestige and political status.
235
The Petra Great Temple: A
Nabataean Architectural Miracle
By Martha Sharp Joukowsky
Once the visitor to the Petra Geat Temple mounts the Propylaea
steps from the Colonnaded Street, he is removed from the hustle
and bustle of the secular world and enters a precinct where
he might sense the divine epiphany of the Great Temple itself.
Here the author presents the results of the past ten years
of Brown University excavations at the Great Temple and relates
how archaeology has refined our knowledge
251
A New Plan of Petra's City
Center
By Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos
For the last decade, intense archaeological activity has focused
on the city center, where new discoveries have rendered previous
plans of Petra hopelessly out-of-date. Kanellopoulos presents
an informative and attractive new map of the city center that
incorporates the latest information that archaeology has to
offer.
255
Two Visual Languages at Petra:
Aniconic and Representational Sculpture of the Great Temple
By Joseph J. Basile
At the Petra Great Temple a number of figural relief panels
depicting Classical deities were recovered beside two aniconic
betyls. These two sculptural types reflect an important dichotomy
in Nabataean art—the adoption by the Nabataeans of Hellenistic–Roman
forms of representation together witht he persistence of an
Arabian/Semitic tradition of depicting deities aniconically.
How does the author account for these two, seemingly contradictory,
forms of divine image? Read on!
260
Excavating a Nabataean Mansion
By Bernhard Kolb
Swiss excavations between 1988 and 1997 in an area southeast
of the Great Temple known as ez-Zantur, has provided insights
into the domestic architecture and way of life of the Nabataean
urban middle-class between the late first century BCE and
fifth century CE.
265
Life and Death in Nabataea:
The North Ridge Tombs and Nabataean Burial Practices
By Megan A. Perry
Excavations of two tombs on Petra’s North Ridge provide
bioanthropological and artifactual evidence of the health
and funerary practices of a small group of Petra citizens.
271
The Churches of Byzantine
Petra
By Patricia Maynor Bikai
The excavation of three Byzantine churches and the discovery
of a cache of Byzantine papyri by the American Center of Oriental
Research (ACOR) have created new pages in the history of Petra.
The churches are clustered on a slope in the northern part
of downtown Petra and, together with two tombs of the Nabataean
era also excavated, provide evidence for the people who lived
at Petra in the centuries after it had ceased to be an important
metropolitan center.
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