PETRA, the capital City of Arabia Petrea. It is appropriated to Palestine in the antient Notitia Ecclesiastica, and it was the Capital of what was call’d the Third Palestine. Sometimes Eusebius and St. Jerome also extend Palestine as far as the Red-Sea, to Elath, a City lying upon this רקםPetra. Joseph. Antiq. l. 4. c. 4, 7. Euseb. & Hieron. ad Arkem.Sea; so that it comprehended Idumea and Arabia Petrea. But it was not so in the Ages before. The old Name of Petra, they say, was Rekem, or as Josephus and Eusebius read it, Arke, or Arkeme, or Arkem. Josephus says, that the City of Rekem takes its Name from a King of Midian call’d Rekem. This is he mention’d by Moses, Numb. xxxi. 8. But we no where find in Scripture, that Rekem was the Name of a City.
In the second Book of Kings it is said,1 that Amaziah King of Judah took Selah (the Rock, the Stone) by War, and call’d the Name of it Joktheel unto this Day, as it is there said. It is commonly thought that he means the City of Petra, the Capital of Arabia Petrea, but we cannot be certain of it. Amaziah may have taken by Storm some Rock, (Selah) to which the Idumeans had fled, and may afterwards have given to this Rock the Name of Joktheel, that is, the Obedience of the Lord.
The Word Petra, in Greek, signifies a Rock, and was probably given to this City because of its Situation upon a Rock, or because it is encompass’d by Rocks, or because, as they say, the greatest part of the Houses are dug into the Rock. It is call’d also by the Antients Agra, or Hagor, whence comes the Name of Agarenians. But neither can those Names be found in Scripture; so that unless it be meant in the second of Kings, xiv. 7. and Isaiah xvi. 1. xlii. 11. under the Name of Selah, or Rock, I do not see that it is any where mention’d in Scripture.
Strab. l. 16.Strabo says, that Petra was the Capital of the Nabatheans, that the Mineans and the Gerreans brought their Perfumes thither to vend them; that the City was situate in a Plain full of Gardens, and water’d with Fountains, but all encompass’d Plin. l. 6. c. 28with Rocks. Pliny speaks of it almost in the same Terms. He says the Nabatheans inhabit the City of Petra, situated in a Plain of about two thousand Paces over, water’d by a River, and surrounded on all Sides by inaccessible Mountains. This Description is very different from that given by the Geographer of Nubia, who says, that most of the Houses of Petra were dug out of the Rock; and Herodian gives us a Nubiens. climat. 3. part. 5. Herodian. l. 3. p. 528. Dio Cassius l. 68. p. 785, 786.Description of the Capital of the Agarenians, standing upon the Point of a very high Mountain. This Author calls it Atra. Dion does not name it, but in the Manner he speaks of it, it must be upon a steep Rock, in a very dry and barren Country. Trajan besieg’d it, and tho’ he had made a Breach in it, yet he was forc’d to raise the Siege. It appears, that the City he mentions was in Mesopotamia,2 and therefore must be very different from the City of which we are now treating.
See Cellar. Geog. vet. l. 3. c. 14.Some Geographers think, that there were more than one Petra. St. Athanasius distinguishes3 two, one in Palestine and the other in Arabia. He calls Arius or Macarius Bishop of Petra in Palestine, and Asterius Bishop of Petra in Arabia. Also the Paraphrasts Jonathan and Onkelos distinguish Rekem and Petra as two Vide ad Gen. xx. 1. xvi. 14. Joseph. Antiq. l. 3. c. 2. Antiq. l. 4. c. 4. p. 110. c. Antiq. l. 4. c. 7. p. 117.different Cities. Josephus speaks of Petra situated in the Country of the Amalekites, which is the same as Rekem or Petra, near which Aaron died; and he confounds it with Petra in the Land of the Midianites, which took its Name from King Rekem. Lastly, I am of Opinion, that we should distinguish Petra or Selah in the Country of Moab, or in the Eastern Idumea, of which Mention is made in Isaiah xvi. 1. xlii. 11. 2 Kings xiv. 7. which was afterwards call’d Joktheel, from the other Petra, call’d Rekem, situate in the South Idumea, or in Arabia Petrea, or in the Country of the Amalekites.
As to the Situation of this last City, it will be difficult enough to determine it. Strab. l. 16.Strabo places it three or four Days Journey from Jericho, and five Days Journey from the Forest of Palm-trees, which is upon Plin. l. 6. c. 28.the Red-Sea. Pliny places it six hundred Miles from Gaza, and an hundred and twenty-five Miles from the Persian Gulph. But Cellarius and Reland think that the Numbers have been changed, so that it ought to be read, an hundred and twenty-five Miles from Gaza, and six hundred Miles from the Persian Gulph. Eusebius places Theman five Miles from Petra, Carcaria a Day’s Journey from the same City, Beeroth Bene-jacan at ten Miles, and the City of Elath at ten Miles towards the East.
‘Tis thought that the City of Krak, or Karak, lying on the Confines of Arabia and Syria, inclining towards the South, is the antient City of Petra in Arabia, which formerly was its Metropolis, and which we find in Ptolemy by the Name of Charat Moab, or Charat Moba, in Stevinus, Mobucharas; and perhaps Caraca in in 2 Macc. xii. 17. and Carcar in the Book of Judges, xi. 3. Carach or Crat signifies a Fortress, in Chaldee and Syriack. It is known to our Historians by the Name of Crak of Montreal. It was for a long Time in the Possession of the Christians at the time of the Holy War; but at last Saladin became Master of it in the 584th Year of the Hegira, and the 1188th of Jesus Christ. The Ajubites, his Successors, enjoy’d it ‘till they were driven from thence by the MamlukesD’ Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. p. 419, 420, 256.. Mr. D’Herbelot thinks, that the Name Krak was given it from that of Arak, as it was called by the Jews.
Since that Time it has obtain’d the Name of Hag, or Hagiar, which signifies a Stone or Rock. It stands in the Province of Higiaz, and is no farther distant from Jemamah, on which it depends, than by a Journey of twenty-four Hours. The City of Agr, or Hagiar, has given its Name to a Country which is between Syria and Arabia, and which we call Arabia Petrea, where the People of Saleh, that is to say, the Themudites, inhabited heretofore. There are still to be seen in this Country, as the Mussulmen affirm, the Rocks and Caves where they hid themselves, to avoid the Anger of God, with which they were threatned by the Prophet Saleh. There are also seen the Graves of those that were kill’d in fighting against the false Prophet Museilemah, who pretended to do in the Jemen what Mahomet had done in the Higiaz.
The City of Hagiar, by its advantageous Situation, became the Capital and the Fortress of the Carmathes, from whence those Rebels for a long time infested the Dominions of the Chalifs of Bagdet, and so much harrassed the Pilgrims of Mecca, that the Pilgrimage was suspended for several Years. Abusaid built there a Castle called Hagiarah, which his Son Abouthaber exceedingly fortify’d, so that after that Hagiar passed for a Place that was impregnable.
There is another City call’d also Hagr, or Hagiar, lying farther into Arabia, which belongs to the Province of Baharain.
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