Why is Petra a 'Lost City'?

... Jordanian city of Petra was "lost" to the Western world for hundreds of years. Located amid rugged desert canyons and mountains in what is now the southwestern corner of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Petra was once a thriving trading center and the capital of the Nabataean empire between 400 B.C. and A.D. 106. read more

The growth of the city of Palmyra also diminished the importance of Petra for trade. What really did in Petra, though, was a series of earthquakes in 363 and 551 that destroyed the water management systems. Once the Arabs conquered the region in the 7th century, Petra was abandoned. read more

Petra was the focus of an American PBS Nova special, "Petra: Lost City of Stone", which premiered in the US and Europe in February 2015. Music and music videos. The power metal band Helloween featured Petra on their 2013 track "Nabataea" off their album, Straight Out of Hell. read more

In Petra’s heyday, around the time of Christ, the city had been anything but anonymous. Home to some 30,000 people, it was the centre of a kingdom four times the size of modern Jordan. read more