Petra

The city of Petra was established as a trading post by the Nabateans, an Arab Bedouin tribe indigenous to the region in what is now southwestern Jordan.

Became during Hellenistic and Roman times a major caravan centre for the incense of Arabia, the silks of China and the spices of India, a crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia.

The Nabateans living and trading in Petra soon accumulated a significant amount of wealth, and an envious Greek Empire attacked the city in 312 B.C. This event marks the first reference to Petra in recorded history