Discovering Jordan's lost city with Bedouins who look just like Johnny Depp
Of all the marvels told about the ‘red-rose city half as old as time’ two points remain largely neglected.
One is just how enormous this ancient site is: covering 60-square-miles, it is the same size as the country Liechtenstein, and 60-times the size of Hyde Park.
The second is that the Bedouins - who today hold the reins of the ruined city – walk, talk and look uncannily similar to Johnny Depp in his Jack Sparrow guise.
Pirates of Jordan: Some of the Bedouins bore a very strange likeness to hearthrob Johnny Depp
Built three millennia ago by a nomadic Arabian tribe called the Nabateans, Petra was originally a tax collection point. Its giant rock-cut monuments were built with taxpayers money – and given their size and quantity, the taxes can’t have been very low.
It then passed from the Romans, who conquered the city at the turn of the second century (the Latin ‘petra’ means rock), to the Byzantines, who took control in the fourth century.
Subsequent changes to trade routes, and a severe earthquake in 551 AD, resulted in the majestic city falling out of favour.
No longer the focal point of any civilization, it was not until 200 years ago - in 1812 - that the ancient ruins were rediscovered by Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss explorer only 27 years of age.
Cobbled together: The city was built using taxes from merchants passing through
