Amphitheatre of Petra

The holy city of Petra was found by the Swiss explorer J. Ludwig in 1812, nestled between some impressive stone mountains. Petra was built around the sixth century BC by the Nabataeans in the Persian Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1985. The Nabataeans were Bedouins trading in spices such as myrrh and incense but in the year 60 BC the city of Petra was conquered by the Roman Empire. In 551 a major earthquake destroyed much of the city, causing Petra to become uninhabited. But before this horrible event, this Greco-Roman amphitheater was built, with a capacity of over 4,000 people.