Petra: The Caravan City of the Ancient Arabs
Lecture on Wednesday 2nd February 2011 at 1:45PM
Lecturer: Mr Neil Faulkner
Venue: Larruperz Centre
Petra, famous for its hundreds of rock cut tombs, was a great trading centre of the ancient Arabs on the edge of the desert. This lecture will use the archaeology, architecture and art of Petra to reconstruct the trade routes, the technology, the every day life, the hybrid culture and the death rites of the Nabataean Arabs who occupied the city. We will discover a city on the edge, in every sense, standing between desert and town, between nomadism and civilisation, between Middle Eastern culture and Graeco-Roman classicism; an exotic Oriental mix in a stunning mountain landscape.
Mr Faulkner was educated at King’s College, Cambridge and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. He works as a lecturer, writer, excavator and broadcaster.