Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars

Joanne98

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat Aug-21-10 08:21 PM
Original message

Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars

Exquisite artworks hidden under 2,000 years of soot and grime in a Jordanian cave have been restored by experts from the Courtauld Institute in London.

Detail of a winged child playing the flute, before and after cleaning. Photograph: Courtesy of the Courtauld Institute

Spectacular 2,000-year-old Hellenistic-style wall paintings have been revealed at the world heritage site of Petra through the expertise of British conservation specialists. The paintings, in a cave complex, had been obscured by centuries of black soot, smoke and greasy substances, as well as graffiti.

Experts from the Courtauld Institute in London have now removed the black grime, uncovering paintings whose "exceptional" artistic quality and sheer beauty are said to be superior even to some of the better Roman paintings at Herculaneum that were inspired by Hellenistic art.

Virtually no Hellenistic paintings survive today, and fragments only hint at antiquity's lost masterpieces, while revealing little about their colours and composition, so the revelation of these wall paintings in Jordan is all the more significant. They were created by the Nabataeans, who traded extensively with the Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires and whose dominion once stretched from Damascus to the Red Sea, and from Sinai to the Arabian desert.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/22/hellenistic-wall-paintings-petra

NABATAEA

Who were the Nabataeans?
The Nabataeans are a tribe of people descended from Nabioth, the eldest son of Ishmael, the son of Abraham. They were a merchant people who lived in Arabia, initially using camel caravans for trade and later ships called 'dhows' with which they sailed the world carrying on a worldwide trade in exotic items.

What years were they?
The Nabataeans began their trade in very ancient times, but only came into prominence in ancient records around 300 BC when they carved out a political kingdom in the area of ancient Edom. They later sold their 'kingdom' to the Romans in 106 AD, and became the merchants of Rome carrying on trade within and beyond the Roman Empire for many centuries afterwards. Around 600 AD, Mohammad, the son of a Nabataean merchant, united Arabia again, beginning a new empire which was focused around religion (Islam) and military might rather than economics and trade.

How big was the Nabataean Empire?
In 85 BC the Nabataeans controlled an area of 2,350,000 square kilometers. At that time the Greek Empire had collapsed and Roman Empire was just getting to its feet, so the Nabataean Empire was the largest empire in Europe or the Middle East. (At its height the Roman Empire occupied just over 5 million square kilometers.) During this same time period the land of India was divided into several competing empires with the Decan area in the south of India rising to prominence. However, the Decan area was smaller than the Nabataean Kingdom. The only kingdom larger than the Nabataean Kingdom in 85 BC was the Han Dynasty of China which controlled over 4 million square kilometers. This is probably why Chinese explorers visited Nabataea and mention it in their records.

What were the main Nabataean cities?
Petra was the capital city, religious center, tribal burial grounds, and the focus of a bi-annual pilgrimage. Today it lies in a ruinous state, but is visited by thousands of visitors who are amazed at the architecture and apparent wealth of the city.
Busheria and nearby Sela were the economic center for many years.
Bosra, a Syrian city, later became the capital city
Damascus was the most northern city, first occupied in 85 BC giving the Nabataeans total control over all eastern trade with Europe and North Africa.
Meda'in Saleh was a southern city in Arabia
In the Negev there were a collection of cities that controlled that region.
How powerful were they?
The Nabataeans did not invest in a large army but relied on their wealth and their wits. However, at any given time the Arab tribes could be called upon to unite and defend the kingdom.

What are they famous for?
They are remembered for the incense route which moved tons of incense from southern Arabia to the temples and home of Europe and North Africa. This later became a maritime route. They were also the merchants who traveled between the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Empires on one hand and India, China, and the spice islands on the other.
The Nabataeans also explored much of the world. Their explorers carved their initials in rocks where-ever they went, leaving their marks across Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and North America as far north as Colorado.
The Nabataean Empire disappeared in 106 AD, although Nabataean merchant families continued to exercise great power through trade monopolies.
The Nabataean Empire was re-united under Muhammad in 600 AD, and became Islamic in nature. Various caliphs and leaders ruled from various locations during the following centuries, but the empire was never really united under one political head for any length of time.
Today, most Muslims or Arabs have never heard of the Nabataeans. Most Westerners have no idea that it was once a great empire.
http://nabataea.net/quikfax.html