Obelisk Tomb
About
Four elongated pyramids carved above this facade at Petra's entrance represent nefesh, Nabataean markers for the souls of the dead, with a worn figure of a cloaked man niched between them. Most scholars date it to the reign of Malichos II, between 40 and 70 CE, built directly above a separate dining hall known as the Bab as-Siq Triclinium. An inscription at the site records details connecting the two structures. Visitors today pass beneath it on the walk into Petra's main canyon.
What happened here
Roman burial is a family matter conducted in public. The dead are carried out of town, cremated or laid in the ground, and mourned with formal noise; the funeral of anyone important is a procession with masks of the ancestors carried by hired men. The tomb that follows is designed to be read by strangers on the road: name, age, offices, sometimes a trade shown in relief, often a line addressed directly to the passer-by. Ordinary people appear here as they nowhere else — a baker with his ovens carved on the front, a freedman naming the woman he could finally marry, a child's age given in days. Anniversaries bring the family back with food and wine.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →