Silk Tomb
About
Swirling bands of pink, purple, gold, and orange run across this tomb's sandstone facade, carved sometime in the first half of the 1st century CE. Iron and manganese oxides trapped in the rock, polished smooth by centuries of wind and water, produced the vivid marbled effect that gives the tomb its modern nickname. Compared with its grander neighbors along the Royal Tombs cliff, its facade is modest and unadorned by columns. The colors alone have made it one of Petra's most photographed monuments.
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 →