Ad Deir

Ad Deir (Arabic الدير, DMG ad - Deir, the Monastery ') is an imposing rock stone building near the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. The monument was built by the Nabataeans in the 1st century and the dimensions to 50 meters wide and about 39 meters high.

History and possible use

Ad Deir was built in the middle of the 1st century AD and served, unlike the present name suggests, at the beginning not as a monastery. Ad Deir was probably not intended to be a grave system. In 2004, two spills of rubble stone benches were discovered along the hall walls. This suggests that ad - Deir has served as a mausoleum of a ruler. An inscription suggests a reference to the cult of the Nabataean king Obodas I, who had reigned at the beginning of the 1st century BC, but the exact relationship is clear.

Method of construction

The facade is worked out as a bas-relief of the rock massif. In construction ad - Deir is the construction of the treasury Al Khazneh in Petra comparable. In both cases, the top floor is designed as a broken pediment in the center of Tholos is one which is crowned by a ten -meter-high urn. Inside the complex there is a chamber, which measures 12.5 by 10 meters and has a height of 15 meters; it is entered through a gate that is 8 feet high. The rear wall of the chamber has one of two staircases flankerte great depression; here probably rituals were celebrated. After the takeover of Christianity in the 4th century, the fortress served as a monastery; hence comes the present name.