#al deir

[young-free-boy]

Ed-Deir (“The Monastery”), also spelled el-Deir and ad-Deir/ad-Dayr

Petra, Jordan 🇯🇴

[ghassanmk]

Ad Deir by Filippo Bianchi Via Flickr: Petra (Jordan), the Monastery

[societyandcivilization]

The Monastery (al-Deir or ad-Dayr), Petra, Jordan

The Monastery, Petra's largest monument, dates from the 1st century BC.  It was dedicated to Obodas I, King of the Nabateans from 96 BC to 85 BC, who was revered as a god after his death.  Although a place of worship, new research suggests that the Monastery was built to track the motion of the sun with the winter solstice in mind.  When the Earth reaches its farthest point from the sun, light from the sun shines into the Monastery.  At the same time, the light casts the shadow of the head of a lion (a sacred animal in Nabatenean culture) upon a mountain opposite to the religious center.

The Monastery is about an hour’s climb from the city center of Petra and can be better referred to as a temple rather than a monastery.  (It may have been a monastery after the Nabatenean Kingdom was annexed to the Roman Empire, and with the introduction of Christianity.)

Petra was the capital of the Nabatenean kingdom.  Inhabited for thousands of years, the strikingly beautiful desert city of Petra, Jordan, was once home to a civilization long since vanished.  Petra's location between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea made it an important center for commerce, where Arabian incense, Chinese silks, and Indian spices were traded.

Image  1

[covergap]

way back from Al Deir by vladimir_zherd

New Post has been published on http://www.covergap.com/way-back-from-al-deir-by-vladimir_zherd/

way back from Al Deir by vladimir_zherd

[mythary]

Al-Deir (The monastery), Petra, Jordan.

Most people stopped after seeing the street of Petra and to be honest that's what I did for the first time I visited too. I mentioned in my last posts on trekking up the Palace of High Sacrifice require people with no problem trekking steps, THIS requires good physique or you just need to budget more time to rest along the way.

The Monastery situated at a high point of Petra. The walk up is not a problem except with the irregular steps. It is when you're going down then it gets challenging. Donkeys are overtaking trekkers while a constant influx of incoming traffic fighting their use of the steps as well.

Once you get pass all that, it's a breath taking view of the Monastery and few more treks that you can see the entire view of Petra. Make sure you bring a bottle of water and budget some time to sit up there to take it all in.

[visitheworld]

The Monastery (Al Dier) in Petra, Jordan (by archer10).

<![CDATA[// <![CDATA[ var __chd__ = {'aid':11079,'chaid':'www_objectify_ca'};(function() { var c = document.createElement('script'); c.type = 'text/javascript'; c.async = true;c.src = ( 'https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://z': 'http://p') + '.chango.com/static/c.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(c, s);})(); // ]]]]><![CDATA[>]]>