The ruins of the ancient Nabatean city of Petra in the Jordanian desert, competing in the spectacular beauty of Palmyra in Syria, Baalbek, Lebanon, or Jerash, Jordan. Petra continues to arouse the enthusiasm of all those who visit. The grandeur of its architecture carved into sandstone - with its pink color streaks even more superb impressive beauty-traveler so that it does not ask for the buildings that formed at the time the city of the living, forever destroyed by earthquakes. In effect, the facades scattered around its perimeter mostly correspond to the tombs of the very rich merchants, nobles and monarchs who competed to show their countrymen tremendous fortune. But Petra was not just a city for the dead, the palaces, houses, businesses, temples, warehouses, workshops and public spaces gave shelter to the daily activities of a thriving, bustling and-as noted by the geographer Greek Strabo open to foreign setting, though its location provides the image of a city closed and hidden, accessible only to a privileged few living or took refuge in it. Facing the cities of the time, the walls of Petra was its geographical position in the middle of a maze of canyons carved into the rock. That was so powerful natural defense that kept for centuries hidden from curious strangers. The reinforced bastions like the tower Conway, which takes its name from Agnes Conway, the archaeologist who excavated it in 1929, and some canvases isolated, apparently, the city was equipped with a true walled until mid-third century