Note 293 — LIFE OF POMPEIUS.
George Long translation
Petra, the capital of the Nabathæi, is about half way between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and the northern extremity of the Ælanitic Gulf, the more eastern of the two northern branches of the Red Sea. The ruins of Petra exist in the Wady Musa, and have been visited by Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, and last by Laborde, who has given the most complete description of them in his 'Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée,' Paris, 1830. The place is in the midst of a desert, but has abundance of water. Its position made it an important place of commerce in the caravan trade of the East; and it was such in the time of Strabo, who states on the authority of his friend Athonodorus that many Romans were settled there (p. 779). It contains numerous tombs and a magnificent temple cut in the rock, a theatre and the remains of houses.
The king against whom Pompeius was marching is named Aretas by Dion Cassius (37. c. 15).